Rating the Raters
Anyone still interested in the sometimes amusing but mostly infuriating documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated would do well to read Julian Sanchez's mixed write-up about the film as well as Mark Jenkins' critique of it. I don't necessarilly agree with everything Julian says, but he makes a good point about how the MPAA accurately reflects parental views by being inconsistent:
The second thing I found myself mulling had to do with one of the film's central complaints: That the MPAA has a skewed set of criteria that generates more restrictive ratings for sex than for graphic and gratuitous violence, and in particular that gay sexual situations are routinely judged to require more "parental guidance" than exactly parallel situations involving heterosexuals. This is, of course, irrational* and discriminatory. But I'm also pretty sure that the modal American parent is, in fact, irrationally and discriminatorily more concerned about discharges from a penis than a firearm, and more squeamish about explaining tops and bottoms than birds and bees. If the point of the ratings is to provide useful information to parents, then it seems as though it's got to reflect the actual concerns of most parents, however unenlightened—and I use the term here without shame or irony—those concerns may be.
As someone who grew up in a relatively conservative, restrictive community with fairly strict parents, I can certainly vouch for the inscrutability of what passes the acceptability test. You eventually get a feel for what a lot of these types of people will be okay with, but it's not always really rational or systematic.
I mostly defended the MPAA in my review, but I should probably make clear that I wouldn't call myself a fan of the organization. The group pushes regularly for problematic copyright laws like the DMCA and, though Not Yet Rated suggests otherwise, it could be argued that the existence of the ratings system is a result of an unofficial mandate; in other words, if the MPAA didn't put a ratings system in place, the government would have. I'm inclined to think there's some truth to that, but I'm also inclined to think that in a country that still has so much internal inconsistency and conflict regarding the morality of entertainment and speech, the market would've brought a ratings system--probably a different, more precise, less powerful one--into place with or without government intervention. And, as I wrote in my review, the documentary gives us plenty of examples why that would've likely been the case. What I'd like to make clear, though, is that I defended the group's right to exist and practice as they do without necessarilly always liking it.
posted by Peter @ 9/21/2006 01:15:00 PM
2 Comments:
There probably isn't that much inconsistency in the minds' of parents. There is, however, a lack of appreciation for the depth of layers of the parents' minds.
While one may not want one's children watching bigger than life french kissing, it IS a worse situation if it's homosexuals doing the kissing.
A vegetarian may not squabble about the child eating a hamburger, but most decent people probably would be concerned if the child went out and knifed something and gutted it and ate it. Hunting enthusiasts or not.
Perhaps the confusion here lies in the inability of those unable to understand the rich nuances of every thought and decision a parent may have.
Very few of us make the decision: I don't like red. Therefore anything associated with it (clothing, strawberrries, valentine's day, sunburns, communists, etc.) is unequivocally out of the question.
The nuances and layers aren't in the homosexual kissing.
The layers of thought are in the parents' mind.
A parent may not want their child to watch larger than life heterosexual kissing, which the parent may view as acceptable, but not for a child. It may be, however, more acceptable than viewing homosexual kissing, which the parent finds immoral.
The very one-sided, my-way-only child, may well counter with something along the lines of"yeah, but you let me see xyz movie, and they were kissing, why can't I see abc movie?" and announce that the parent is wrong, kissing is kissing.
Of course, you know where this will lead, the parent, more than likely, will announce no movies for the next month, or no thing above a G rating.
I think the immature child throwing a tantrum, who doesn't understand the ramifications of one's decisions, nor the responsibilities and multiple levels of thought of the adult, is very much like critics and many film mavens who also cry bigot/hung up/foul at the idea that everything is not OK.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home