Advanced Essay #4: MPAA and America

The ratings system in America has been dominated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) since 1922. This was a way to categorize movies and prevent innocent moviegoers from seeing horrifying movies. In principle the MPAA is a perfect system, however, in execution it has many flaws. The ratings system reflects the ideals of our nation, and what is and is not acceptable to show. This causes there to be many inconsistencies with what is and isn't acceptable. Murder and death are okay, but language and love aren’t. The presence of violence in America also allows us to act more violently towards other nations. The pedestal we out violence is a dangerous one, and something that could lead to serious consequences. Our country needs to reevaluate its priorities in terms of what is and isn’t acceptable.

    The prime example of a problem with the ratings system is between Indiana Jones and The Breakfast Club. The image shown is from the movie The Breakfast Club, which was released in 1985 with an R rating. Meaning that only people who wanted to see it needed to be either 17 or have a parent or guardian with them. This doesn’t make sense when you really look into the content of the movie. This movie features a heavy amount of profanity and sexual innuendos. There is also a scene where the characters get high, but that's as risky as the movie gets.

    I could understand it getting an R rating, if not for Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom being rated PG with much more gore and violence in it. Released in 1984, a year earlier than the Breakfast Club, had many scenes of gore and violence. The scene in question is where the antagonist rips the heart out of Indiana Jones, literally. The villain did not crush his spirit or metaphorically rip his heart out, the villain literally pulls the still beating heart out of him. This scene is shown with little ambiguity, showing the event in full. This movie was marketed as an all-ages action adventure movie. This reflects the views of America of violence and war being okay, but language and sex not being okay.

The standards for censorship in America are insanely divided, with extremes on both sides. The way we value violence, over language or sex is astonishing. Ratings can also impact the quality of films upon release. Many films have whole subplots cut out to keep a specific rating. The movie Babylon A.D. was originally supposed to be rated R, until the studio wanted to shoot for a PG-13 rating. The new rating was supposed to make the movie more accessible and appeal to a wider audience, but instead it ruined the movie. Babylon A.D. became a generic science fiction movie with a director swearing off the project entirely. The director even campaigned for people to not see the movie instead of promoting it.

An advisor of the MPAA had this to say about the current situation of the ratings system, “"Often, filmmakers are completely surprised by the MPAA and their opinion on what constitutes suitable material for a particular age group," said Fridkin. "The need to re-shoot can be cost prohibitive, while these suggested edits can detract from the director’s vision. However, Barry and I, having been longtime raters, are able to catch these ‘issues’ early on. We can prevent the need for heavy-handed editing as a result of what the filmmaker perceives as a mis-rated film." This shows how even people involved in the process understand that there are issues that need fixing. The ratings system is a very powerful tool when used properly, but can sometimes be censoring art and content from being made, while trying to protect audiences. I’m not saying we should destroy the ratings system entirely, but it could use a serious overhaul. The system in place inhibits art and creativity, and values violence over sex. It’s harder to show the creation of a life than the end of one.

Okay great, we have identified some of the problems of the MPAA, such as the glorification of violence and restrictive nature. How do we fix these problems, and more importantly, what cause them. The United States has a long history of violence and war, which come out in our movies’ themes. The western was an entire genre dedicated to America’s conquest of the west, and the American dream. Violence and militarism are still shown in many movies today not just a relic of an old genre. Marvel movies, which originally started as small nerd movies, eventually rose to some of the most iconic characters of our time. Marvel movies, also feature an incredible amount of violence, not as much as Indiana Jones. Those movies, also feature armies and military organizations as prominent characters. These movies are incredibly popular and some of the highest grossing movies of all time. This reflects society's views about what is acceptable and what isn’t.

America always likes to be the good guy, even when it's doing the wrong thing. The movies and popular culture reflect that view of violence being okay, and language and sex being bad. This helps to desensitize audiences to violence, so when we learn about our past, present, and future wars we can accept it easier. The presence of violence in America also allows us to act more violently towards other nations. The pedestal we out violence is a dangerous one, and something that could lead to serious consequences. Our country needs to reevaluate its priorities in terms of what is and isn’t acceptable.

Bernstein, Paula. "How The MPAA Really Works And How to Get The Rating You Want." Indiewire. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-the-mpaa-really-works-and-how-to-get-the-rating-you-want-20140702

Billington, Alex. "Babylon A.D.'s Mathieu Kassovitz Opens Up About Fox Negatively." FirstShowing.net RSS. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/babylon-ads-mathieu-kassovitz-opens-negatively-up-about-fox/