Outline
Thesis: The MPAA is no longer an effective source to categorize the ratings of modern movies and the lack of censorship is harming children and teens.
I: The NC-17 rating has become irrelevant.
A. The producers edit and re-submit their films for a lower rating.
B. Theaters do not want to air them.
II: The MPAA does not treat content consistently. A. Violence is not treated as harshly as sexual content.
1. Small moments of sexual content will warrant a higher rating. 2. It takes extreme amounts of violence to warrant an R rating. B. The system does not consider alcohol or tobacco. C. There is a set limit on swear words. 1. A. An extra use of the swear word can push a film over the edge. 2. Only considers the f word.
III. …show more content…
American society as a whole has overwhelmingly considered sex more inappropriate than violence. Europeans, on the other hand, historically believed the complete opposite. Europe’s reasoning for censoring violence over sex is that sex is a natural part of life that nearly everyone experiences, while violence is definitely unnatural and criminal in the real world. Despite the censoring logic of Europe, the MPAA follows America’s standard of prioritizing the censoring of sex over violence (Wilson, Linz, Randall 448). This unfair treatment of content isn’t just done unconsciously by the ratings staff, it is actually mandated in their rules. According to the media-related authors and professors - Wilson, Linz and Randall, in the rules of the MPAA, “any depiction of sexuality will automatically render a film an R rating, and explicit sex will earn an X rating. In contrast, a film can contain violence and still be given a G, PG, or PG-13 rating” (448). What the MPAA considers sexuality to be isn’t just limited to visually having sexual intercourse, which would automatically warrant a NC-17 rating. Sexuality can actually be categorized into different degrees of nudity and sexual profanity. In fact, the MPAA currently treats consensual intercourse on screen exactly the same as rape as long as both have comparable levels of sexual content (Wilson, Linz, Randall 448). Violence on the other …show more content…
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2000. Print. Since the early days of film, violence has existed. Throughout the years it has been used as a narrative crux for Hollywood and has been utilized every genre for one reason or another. Stephen Prince is currently a professor of film and theater at Virginia Tech. Over his career, he has published nearly a dozen books on the history and mechanics of Hollywood.
Randall, R. (1968). Censorship of the movies: the Social and Political Control of a Mass Medium (2nd ed.). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Throughout history, there have been many attempts to censor and sort movies with violent content. This process has cost vast amounts of time and money, but problems still persist. Randall (PhD) has written many novels on the topic of censorship. He teaches Law and has received many awards for his writings, including a Broadcast Preceptor Award.
Sandler, Kevin S. "The Naked Truth: "Showgirls" and the Fate of the X/NC-17 Rating." Cinema Journal 40.3 (2001): 69-93. With the name change of the X rating to NC-17, multiple films, such as Show Girls attempted to make the rating a viable option; they all became financial flops. Kevin Sandler has taught at the University of Michigan. He has edited multiple books and has written a novel about the