Understanding the Motion Picture Ratings

Yesterday we talked about the V-chip and television ratings, but what about movies? Do you understand how movies are rating and what those motion picture ratings mean?

Why are movies rated?
In the 1960s the country was going through a lot of changes. We entered the Vietnam War. People began protesting the war. We had Woodstock and hippies. There was an ideal of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Civil rights was a big issue. Movies were depicting incidents from the real world and parents were concerned about what their kids might see. With parents asking for some regulation, the motion picture industry (including theater owners) came together to create the Classification and Ratings Board which then came up with the ratings system. The ratings system gave parents an idea about what kind of content they could expect in the movie so the parent could make the decision about whether or not their child should see the movie.

Just like the television ratings, motion pictures ratings are voluntary. However, most movies do have a rating. Without a rating they run the risk of being denied by the movie theaters. And there’s really no point in making a movie if the movie theaters won’t show it.

How are movies rated?
Movies are rated by the Ratings Board in Los Angeles, California. The board consists of around 10 to 13 members who’s full-time job is to watch movies and collectively come up with a rating. Qualifications for Board members are a shared parenthood experience, intelligent maturity and the ability to think like a parent so they can apply a rating parents will find suitable. The Board has been very successful. Recent polls show that 78% of parents with kids under 13 found the ratings to be helpful.

What are the motion pictures ratings?
In the beginning there were four ratings with the intention of really only using three of them. Those ratings were:

• G for General Audiences where all ages are admitted.
• M for Mature audiences where parental guidance is suggested but all ages are admitted.
• R for Restricted where children under 16 are not to be admitted without an accompanying parent or adult guardian
• X for no one under 17 admitted

The thought was most films would be rated either general, mature or restricted with the ‘X’ rating being used mostly for films that did not want to be rated. However, many parents found these ratings to be a little confusing. Many thought the ‘M’ rating was a stronger rating than the ‘R’ rating. And then the ‘X’ rating took on a life of it’s own as a rating for pornography.

So in the 90s the ratings were revised to the current ratings. Today’s ratings are:

• G for General Audiences. A G-rated film is not necessarily geared towards children, but it should be fine for young children to see. There is no coarse language, no nudity, sex scenes or drug use and depictions of violence are minimal.
• PG for Parental Guidance Suggested. Some parents may find a PG-rated film to not be suitable for younger children. These films have more mature themes than a G-rated film and may include some profanity, some depiction of violence or mild brief nudity. There is no drug use in a PG-rated film.
• PG-13 for Parental Guidance Suggested for children under the age of 13. A PG-13 film may go beyond a PG film in theme, violence, language and/or sexual content, but it is still not strong enough to warrant the restricted R category. This is the first category where you may see some drug use. There may be a little more than brief nudity, but it is generally not sexually oriented. There may be some violence, but it is not both realistic and extreme nor is it persistent. There may be stronger language, but the use of more than one harsh sexually-derived word (words like the f-word) typically gets the movie an R rating.
• R for Restricted. A child under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. These films may include adult themes and activities, harsh language, intense or persistent violence, sexually situations and nudity, drug abuse or more. Parents are encouraged to find out more about R rated movies and the Board considers it inappropriate for a parent to bring a child to an R-rated movie.
• NC-17 for no one 17 and younger admitted…even if an adult is present. This does not mean the film is “obscene” or “pornographic” but it does have adult themes and content that is not suitable for children. This may include violence, sex, drug abuse or anything else meant strictly for an adult audience.

How do you feel about the movie rating system? Do you think the Board usually gets it right? Or do you think sometime PG-13 is a little too risqué for your 12-year-old?

For more information check out the Motion Picture Association of America website.