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After getting an 'F,' ratings system reforms |
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Written by Robert W. Butler, MCT
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Tuesday, 30 January 2007 |
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"This Film Is Not Yet Rated" won't be the film that changed the world. (That honor will probably go to Al Gore's global warming call to arms, "An Inconvenient Truth.")
But Kirby Dick's "This Film ..." has changed the way the motion picture ratings board does business. And that's no small thing.
The documentary, which came out on home video Tuesday, examines the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America, the shadowy folks who hand out the G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 designations to movies.
Now the MPAA has announced some big changes in the way its ratings board does business. And MPAA chief Dan Glickman admits that Dick's movie was one of the reasons.
Among the many revelations made by "This Film" was that some of the anonymous parents who make up the ratings board (officially it's the Classification and Rating Administration, or CARA) have not actively parented for many years. Their children are grown.
The doc examined the long-held belief that the board — which is underwritten by the big studios — tolerates violence and sexuality in studio-backed films while penalizing independent productions for the same elements. It also argued that the board accepts ever-escalating levels of violence while clamping down on nudity and sexuality — thus penalizing any filmmaker who tries to deal with sexuality in a serious and adult manner.
The ratings board is not required to tell filmmakers what specific scenes caused their movies to receive certain ratings or what they must remove to earn an R instead of the commercially fatal NC-17.
As a result, many filmmakers end up playing mind games with the ratings board, submitting first edits with outrageously over-the-top sex and violence, knowing that their second cut of the film (the one they were hoping to get through in the first place) will look much tamer by comparison.
Moreover, according to the documentary, the ratings board has been virtually accountability-free, doing what it does without training, a public set of rules or a requirement to address its detractors.
Now the MPAA and CARA have announced an overhaul that should make the system fairer to filmmakers and more useful to the public. Among the changes:
For the first time, a moviemaker appealing a film's rating may cite another already-rated movie.
Example: If your film got an R rating for violence and you think that's unfair, you can point out similar instances of violence in PG-13 films. This isn't a guarantee that your film's rating will be reversed on appeal. But it at least forces the CARA members to acknowledge their own precedents.
The board membership will be expanded, with additional members to come from persons working in the film industry who are not associated with the MPAA or the National Association of Theatre Owners. Some of these individuals could come from the world of independent film, thus defusing one of the long-standing accusations against CARA — that it is a tool of the big studios.
Board members must step down after their children are grown. That should help ensure that the decisions reflect the concerns of the parents of young children today.
While most CARA members will remain anonymous, the MPAA will begin describing on its Web site the board's demographic make up.
CARA will create a formal training system so that all raters understand their duties and responsibilities and approach the job with the same goals.
The MPAA also will take steps to "demystify" the ratings system. Definitions of what elements may earn a film a certain rating will be posted on the MPAA's Web site, along with information on the secrecy-shrouded appeals process.
The association is also planning a new admonition to parents when an R-rated film is deemed inappropriate for young children. (Not that it has any teeth: Parents will still be able to take their children to any R-rated movie.)
And finally, parents will be able to sign up for the Red Carpet Ratings service, an e-mail newsletter that will provide weekly updates on the ratings given new films.
All of this won't silence critics of CARA. Any endeavor that involves the fuzzy gray area between fact and personal perception is going to generate controversy.
But these changes do suggest that the MPAA is accepting a degree of transparency it hasn't tolerated since its inception almost 40 years ago. It's about time. | Only registered users can write comments.
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