This Film Is Not Yet Rated review

[alobear]

This is a documentary about the MPAA, it's unnecessarily secretive dealings and its apparently arbitrary ratings system, which seems to have more to do with studio power games than actual film content. Obviously, since it was made by people who are very suspicious of the MPAA, its couched in fairly biased terms, but its entertaining and raises a lot of questions about censorship, the artistic merits of sex and violence, as well as the ins and outs of how and why films are rated in America. Overall, pretty good.

Comments

[vampadvocate.livejournal.com]

We saw it too and it is good. The one thing that occured to me though that although the way the ratings board is run in America is wrong that this is only part of the problem.

The other part of the problem is the extent to which NC-17 films are marginalised and become difficult to see. In this country our equivalent 18 rating does mean that a film will not be widely distributed, most multi-plexs from what I've seen to be showing at least one 18 rated film.

I think that the demonisation of NC-17 rated films is also something that America needs to address. Why can't grown-ups see grown-up rated films that address strong material. An NC-17 rating should not be the box office poison that it is.

[alobear.livejournal.com]

I agree, and that was the other thing that struck me about the film. It reminded me of the court cases Neil Gaiman talks about on his blog - people being arrested for selling adult comics to adult undercover policemen. It makes very little sense to persecute film-makers for making films that they are more than willing to admit are adult in nature - it's right that they should have the NC-17 rating to advertise a film appropriately, but that should be all that's needed to warn people that it's an adult film; it shouldn't be stopped from being shown at all.