The MPAA
- TechNoir
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:32 pm
The MPAA
Interesting news from Variety, by way of IFC.
NEWS FLASH FROM IFC: MPAA CHANGES FILM RATINGS RULES
THANKS TO YOU, THEY'RE CHANGING THE RULES!
Thanks to your support of the IFC documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated", the MPAA is making improvements in the rating system.
NEWS FLASH FROM IFC: MPAA CHANGES FILM RATINGS RULES
THANKS TO YOU, THEY'RE CHANGING THE RULES!
Thanks to your support of the IFC documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated", the MPAA is making improvements in the rating system.
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- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:43 am
The best thing about the rating system in the US, depsite the many flaws with it as show in the doco, is that distributors can release a film unrated. Whereas in Australia, ALL films have to be rated which then opens the possibility of them being given an RC (Refused Classification) which is effectively a ban.
- Antoine Doinel
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
- Location: Montreal, Quebec
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Here's feedback from the filmmakers of This Film Is Not Yet Rated on why the MPAA "changes" are still effectively useless in creating a fair and open system:
[quote]
When This Film is Not Yet Rated preemed at Sundance 2006, producers Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt knew they'd be doing more research and editing before its release, and they said it might be an ongoing project. Voila! While the MPAA's execs are in Sundance to announce a number of alterations to the ratings system, Dick and Schmidt in town as well. From the press release about their continued adversary role (in its entirety in extended entry): “The MPAA's reforms simply address the public's perceptions of the system, rather than affecting real change in the system itself,â€
[quote]
When This Film is Not Yet Rated preemed at Sundance 2006, producers Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt knew they'd be doing more research and editing before its release, and they said it might be an ongoing project. Voila! While the MPAA's execs are in Sundance to announce a number of alterations to the ratings system, Dick and Schmidt in town as well. From the press release about their continued adversary role (in its entirety in extended entry): “The MPAA's reforms simply address the public's perceptions of the system, rather than affecting real change in the system itself,â€
- MichaelB
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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It's the same in Britain (aside from documentaries and music videos, which are exempt unless they contain graphic sexual/violent imagery), though in practice it's now exceptionally rare for a classification to be refused - the system was massively liberalised five or six years ago as a happy side-effect of the incorporation of European human rights legislation into UK law.marty wrote:The best thing about the rating system in the US, depsite the many flaws with it as show in the doco, is that distributors can release a film unrated. Whereas in Australia, ALL films have to be rated which then opens the possibility of them being given an RC (Refused Classification) which is effectively a ban.
Basically, to get a film actually banned in Britain it generally has to break the law in some way - animal cruelty and sexual activity involving children being the hardest ones to get round (as the law doesn't admit context or artistic merit as a defence). Plus of course films that are effectively banned by the underlying copyright holders (Ken Russell's Dance of the Seven Veils being my favourite example), but there's nothing a ratings/classification body can do about that!
- MichaelB
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Oh, and in Britain the rules generally apply only to video - provided the relevant local authority is sympathetic, cinemas can show films unrated.
I regularly used to have to write to the tellingly-named Camden Environmental Health and Consumer Services Department for permission to screen unclassified films, but they always said yes.
I regularly used to have to write to the tellingly-named Camden Environmental Health and Consumer Services Department for permission to screen unclassified films, but they always said yes.
- Antoine Doinel
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- toiletduck!
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- lord_clyde
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- Belmondo
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- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Not to mention Now, Voyager!lord_clyde wrote:Wow, that means the entire film noir genre just got a collective NC-17 rating.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
- kinjitsu
- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:39 pm
- Location: Uffa!
An amusing take from NPR's All Thing's Considered.
- Antoine Doinel
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Antoine Doinel wrote:What film rating are you?
You got 9 out of 10 correct.
You are rated NC-17. Your tastes are not shared by everyone, but your refusal to be censored — and your fearless embrace of complicated sex — should be applauded. Bravo!
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
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- tryavna
- Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:38 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Same here. And I've probably only seen about 50% of the films they used as examples.SncDthMnky wrote:You got 9 out of 10 correct.
You are rated NC-17. Your tastes are not shared by everyone, but your refusal to be censored — and your fearless embrace of complicated sex — should be applauded. Bravo!
- Oedipax
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
- Location: Atlanta
I wasn't sure where to post this, so I figured it might as well go in an older thread about the MPAA. In one of the most galling rulings in recent years that I can recall, the MPAA has rejected the poster (!) for Alex Gibney's new documentary on the U.S.'s use of torture, Taxi to the Dark Side, calling it "inappropriate." Variety has this to say about the MPAA's rationale:
More from Variety (emphasis mine):
Here's the image in question:According to ThinkFilm distribution prexy Mark Urman, the reason given by the Motion Picture Assn. of America for rejecting the poster is the image of the hood, which the MPAA deemed unacceptable in the context of such horror films as "Saw" and "Hostel."
More from Variety (emphasis mine):
Fuck the MPAA!An MPAA spokesman said: "We treat all films the same. Ads will be seen by all audiences, including children. If the advertising is not suitable for all audiences it will not be approved by the advertising administration."
The MPAA also rejected the one-sheet for Roadside Attractions' 2006 film "The Road to Guantanamo," which featured a hooded prisoner hanging from his handcuffed wrists. At the time, according to Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions, the reason given was that the burlap bag over the prisoner's head depicted torture, which was not appropriate for children to see.
"Not permitting us to use an image of a hooded man that comes from a documentary photograph is censorship, pure and simple," said producer, writer and director Gibney. "Intentional or not, the MPAA's disapproval of the poster is a political act, undermining legitimate criticism of the Bush administration. I agree that the image is offensive; it's also real."
ThinkFilm plans to appeal the ruling, although Urman admitted that he "doesn't know what that entails. I've only appealed ratings before."
If ThinkFilm ignores the MPAA and uses materials that have not been approved, it runs the risk of having the rating revoked, which is what happened earlier this year to "Captivity."
The "Taxi" ad art is actually an amalgam of two pictures. The first, taken by Corbis photographer Shaun Schwarz, features the hooded prisoner and one soldier. Another military figure was added on the left. Ironically, the original Schwarz photo was censored by the military, which erased his camera's memory. The photographer eventually retrieved the image from his hard drive.
"It's the photo that would not die," Gibney said. "This movie is not a horror film like 'Hostel.' This is a documentary and that image is a documentary image."
- Antoine Doinel
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Watch or download This Movie Is Not Yet Rated at Google Video for free.
- MichaelB
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Either that or make it the exact equivalent of the 18 rating that's very common across Europe - adults-only, but with no stigma attached, no restrictions on advertising or exhibition and (in general) no censorship, because most European adults are allowed to think for themselves. (Believe it or not, this even applies in Britain, since the massive BBFC liberalisation of a few years ago).Raoul Duke wrote:What they need to do is get rid of "NC-17" and just have the R rating be the be all end all rating and let filmmakers put as much sex and violence as they want in films that have R ratings. It's stupid to do anything else.
For the record, Sweeney Todd got an 18 in Britain, and it appears to be doing OK.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
I'm confused with what you can get away with now in a PG-13. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly contains copious amounts of both male and female nudity and Away From Her includes three uses of the word "fuck"-- how did they both get PG-13? It's not like kids were clamoring to see these films anyways but still
- Belmondo
- Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:19 am
- Location: Cape Cod
Remember when MIDNIGHT COWBOY was rated X for reasons which are now impossible to discern? Remember when ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN was rated R because Woodward and Bernstein are told - "alright; you're on the story; don't fuck it up."?domino harvey wrote:I'm confused with what you can get away with now in a PG-13. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly contains copious amounts of both male and female nudity and Away From Her includes three uses of the word "fuck"-- how did they both get PG-13? It's not like kids were clamoring to see these films anyways but still
I guess the new PG-13 standard is that you can get naked and say "fuck" as long as you don't get naked, say "fuck" and then do it.