This Film is Not Yet Rated is a documentary directed by Kirby Dick, and produced by Eddie Schmidt about the Motion Picture Association of America (or the MPAA) and their often-unjust rules in rating movies. The MPAA’s rating system is as follows: G and PG are the same as they are in Australia, M is called PG-13 in America, MA15+ is R, and R18+ is NC-17, the latter being the strongest rating. The difference between an R movie and an NC-17 movie can be as wide as hundreds of millions of dollars, and is factored by disparities between Hollywood and indie filmmakers, straight and gay sex, male and female sexual depictions and violent and sexual content.
Little is known about the production process of This Film Is Not Yet Rated, other than it was presumably filmed sometime in late 2005. Most of the documentary follows Dick’s collaboration with Becky Altringer, a private investigator, to reveal the identities of the members of the MPAA review board, which they claim to be “average American parents” with children aged between five and seventeen. They discovered that most of the MPAA review board members had children over the age of eighteen at the time of filming, and some of them had no children at all, contrasting with the MPAA’s original intentions of guiding parents on what they should let their children watch. They also discovered that the members of the MPAA appeals board were mostly comprised of studio executives, sales representatives and film buyers, putting Indie filmmakers at an immediate disadvantage of getting an NC-17 rating so they make less money at the box office. The documentary also includes interviews with filmmakers whose movies received NC-17 ratings. The documentary falls under the Expository mode, due to its use...
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...ringer that exposes all of the MPAA’s worst kept secrets, namely their unjust criteria and ulterior motives behind the NC-17 rating as well as the identities of the raters. It is a system made to give parents a guideline on what they should let their children watch, but their biased rating methods at the end of the day will only fail parents and their families if they see a scene that justifies its corresponding movie to be given a higher rating than the one it was given. While some may argue that the documentary is one sided, the MPAA are highly unlikely to give an honest point of view when their credibility is at stake. Instead, the documentary tells the untold stories of the filmmakers affected by the NC-17 rating and this is where the documentary gets its drive from, rather than the MPAA defending themselves by denying all the rumours circulating around them.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave Trey Parker's puppet satire Team America (2004) the ‘R' rating after initially giving it the dreaded NC-17 stamp of disapproval. Dr. Kevin Sandler, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Arizona, associates the R rating with the motion picture industry's focus on producing ‘respectable' or ‘incontestable' films. Known as the “Incontestable R,” an R rating ensures audiences that the film's content cannot be confused with that of an NC-17 film. Parker's efforts to cut out portions of Team America's controversial puppet sex scene and its subsequent R rating, seem to have been fruitful. Team America generated little controversy with media critics in regard to its R rating.
The incident exemplifies a pressing issue in the ever-topical discussion of the oft-vilified film rating classification system in our country. Is the movie rating system, originally designed to assist parents in guiding the movie-going habits of their children, actually preempting parental choice?
This documentary as nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award. It showed the world the actual crimes and events that were happening in society that otherwise would have been overlooked after the initial shock. The moral, values and importance of these events being spread by mass communication can lead to awareness and hopefully avoidance of familiar events in the
The MPAA rating system was once a good source for people to find out whether a movie would contain immoral or violent images; currently the system has grown to become ineffective in today’s society. Society changes as well as movies; content and subject matter has changed for movies of this generation. If the system is not changed it will not help parents to know what movies will be appropriate for their children to watch. Because of the influence and prevalence of movies in our society and culture today a rating system is important, if that system fails to do its duty the negative influence that the movies can have on the children and youth of tomorrow will be great.
...sad to say but it seems that there is no trust in the maturity and logical thinking of society or in the human race itself. As individuals of society we are given the choice, the freedom, to choose whether we want to view “inappropriate” films. After all, films are rated and we are to view with our own discretion.
Many Americans love films, the meanings behind those films and the impact some films have on people’s lives. Ever since films were created there have been people and organizations that have tried to censor and block what the public can and cannot see. Even to this day there are certain things that if put on film because of censorship, would never make it to the public. This is very sad. Film is one of this country’s great expressive outlets. Many filmmakers and the people who enjoy what these filmmakers put out are effected by the horrible concept of censorship. When a film is put out to the public it is first reviewed by a movie rating board who then assigns the film a rating to tell people what age groups the film is suitable for and what the film contains. Movie selection for minors should solely be the responsibility of that child’s parent, not some critic that watches films and then makes decisions for other people about who can watch it and who can’t. People just need to start to understand the real meaning of free speech and expression in this country. Too many people are taking it for granted. People who are for the censorship of films may argue that it’s for the good of our children, shielding them from violence and sex, and not exposing them to something that they claim may be mentally harm...
audience for money making purposes. Most teenagers don’t want to go watch a movie where the
This is an excellent rating system. If video games are correctly identified using this system, and purchasers of the games adhere to the system, then only those people who are mentally mature enough to be exposed to violence without being influenced by it will be exposed to the higher levels of violence. For example, when the game Mortal Kombat came out, my teenage brother purchased the game and was playing it while I was watching. When my mother saw the scene where a person in the game fell into a pit and was impaled on spikes with a lot of blood surrounding him, she was upset that I was watching this and felt that I was too young to watch such a scene. I was only 8 years old. So when she looked at the content rating of the game, she banned the game from being played while any children were able to vie...
Imagine yourself with your friends at the movies. All of you finally want to see the movie you have been waiting for over and over and over again. But there is but only one problem. When you and your friends finally want to see that movie, you all find out that the movie is R-rated and you need to be 17 or older or be accompanied by an adult. Doesn’t that make you feel angry? Later, you have to wait until the movie is re-released on DVD or Blu-Ray or watch it on Netflix. R-rated movies have mature content such as various weapons and have ways of showing gore or violence. There are movies like Taken or The Hangover that obtain such content.
The Motion Picture Association of America has set up a clear rating system for movie goers, “G- for general audience, all ages are admitted; PG- parental guidance is suggested and some material may not be suitable for children; PG-13-parents are strongly cautioned and some material may be inappropriate for children under 13; R-Restricted, under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian; and NC-17- no one 17 and under admitted” (Movie Ratings).
Going to the movies is a favorite past-time event of American lives. A long time ago, however, there wasn’t any rating system. Making one seemed like a good idea at the time. Today, the system is still the same way and doesn’t fit today’s changed time. Therefore, the movie rating system should be revised because the current rating system is outdated.
In this film, I believe the filmmakers presented the topic well and made sure it was not baised. It showed the individuals personal lives to where we as the viewers were not judging
This influences society’s perceptions on sex and its relations through its references and messages it delivers throughout the series. It is a program not recommended for young children as the sexual content - such as masturbation, prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases and depictions of sex - is too frequent and this media source forms negative and potentially false implications of sexuality for
Media self-regulation occurs when organizations voluntarily obey decisions passed by a board of people associated with media. There are many examples of attempts at media self-regulation in the U.S all with varying degrees of success. It is evident that there are some very successful regulations because there are rating on movies and video games, and the fact that there is a lack of mature content on television channels labeled “children’s” channels and during times when there may be more children watching other “regular” channels. However, even these are only transient successes. It is possible to release unrated movies, the only reason there are not so many is that very few cinemas will show unrated films. Furthermore, there is still mature programming playin...
This film really focuses on the characters. Their thoughts, anger, distress, and mistakes become part of your mistakes. This deals with a father’s s priority and how he will achieve that priority by using unethical ways like torturing an innocent man. Bringing up child abduction and torture are