So, I watched an interesting documentary the other day - This Film is Not Yet Rated. The director explored (or "exposed" as the tagline states) the American movie ratings board and how ratings were established.
He interviewed a number of directors (Matt Stone, Kevin Smith, Kimberly Peirce, John Waters, etc) about their experiences with the ratings boards. It was fascinating to hear that the ratings board is comprised of "anonymous" parents and there was no reasonable guideline for rating movies.
So for example...
Boys Don't Cry (a great movie, btw) originally received a rating of NC-17. You would think, if you saw the movie, that this was due to some violence like the main character being ass-raped or shot but nope. It was due to the scene of Chloe Sevigny having an orgasm. The scene was a bit too long and she was exuding too much pleasure.
Seriously?
The Cooler also received an original rating of NC-17 because of once scene that showed a split-second shot of Maria Bello's pubic hair. PUBIC HAIR.
A Dirty Shame was originally rate NC-17 but I don't think I need to explain why...
and the list goes on. What's so peculiar is that what sways the ratings board to pick an NC-17 rating is the portrayal of sex. Yet... violence (i.e. any action movie) is not scrutinized.
It seems a little backwards, no? Apparently Europe also has a ratings system but their ratings are doled out in the opposite manner of the U.S. Depictions of sex/sexuality are okay but they heavily scrutinize violence.
I mean, if you watch an action movie - most of the violence is shown without consequence. Half the time there isn't even any blood! No wonder we're so desensitized to it.
I watched another movie recently - The Bridge. Its a documentary about the Golden Gate Bridge and its notoriety as being the #1 suicide destination. Its a real feel good movie.
Anyways - while I also found it incredibly fascinating, it was a little disturbing. We watched several people plummet to their death. The most disturbing part of it though was how "not real" it seemed to me. I realized that I have been desensitized to death and that's just a really scary thought to me... especially since seeing a wiener in a movie brings out the giggly 4th grader in me.
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6 comments:
omg I'm so renting the cooler.
oh, one more thing. When I was in 5th grade I somehow was able to rent/view all Faces of Death volumes. This should explain a lot about me and why no gore, real or moviemode has any effect on me at all. I'm talking no effect whatsoever.
First, This Film is Not Yet Rated is an amazing documentary. Particularly those PIs... Hot Mamas.
I think you are going to see more and more films skip the ratings board. The internet lets people put out their work without ever going through the board and still make some money.
I t will be interesting to see, if this model really takes off, which direction more american film makes go, More sex or More violence?
~*one of my first memories of you was finding out your obsession w/ serial killer books. and this was when we first moved in together! and then...you made me watch rocky horror picture show, boys dont cry, and the best was when we saw *final destination! you're such a movie buff. love it!
I heard about that Bridge movie! Crazy, huh?
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