This Film Is Not Yet Rated

This was a rather clever documentary highlighting the flaws and strange secrecy surrounding the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) where the filmmaker Kirby Dick uncovers who exactly is rating and classifying films. It was presented in an irreverent and entertaining way and though I didn’t much care for some of the content I found it interesting enough. When we learn about the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) way of doing things next term it should be interesting to compare which system is better.

The topic of classification is rather an interesting one. I noticed the documentary mentioned that films are no longer censored, they are simply classified. In other words, absolutely anything can be put on screen but the rating placed on it will limit who is permitted to see it. In my opinion this is very dangerous and it puts a huge responsibility on the filmmaker to self-censor. Of course, many filmmakers do the exact opposite and, as could be seen from the documentary, are then shocked and angry when they receive an NC-17 rating. In my opinion none of the examples of films shown were suitable for children under 17 anyway so for the filmmakers to lament losing that audience is to be either ignorant or just plain irresponsible. In an ideal world there would be a perfected set of standards and each film would be viewed by a perfect rating board then censored and classified accordingly. Unfortunately that will never happen.

The crux of the matter is this; a film can either be rated subjectively or objectively. The problem with subjectivity is that it really comes down to the opinions of certain people, and so of course we question, “Why them specifically? Why not somebody else?”. The problem with objectivity is that it means a film must be rated on what is actually seen when of course what is often more affecting or dangerous is what is implied. Just because we only see a certain amount of blood does it make the murder any less horrific? I think the BBFC are a bit more objective in the way they rate films. However, we are not robots and films are meant to manipulate our emotions. Emotions are subjective. So ideally films should be rated subjectively, and it seems to me – for better or for worse – that this is what the MPAA were trying to do.