The Rating System

I went and saw ET last night and it had a lot of cussing for a pg movie, then Spud brought up the fact that 16 candles had a topless girl in it and it was rated pg, Titanic had kate wonslet topless and it was rated pg-13.

What are your thoughts on the system, and how does it work?

i thought it was-
G- nothing, deaths can only be seen by someone falling off screen or something like that, you cant actually see the person die.
PG movies can have no nudity at all, and limited cussing with only one use of sh|t
PG-13 movies can have as many "S" words as they want but only one "F" word. They also can have only partial nudity.
R can have basically anything, as long as its not a porn.

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-Hollywood Video rental guy to me

I've noted that rating system is much more specific. I even saw this after a PG-13 rating: " Some scenes with teens drinking alcohol"

The U.S.'s rating system is one of the poorest in the world. It smiles on violence and profanity, but any mention of sexuality whatsoever garners it an R rating. Something about that disgusts me. I'll point to two examples: Almost Famous and Amelie - movies that are pretty much harmless in every way, and were rated R for scenes involving sexuality. These two films are grouped in the same category as Hannibal and Eyes Wide Shut (the latter of which was edited for its American release, for sexual content...but I'll stay away from that one for right now).

Coupled with the problems afflicting the R rating, the PG-13 rating is now sickeningly lax when it comes to violence and swear words. What the MPAA seems to be saying is that watching people get their brains blown out is okay for youngsters, but a breast is not.

There's a sort of sick desperation in the MPAA's ratings system that reflects our society as a whole. The repression of sexual content (however mild it may be) is what leads to the astronomical number of rapes and sex crimes in the U.S.

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That doesn't make complete sense. If it did, why on earth would sex be the one dominant theme through most of our media? It's all over TV, the movies, the Internet. It's rampant. And yet you talk about it all being hidden away and repressed.

Well, let me say this: there is a fine line between protecting young people and "repressing" sex. If what you call repressing sex consists of making sure young children cannot view nudity without their parents consent, then I'm all for it. As for violence as compared to sex: I've talked about it before, and given my reasons as to why I don't think the two are completely comparable.

Steve, I don't buy it. Instinct, for example gets an R for violence and attitude that isn't gruesome or scary. No sex in the movie AT ALL. On the other hand, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me got a PG-13 with all kinds of sexual innuendos, bathroom humor and penis talk. The ratings are very inconsistent, but I just don't see the whole "Violence is good, sex is bad" thing in the ratings.

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Oh, something I just thought of on the nudity subject.. The IMDb says that Sixteen Candles is PG, but I have a video tape of it and the PG-13 sign pops up before the movie starts. I also remember thinking it was PG-13 when it was out in the theaters, but that was a long time ago. I do remember seeing a fully naked Jennifer Beals in the PG-13 The Bride. I think the story behind all that is that when PG-13 first came out it was supposed to mostly take movies away from the R rating, and a year or two after the rating came out it was decided to take more movies away from PG than R.

I believe with nudity it depends on the context. Nudity by itself is okay, nudity during sex is not, thats according to the MPAA atleast.

In my opinion a naked body never hurt anyone and many problems in this country, such as teenage self-esteem, eating disorders, and some sex crimes, could be reduced if people were more accepting of their bodies and others.

There is nothing sexual about nudity and male children who grow up as nudists grow up with a healthier attitude about sex and have more respect for women - they see them as more than a sexual object.

In European countries things are much better, nudity is not a big deal and is very common.

When someone grows up ashamed of their body its when you have a problem.

Nudity, and sex for that matter, are both natural things, they aren't evil, they aren't wrong.

Swearing is the same way. How can these words have so much power? They're words? How can there be an evil word? It makes no sense. It is just a word.

Violence on the other hand, well that causes all sorts of problems.

The good news is attitudes are progressing. Nudity and vulgarity are becoming more acceptable, violence is becoming less acceptable. PEople now say ass or bitch on primetime network TV, and there is even occasional nudity (a naked butt, or more if there is a disclaimer first). Such things would not be seen 25 years ago.

In regards to ratings, 18 for Rated R and 17 for NC-17 is ridiculous.

They need to change these. Change R to PG-16, NC-17 change to NC-18. Honestly most kids who are 16 are already doing the things depicted in R movies, letting them watch it is no big deal.

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It's the idea behind the word that makes it powerful. The anger behind it, usually. Sure, all words are just words, but it's the fact that people choose to use them that means something. They use those words to represent their thought, and if they use harsh forms of vulgarity, they usually know they're doing so...it's why they chose those words.

That's the same thing, I think, as people saying nudity is "just skin." Well, no, it's not just skin. If It were, there'd be no difference between a short-sleeve t-shirt and being completely naked.

Yes, some people make a big deal of it, but to imply that sex is oppressed overall in this country is incorrect, I think. It's everywhere. What's usually oppressed is the, in my opinion, outrageous idea that abstinence or teaching your children to control themselves somehow consists of sexual repression.

I've always thought the rating system in the U.S was a tad pathetic. There really has to be a better classify movies such as American Beauty. Sure it had some adult themes, but I've seen PG-13 movies that I deemed quite a bit more offensive. Granted, if people actually read the entire rating (for example R, for graphic violence and explicit nudity) they will get a better idea of why the film received its rating. It just seems to me that there could be a better way to classify sex, violence, language, etc. I know quite a few people under the age of 16 who are more than intelligent enough to see a movie like American Beauty, but they aren't allowed in b/c of their age. Then again, there are certain movies I won't want my children to see until they are older, primarily b/c of excessive violence and sexuality (not necessarily nudity, there's a difference).

I agree with aspen on swearing. Commish, if I say to you, "Holy S***! That's great!" when you tell me you got a raise, am I being negative or angry? No one can give me a good reason why most of these words are BAD; some people inexplicably get offended by the words, and that is THEIR problem, in my opinion. I won't swear in certain situations, but that is my tolerance and patience at work, not some kind of admission that there is something wrong with the words.

Whoa, I never realized that American Beauty is rated R until I checked my DVD!

I don't know how I feel about it... I was 16 when I first saw it, so I've got a bias. What would AB have been like to me if I saw it at 13? I did change a lot between those three years. AB deals with a lot of sexuality, something I wasn't very confident about at 13 (though, I am now since I'm a Sexy Celebrity) . Maybe, had I seen movies like AB when I was 13 or younger (and I could have, but nothing like AB was out), I would have been more confident. I was always into horror films as a kid, so I grew up watching violence after violence.

I don't think American Beauty would be harmful to kids - maybe one blood-soaked shot near the end. There is nothing in Almost Famous that forced an R rating. And Amelie and Billy Elliot's classifications are a joke.

In comparison, Amelie is rated 7 in Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, U in France (that means suitable for any age), 6 in Germany! In Britain it is over 15s and in The United States you must be 17 or have a guardian with you. The English speaking world is still so repressed when it comes to nudity and sex. It's frightening.

Billy Elliot got classified with an R because of its language. Give me a break. If there is a child out there who hasn't heard the "F" word by the time they're six then I haven't met them yet. Swearwords are only dangerous if they are kept hidden. If the child says them without their parent's knowledge. Like sex, it's only dangerous when it's not out in the open.

Violence is the opposite, it is more dangerous when expressed.

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I couldn't believe that she knew my name. Some of my best friends didn't know my name.

Sex populates, Violence de-populates.

No, you're not being negative. Look at what I said: I said that the meaning and intention behind the words is what matters. Harsh words are used because they are thought of as harsh. You might as well ask why ANY word has ANY meaning. There are strong words, and weak words. People say "great" instead of "good" when they want to emphasize just how very good it is, just as some people want to emphasize their anger or excitement with other words...and sometimes they emphasize anger or hatred with what we know as swear words. Dismissing them as "just words" is missing the point, IMO. Sure, they're words...but it's not words that mean anything at all, it's the thoughts you're expressing with them. Therefore, yes, they're just words, but all words are just words...so I would not say swear words carry no weight at all.

Yeah, like.... Sexy Celebrity sounds hotter than Cute Celebrity.

Cool. I think I misunderstood you before.

For anyone who cars;

This is how I'd say the NZ rating system goes.
Its quite a bit different to US

G
PG
M (suitable for mature audiences only)
R-13
R-15
R-16
R-18


M is what the majority of movies get and it's pretty stupid 'cause just about anyone can go and buy a ticket as they can say they are 'mature'

R-13 is usually reserved to horror films e.g. The Blair Witch Project

R-15 is almost always reserved for graphic war films e.g. Saving Private Ryan

R-16 goes to movies with very offensive language, or those with drug, alcohol or sexual abuse. (also nudity)

R-18 anything that is listed below that is too over the top to be rated as anything less.

E.T. blows. The new version, in a successful attempt to make it even more repulsive than the original, has ommitted the scene with the cop and his gun, and has changed it to a cop and his walkie talkie. How queer is that?

Politically correct, knee-jerk, liberal dingleberries.

Someday, I will watch E.T.. Right after I eat an entire box of Cap'n Crunch cereal.

I personaly think the rating system is horrible. Ive seen some PG13 movies that were worse then R movies!

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I think it's horrible because you're bound to have horribleness in any such system.

"Democracy is the worst form of government...except for all the others." -- Winston Churchill

It might suck because everything's going to suck...because by definition, any system that has to set general ratings over films is going to suck in some scenarios. Who knows?