How many ratings for movies

As culture began to change in the s, the PCA became more difficult to enforce. Films were granted exceptions and rules were bent or ignored. In , Jack Valenti deemed the Hays Code was out of date and began its revision. Two years later, the modern film rating was born and hasn't changed much since then. The modern system has seen just four significant changes in the past 44 years; the original M rating was changed to GP then PG , the PG rating was added, X was changed to NC, and descriptor text has been added to highlight content.

There is no legal status afforded to the ratings; but, as with the Hays Code before them, the MPAA ratings serve as protection to theater owners so they have defense against showing objectionable material to minors. Some people think the rating board is a government agency, but it's not.

This is a huge problem, according to Kirby Dick , writer and director of the blistering and unrated documentary " This Film Is Not Yet Rated ," a film that explores how the ratings system works. If you control the rating system, you have the control that can give your films less restrictive ratings and the opportunity to give more restrictive ratings to your competitors.

Their full-time job is to watch movies and assign ratings. After a film has been reviewed by raters, it is assigned a rating. A rating may also carry a short bit of unhelpful and vague descriptive text, like "thematic elements" or "language," hinting at why the movie received its rating.

There are few hard and fast rules, but mostly guidelines. In general terms, a movie can include a single f-word, as long as it is not sexual in context, and retain a PG rating.

However, if the use is sexual or there is more than one instance, the rating becomes an R. Also, a little nudity is allowed in a PG, as long as it's not sexual - then it becomes an R. Further, if there is any reference to drugs or depictions of drug use or even a couple frames of drug paraphernalia, it is automatically at least a PG Beyond that, MPAA guidelines seem a little nebulous. While these are the rules most often followed, there are always exceptions. Volumes could be written about perceived inconsistencies, but, it might be argued that there are so few choices for ratings G, PG, PG, R, etc.

As Dick says "A lot of online ratings are far more useful [in providing film content information]. They [the MPAA] don't [pursue more useful ratings] on purpose — it's deliberate and planned.

The more minimal the ratings are, the more they are able to put their movies in a category they want. For an example of how important ratings can be and how poorly the MPAA's CRA sometimes does its job, let's take a closer look at a movie. In this case, let's look at The Dark Knight. Why The Dark Knight? Because it's been out long enough that many people have seen it and if you're a geek, there's a higher probability that you've seen it repeatedly.

What's more, there was some controversy surrounding the movie's content and rating when it was released. In fact, in other countries, The Dark Knight was prohibited for children under A parent might have also seen a preview or a movie and ascertained that Heath Ledger's chilling portrayal of a homicidal Joker might foreshadow some pretty mature scenes.

If we dig a little deeper and review the Parents Guide for the movie at the Internet Movie Database, we can see that in addition to the violence, there is a scene of some people caught in a sexual situation, a decent dose of profanity, and a scary scene of drug use, among mature scenes not mentioned in the MPAA rating.

These omissions are principal in the argument that MPAA ratings are outdated. They simply do not provide enough information. The secondary argument and the one that is more subjective is that the ratings are inaccurate and there is too much inconsistency in how they are applied.

While your kids might be mature enough to handle the violence and mature themes of The Dark Knight , you should be able to recognize that other kids of an equal age may not be. Before parents expose their kids to these stories, it would be helpful to have adequate information to make that decision.

Information that's already being compiled by various outlets. A number of Web sites offer movie ratings for parents, supplying information that's actionable for parents. Since its inception, the Ratings Board of the MPAA—an eleven-member board made up of parents who are not employed by the entertainment industry—has been mired in controversy.

The board has been accused of being more lenient to major studios, granting them more acceptable ratings compared to those given to independent and foreign films.

The board is charged with considering a given film in its entirety, rather than taking questionable scenes out of context, but additional charges have been made that the Ratings Board looks more harshly on individual depictions of sexuality and nudity than on violence. There is an appeals system for studios who want to contest a rating. This article was originally published in Douglas C.

Dow, Ph. Leone, Ron. Vaughn, Stephen. New York: Cambridge University Press, Motion Picture Ratings [electronic resource]. Close Search for:. Showing results for " " within MotionPictures.

News Sign up for updates. Film Ratings. Informing Parents Since Established in , the film rating system provides parents with the information needed to determine if a film is appropriate for their children. The History of the Ratings Established by Motion Picture Association in , the rating system was created to help parents make informed viewing choices for their children.

Ratings Guide Not sure what each rating means? Check out our interactive guide:. General Audiences Nothing that would offend parents for viewing by children.