Can You Watch It - How the MPAA Decide
By J Monroe

The Motion Picture Association of America may well be a voluntary body, the classification system it offers gives guidance only with no standing in law, but let's not kid ourselves about this guys and girls - these people decide whether you can watch something or not. Why? Because everything in the good ole US of A now is about chains and corporations. If a cinema chain voluntary belongs to the MPAA then it probably won't show your unrated movie. Snap goes for a video outlet. It might not make a difference if few companies submitted to the MPAAs classification system but a lot of the big outlets do.

Take these figures with a pinch of salt, but according to the MPAA website, 85% of cinemas in the USA voluntarily subscribe to the MPAA ratings system and refuse to screen NC-17 movies. Think about it - without an MPAA rating, or if your movie gets classified as NC-17, that's 85 out of every 100 cinemas that probably won't screen your film. Don't fool yourself, that's a huge chunk of profits gone. If you're movie is going to be a huge commercial success in the US then it needs an MPAA rating. There's a knock on effect as well. Many publications won't carry advertisements for your movie either. Many video outlets may not stock it. Your movie may be the bomb content wise, but commercially it's likely to be in trouble.

With all that in mind, I thought it a good idea to look at just how the MPAA classifies all these films, and also just who is doing the deciding.

Let's start out with the ratings themselves :

G: General audience. All ages admitted.

PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13: Parents cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13

R: Restricted. Under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17: No one 17 and under admitted

Probably the only ones that need concern us here are the 2 final ones. R Restricted and NC-17.

The MPAA website gives us the following advice for an R rated film :

"In the opinion of the Rating Board, this film definitely contains some adult material. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about this film before they allow their children to accompany them. An R-rated film may include strong language, violence, nudity, drug abuse, other elements, or a combination of the above, so parents are counseled in advance to take this advisory rating very seriously."

and for an NC-17 film :

"This rating declares that the Rating Board believes this is a film that most parents will consider patently too adult for their youngsters under 17. No children will be admitted. NC-17 does not necessarily mean obscene or pornographic; in the oft-accepted or legal meaning of those words. The Board does not and cannot mark films with those words. These are legal terms for courts to decide. The reasons for the application of an NC-17 rating can be excessive violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or any other elements which, when present, most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children."

Unless I am reading those wrong, the basic gist is that too extreme/too much of what would get a film an R rating is going to get it a NC-17 rating. Sounds a minor distinction on paper, but in the real world the difference it has can be huge. Think back to our opening paragraph. Going on the MPAAs figures, approximately 85% of US cinemas will not show your movie if it has an NC-17 rating. 85% man. That sure isn't going to do your box office figures any good is it? Many films are going to be faced with the stark choice - censor the film so that it receives an R rating, or keep the film intact and risk commercial death because few outlets will screen an NC-17 rated film.

You see the power that this voluntary organization wields now? Don't think anyone can dodge it by not submitting their movies for classification, an unrated film is going to suffer similar problems for distribution as a NC-17 rated one. It's a voluntary organization, your freedom of artistic expression is intact - it's just that it's going to be a whole lot harder (and less profitable) making yourself heard without the MPAAs approval. Make no mistake about it, this voluntary body can often wield the power of life and death over a movie.

Just who at the MPAA decides what rating a film gets? Well, here the mystery deepens. It's an anonymous panel, whose identities are strictly guarded, but who we are assured come from all walks of life and represent all aspects of American life. That's it. A few fairly reliable sources have speculated upon the make up of the panellists, but hedged about with secrecy as it is, these details cannot be verified by this writer. Nor are the panellists themselves likely to speak out - they are all bound by strict confidentiality clauses. We don't even know how much they are paid. The anonymity may well have a plus in that it means the panellists can't be bribed by the studios, or intimidated by fans, but it does little to make the ratings process transparent.

These panellists meet, view a movie, and rate it. There are some rudimentary guidelines on the type of content which should attract certain ratings, but a lot is left to their own feelings on the movie. They give the movie a rating. They also give some very broad suggestions on how the movies rating can be reduced from an NC-17 to an R rated movie. All information suggests that these suggestions are very general. Then, the ball is in the movie producers court. They can accept the rating, or make cuts and resubmit the film, or appeal. Apparently appeals do not succeed very often.

A number of sources have suggested that the reason why nothing more than a very broad and non specific recommendation about cuts required to achieve a lower certificate is given by the MPAA is because of issues over the First Ammendment. By avoiding giving specific details of cuts required then they can avoid getting into murky waters with peoples freedom of speech.

And there you have it. In a nutshell, that's how the MPAA decide what rating a movie gets, which in turn heavily effects the number of cinemas that will screen it, outlets stock it, and so forth.

I won't get into the debate over whether the MPAA is good for the film industry or bad for it (although, my views are probably fairly evident throughout this text) since this article was just to outline the procedures behind MPAA decisions and the impact which they can have upon a films commercial success, but perhaps in some future article I will tackle these points and try to provide further information.