Rated R for Retrograde Culture

Linklater’s seminal work Boyhood (2014) received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPPA) for “sexual references, and for teen drug and alcohol use.” Expendables 3 (2014) is a mere PG-13, even the last half hour is mud-caked massacre. The answer as to why either of these films received the ratings they did is unknown. MPAA does not release reports or its deliberations, nor does it clarify which scenes tipped a film into another rating. Even the names of the members of the ratings board are kept secret, and yet almost every film distributed in the states is forced to receive rating from the MPAA.

The MPAA ratings board is now in its 48th year. It was started when Jack Valenti, then President of the MPAA, decided to update the out-of-date Hays Code. This was partly to accommodate the stronger language of new films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). And to avoid the government from stepping in to censor. Valenti set up the ratings system as an act of self policing by the major studios. The MPAA began with G, M, R, and X. M became PG, PG-13 was added thanks to the ‘light’ violence of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Gremlins (1984), and X became NC-17 in 1990 because the MPAA realized that many movies are only suitable for adults while not being pornographic. Most of the controversy surrounding the MPAA is whether a film receives an R or NC-7. The difference is in the millions of dollars, even tens of millions of dollars in box office revenue. Advertisers won’t showcase NC-17 movies, neither do many major video purchase chains (nowadays Walmart). Most major theatre chains don’t show them either, leaving distribution very small. More than that, it definitely affects what teenagers can watch. It’s important that a teenager is allowed to develop freely in a culture uncensored, where information and ideas are accessible. The MPAA doesn’t do that. Sexuality beyond cursory nudity gets NC-17. At the same time, the MPAA is far more lenient about violence. In the middle of their psychosexual development, teenagers are bombarded with violence and are left in the dark about meaningful sex.

Author Margaret Atwood said, “Literature is an uttering, or outering, of the human imagination. It puts the shadowy forms of thought and feeling -heaven, hell, monsters, angels, and all- out into the light, where we can take a good look at them and perhaps come to a better understanding of who we are and what we want, and what our limits may be. Understanding the imagination is no longer a pastime or even a duty but a necessity, because increasingly, if we can imagine something, we’ll be able to do it” (Atwood).

While film somewhat takes away some of the imaginative agency of the viewer, her main point still rings true. Film magnifies the world around us, allowing us to have better perception. The MPAA robs teenagers of having a full dialogue. The MPAA is less about protecting the youth than moralizing culture through their secret arbitrations.

If too much sexual pleasure is shown, it is NC-17. If the thrust count is too high, NC-17. Most films are forced into only showing missionary-style sex positions. The gender and orientation of the sexual partner plays an outsized role in what rating  movie gets. The Cooler (2003) got an NC-17 because there was a flash of female pubic hair and it lingered on Maria Bello’s climaxing face too long. Harvey Weinstein successfully appealed an NC-17 given for just such an offense in Blue Valentine (2010). Ryan Gosling called the NC-17 rating sexist, as there are many scenes of women giving fellatio to men in film without being upgrading from an R rating. Polygamy will also put you over. American Psycho (2000) was NC-17 until it cut 18 seconds. It wasn’t the chainsaw or the bloody axe murder, it was the threesome that the board found too troublesome.

Homosexuality will also count against a film. But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) and Boys Don’t Cry (1999) both received NC-17 ratings while American Pie (1999) and American Beauty (1999) escaped with an R. The difference is that the formers depicted same sex relationships. If these rules are really to protect teenagers they are wildly out of date. If not, they are arbitrary. The sex scenes that do make it through are either played for laughs or are cursory.  The Austin Powers franchise (1997-2002) is built entirely on sexual innuendoes yet it has a PG-13 rating.

The void left by any depiction of meaningful fulfilling sex is filled with violence, which the MPAA seems perfectly happy with. All of the gun violence a director can fit into a film receives a PG-13 rating as long as no blood is shown. This is troubling in itself, as its normalizing gun violence with no visual consequences. If gore is involved, no amount can get a film into NC-17. Sin City (2005), which is one of the most viscerally violent films of this century, is still an R.

The reason for the difference is that five decades of almost constant war has desensitized Americans and normalized violence. At the same time, the United States lags far behind Europe in normalizing sex, still clinging to its Puritan roots. That doesn’t mean the rules shouldn’t change in order to benefit the next generation.

Parent will always want to shield their children from the world. As social psychologist Ronald Cohen says, authorities have always  “attempted to publicly control, and even censor, teenagers’ access to various artifacts of mass culture-including magazines, music, comic books, movies, television and radio programs, and books. The motivation has been twofold: to shield the young from certain perceived pernicious influences and to encourage a national cultural uniformity/conformity” (Cohen). What is and isn’t in conformity should not be decided by a secret tribunal paid for by the studios. What’s acceptable should be decided by viewers. As Erika Christakis, a child development specialist, “To me, I think the social norming piece is really important because I believe we put way too much faith in these administrative guidelines, “suggestions” Is that really how behavior change happens? I don’t know. I think for some things…but for other things, I think peer norming is highly effective.” It should be an open process, a dialogue rather than commandments handed down from on high. Jack Valenti wanted to escape government oversight, but at least with a government body there is judicial oversight and legal recourse and the ability for the voting populace to create transparency in a system with huge power over culture. 

Atwood, Margaret. “The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake “In Context”.” PMLA, Special Topic: Science Fiction and Literary Studies: The Next Millennium. Vol. 119. No. 3 ((May, 2004)): pp. 513-517. Print.

Cohen, Ronald. “The Delinquents: Censorship and Youth Culture in Recent U.S. History.” History of Education Quarterly. 37.3 (1997): 251-270. Print.

Josephson WL. Television Violence: A Review of the Effects on Children of Different Ages. Ottawa: National Clearinghouse on Family Violence; 1995.