Movie ratings - a timeline

[Ccook50]

It's been almost 40 years since the Motion Picture Association Of America instated the movie rating system in regards to the films' content, which was brought about when attention was drawn to some rather off-color dialogue in the 1966 movie Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Another film, MGM's Blow-Up in 1967 raised eyebrows even further.

The late Jack valenti, who helmed the MPAA, met with some industry organizations to set some standards to movies so parents will know which ones they could safely send their children to. There were four ratings as introduced in November of 1968:

G - General Audiences; all ages admitted.
M - Mature audiences.
R - Restricted; no one under 16 (later 17) admitted without parent or adult guardian.
X - Adults only; no one under 17 admitted.

"G" was not an indication that a film was strictly for kids; Paramount's 1971 film A New Leaf received a rating of "G" in spite of the fact that the words "hell" and "damn" were used several times, "S.O.B." was uttered twice, and one scene had a woman about to remove her bikini top.

In the space of two years, a change was affected. "M" was too grey an area to determine if a film had adult content or off-color language, so it became "GP" in 1970. This stood for "General Audiences; Parental Guidance Suggested." However, many patrons who couldn't read fine print too well thought it stood for "General Public", so in 1972, "GP" was changed to "PG" for "Parental Guidance."

In 1984, Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom was about to be released with a "PG" rating when some parents were outraged by some graphic scenes. This prompted the introduction of "PG-13," meaning "Parental Guidance; children under 13 strongly advised." In 1990, elements of a movie's content (sex, language,nudity) were added to PG, PG-13 and R movie ratings blocks in print ads, and an adjustment was made to an existing rating. "X" had pretty much outlived its usefulness as it entailed mainly porno house fare, so for the more artsy adult films, "NC-17" was introduced. The first film to be branded NC-17 was Henry & June.

It's a flawed system to be sure. But for better or worse, the ratings system has become a mainstay of cinema.

[Cassini90125]

Interesting reading. It's definitely a flawed system, although perhaps not quite so flawed as many people think. It's better than the one currently used by TV shows. But in the end ratings are pretty subjective things, subject to the whims and moods of the raters, and one man's "G" may well be another man's "R". Who's to say which is right?

[Medikor]

I really appreciate the rating system. It can be iffy at times but usually does it's job of letting parents know if a movie is appropriate for their family. And it also serves as a good defense for movie companies against overzealous parents who would try to blame a movie over their poor parenting skills.
What is very interesting to watch right now is the rating system of video games. Over a span of roughly twenty years video game ratings have been a very hot topic. From the controversy of Mortal Kombat to the recent uproar over RockStar's Manhunt2, the debate over appropriate and inappropriate content in video games has been as viscous and gruesome as some of the most violent video games out there.

[AerostarMonk]

May I recommend watching the film This Film Is Not Yet Rated. The views are a little slanted, but it gives marvelous insight into the ratings board.

[frankie_fan]

Mind if I add my two cents worth to this topic?

Australia's rating system consists of the following:

G - Suitable for all ages
PG - Parental Guidence Recommended
M - Recommended for Mature Audiences

The following are legally restricted ratings:
MA +15 - People under 15 must have a parent or adult guardian
R +18 - Restricted for adults 18 and over
X +18 - This only applies to the states ACT and Northern Territory, and applies to pornographic content.

Also, video games that exceed the MA +15 rating are refused classification (RC), unless they are edited and resubmitted for the MA +15 rating. There's no R +18 or X +18 rating for video games.

[Lynnie]

Interesting topic. Bizarre as it might be, I actually remember the whole debate about the Indiana Jones movie. I was 7, but I remember seeing stuff about it on the news. Of course at that age, I didn't really care either way. I'm just surprised I'd remember something like that at the age of 7.

[Ccook50]

Originally Posted by frankie_fan

Mind if I add my two cents worth to this topic?

Australia's rating system consists of the following:

G - Suitable for all ages
PG - Parental Guidence Recommended
M - Recommended for Mature Audiences

The following are legally restricted ratings:
MA +15 - People under 15 must have a parent or adult guardian
R +18 - Restricted for adults 18 and over
X +18 - This only applies to the states ACT and Northern Territory, and applies to pornographic content.

Also, video games that exceed the MA +15 rating are refused classification (RC), unless they are edited and resubmitted for the MA +15 rating. There's no R +18 or X +18 rating for video games.

Most interesting. I know many countries have their own rating system. When Monty Python & The Holy Grail was about to come out in 1975, the distributor (then Cinema 5) requested some cuts in certain passages of dialogue so it would get a Class A rating (similar to "G"). The dialogue was left in so the film got a Class AA rating ("PG").

[jekylljuice]

Am I correct in thinking that Gremlins was also pretty influencial in the introduction of a PG-13 rating? I'm guessing that the controversy its PG rating generated in the US was partly responsible for it receiving such a ridiculous rating over here. Some may disagree, but I don't feel that even that infamous kitchen sequence is quite enough to justify Gremlins being rated a 15 - perhaps some day the BBFC would care to revise the rating? When aired on TV, Gremlins is usually shown before watershed hours, though quite heavily (and, to be frank, poorly) editted. I'm glad I have the full version on video.

If anyone's interested, here's our current system in the UK:

U- Universal; suitable for all
PG - Parental Guidence, all ages admitted, but parents are advised that some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.
12A - No one under 12 admitted unless accompanied by an adult. Until relatively recently, this was a straightforward 12, barring all children under that age from attending, but this was revised in 2002. Given the vast publicity surrounding the reclassification of Spider-Man, which had previously been rated 12, to make it accessible for family audiences, you'd be forgiven for assuming that said film was directly responsible for the change, but apparently plans to do so had been in motion since 2000. The original 12 rating is still used for home video releases.
15 - For ages 15 and over only.
18 - For ages 18 and over only.

As it stands, I think that the criteria used for rating classification is reasonably sound - naturally it's a highly subjective thing, given that I'm sure there are plenty of under-18s out there with more emotional maturity than plenty of over-18s, but I'm glad that they're primarily influenced by such factors as sex, violence and language, rather than the film's overall depth or complexity, as I've heard some people odiously suggest they should be. A rather patronising view which assumes that young people cannot appreciate challenging or intelligent viewing.

[Ccook50]

I'm sure Gremlins had a hand in implementing the PG-13 brand. Another movie that didn't deserve PG-13 was the Jack Black film School Of Rock. It was a spirited, inoffensive movie.

[frankie_fan]

If anyone is interested, this link provides information about how Australia's ratings look.

They were originaly plain and simple. But, they got complaints that some ratings on some covers were difficult to see. So, they changed them to what they are now.