Hacker Cinema
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
2006 · Film · documentary · 98 min
Directed by Kirby Dick
Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment and exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence.
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19 comments on Hacker News
> showing a naked body was not done, but insane aggression was perfectly fine.
[1] is a decent documentary about the weird and inconsistent standards applied by the MPAA. But yeah, violence is fine, man-focused sex is passable, woman-focused sex is bad, homosexual sex is RIGHT OUT, etc.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated
Has the MPAA ever been particularly prone to acting ethically? Throwing in some slurs to throw people off their trail seems very much like something they would do.
The MPAA itself has been accused of copyright infringement on multiple occasions. In 2007, the creator of a blogging platform called Forest Blog accused the MPAA of violating the license for the platform, which required that users link back to the Forest Blog website. The MPAA had used the platform for its own blog, but without linking back to the Forest Blog website. The MPAA subsequently took the blog offline, and explained that the software had been used on a test basis and the blog had never been publicized.[121][122]
Also in 2007, the MPAA released a software toolkit for universities to help identify cases of file sharing on campus. The software used parts of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, released under the General Public License, which stipulates that the source code of any projects using the distribution be made available to third parties. The source code for the MPAA's toolkit, however, was not made available. When the MPAA was made aware of the violation, the software toolkit was removed from their website.[123]
In 2006, the MPAA admitted having made illegal copies of This Film Is Not Yet Rated (a documentary exploring the MPAA itself and the history of its rating system)[124] — an act which Ars Technica explicitly described as hypocrisy[125] and which Roger Ebert called "rich irony".[126]
> The other technique that we developed (which was devastatingly effective) was to distract the committee with issues that were irrelevant but amenable to debate.
It's not exactly the same but this reminds me of the way Matt Stone described his interactions with the MPAA board in This Film Is Not Yet Rated (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated).
i.e. they went into the Team America rating negotiation with aggressive material they were prepared to cut, and probably wanted to cut anyway, and let the committee spend all their time on that.
See also (NSFW):
https://youtu.be/SgyG8y1vg1M?t=151
https://lettersofnote.com/2009/09/30/p-s-this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever/
Maybe for most countries, but not America. The MPAA movie rating system here is a nightmare. The rating standards are private, and if they rate you NC17 or X or what have you, they'll refuse to give any reasons as to why, because that would imply they engage in censorship. The rating system is not government-run either, so it's partially controlled by clergy members, and treats gay films more harshly. "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" is a good documentary that covers the MPAA rating system.
People do get upset and frustrated over those sort of content restrictions too. It's just not currently a red-hot issue because it's been status quo for so long.
Maybe it hasn't raised to EFF's radar before, but it does flare up every now and then. The PMRC drama culminating in Explicit Content Advisory as sales restriction was probably the biggest one in recent memory. The MPAA moving rating system got some heat around the release of This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006). The EFF did get involved in the SCOTUS case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, but I hate to even mention that for the tangential connection because I don't want start another gov't vs private censorship wankfest where everyone misses the fucking point.
But in general, the people who do care find themselves spending time on other priorities, or locked in a flamewars with people who show no morals beyond bland acquiescence to the status quo; and nothing ever changes.
> IMO, the movies and games industries have much better, more objective rating systems.
If you believe that, I recommend you watch This Movie Is Not Yet Rated[0].
It's just as bad in movies :-). I don't know anything about game ratings to dispute that part, though.
[0]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/
Agreed. "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" is a very enjoyable documentary on this exact topic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated
Your point only holds as long as "arbitrary censorship" is tautologically defined as the types of censorship that would cause people to stop trusting the MPAA. And not only stop trusting them, but actively distrust them so much that retailers and theaters were economically incentived to not even humor the uptight busybodies that demand a censorship system.
Given that the MPAA already bumps a movie up to at least PG-13 for drug use, I wouldn't find it incongruous for them to treat cigarettes in a similar fashion.
If someone considers the Orgasmo/South Park case study, or many of the others in This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), I don't know how they would come away with an assessment that the MPAA doesn't already engage in arbitrary censorship (unless they were to agree with Matt Stone's more serious accusation that the MPAA is an economic cartel).
I'm sorry it's not an easy source to access, but you should watch this film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated
If you want to learn about how bonkers the MPAA ratings process is, check out this documentary: This Film Is Not Yet Rated http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/
This reminds me of a scene from the movie "This Film Is Not Yet Rated", where Stone and Parker describe inserting a super-graphic sex scene into the movie "Team America", which they knew the MPAA board would ask them to remove, attracting their attention and allowing them to keep their R rating.
There is discussion about it, among both the gaming and film industries. See my sibling comment to yours and the documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" which is from 2005 IIRC. They delve into it quite deeply, even looking at why some sex scenes are given the deadly NC-17 (spoiler: the MPAA doesn't like gay sex and sex where the woman is enjoying it) and comparing the kinds of violence in films that are rated differently.
I remember one especially biting criticism from a comedian or filmmaker who basically argued that we have it backwards with the ratings for violent films, and instead should rate certain war movies so that younger people actually CAN see them, and rate other, "fantasy" violence higher so only adults who can discern the difference can see them.
I think the example was "Saving Private Ryan" which is rated R, but in this new scheme would be PG-13, because it depicts war realistically. The James Bond movies, which are PG-13 because they have no gore, should be rated R, because the violence in them is depicted unrealistically: with no consequences, with effortless skill on the part of the killer, and with clear cut "good and evil" roles. I'm sure I'm butchering this argument, but I found it to be an extremely compelling one, if a bit too optimistic that this would ever change.
In games, see the recent article on Jonathan Blow that was posted to HN, called "The Most Dangerous Gamer". There's definitely a related discussion among certain game makers about violence in games.
This is not a new problem in US entertainment and media. Compare the behavior of Apple with the MPAA ratings board which treats violence and sex in a similar manner, rating films which depict violence with an "R" while effectively censoring films with certain kinds of sex scenes with "NC-17" ratings (in case you aren't familiar: films rated "R" will be shown in most movie theaters but many if not most theaters choose not to show "NC-17" films). See the documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" for more.
I have no idea where this comes from, if it stems from some kind of deep rooted puritanical culture, but it's not exactly unique to Apple's app store.
For those interesting in peeling back another layer of the onion on the odd world of the MPAA, definitely watch This Film Is Not Yet Rated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated
The documentary you're probably referring to is "This Film is Not Yet Rated" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/).
This is turning out to be a really awesome list; here are a few others I feel should be mentioned:
- Dear Zachery: one of my all time favorite documentaries. Amazingly tragic, depressing, and infuriating, but extremely well made. (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Dear_Zachary_A_Letter_to_a_Son_About_His_Father/70095159?trkid=2361637)
- The Great Happiness Space: an interesting look into the lives of japanese male 'escorts'; the unfolding of the moral dilemmas they face in doing their job is quite fascinating. (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Great_Happiness_Space/70067160?trkid=2361637)
- Heavy Metal In Baghdad: If you think running a startup is hard, multiply that difficulty a couple times just to get an idea of what these guys had to go through just to be able to play the music they enjoy. Don't have to be a metalhead to enjoy this one, but it helps \m/ (http://www.vbs.tv/watch/acrassicauda--2/heavy-metal-in-baghdad-feature), Also, be sure to checkout their follow-up, 'Heavy Metal in Istanbul' (http://www.vbs.tv/watch/acrassicauda--2/dvd-extra-heavy-metal-in-istanbul)
- Metal A Headbanger's Journey: Another one of my favorites, definitely a must watch if you're at all into metal; it basically traces the roots of metal, and explores all the different sub-genres and cultures it has spawned (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/metal-headbangers-journey/)
- Standing In The Shadows Of Motown: Great doc about the greatest band no one has heard of; "This unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers." (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CFkQtwIwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D-457607153062514364&ei=TNUHTtmkGYaCsQO1h53BDQ&usg=AFQjCNGz6jUK-Cl29OKlFuOwpVsxmwU85w)
- This Film Is Not Yet Rated: about the craziness that happens behind the film rating process (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netflix.com%2FMovie%2FThis-Film-Is-Not-Yet-Rated%2F70043954&ei=A9YHTqKyGY3msQOh_q3DDQ&usg=AFQjCNHrMy-duaWgtAfbu-0LQqqaoOkaMA)
- E=mc2 - Einstein and the World's Most Famous Equation: A look into the history behind all the scientific descoveries that led to Einstein's famous equation (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4144497206440839046#)
- Maxed out: Great look into the american credit card situation (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Maxed-Out/70058892?trkid=438403)
- Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?: A really cool, unique ride through the business of art (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Who-the-Is-Jackson-Pollock/70064699?trkid=438403)
- Mr. Death - The Rise and Fall of Fred A Leuchter Jr.: About the fascinating life of an expert executioner (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=654178281151939378#)
- American Drug War: a look into what the war against drugs has done to the U.S. (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/american-drug-war/)
- Between The Folds: A surprisingly interesting oragami documentary (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Between-the-Folds/70120179?trkid=438403)
I'm sure I know of plenty more great ones, but these are all that came to mind at the moment...
"This Film Is Not Yet Rated" talks about some of the American film propaganda machine. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/
Want to shoot a war movie? Need access to military assets? You're going to have to run the movie by the Pentagon first to make sure it portrays "The Right Side of the Story".
Also the US has tax credits for scripts which incorporate messages in support of the war on drugs. This is why you see ridiculous bullshit on CSI like kids dying after falling off a roof while high on.. GASP.. MARIJUANA!
Land of the free, home of the brainwashed. This is why I try not to consume very much mainstream media. It's not exactly on the level with denial of historical events - people wouldn't stand for that. It has to be more subtle, and it is, and it works.
This kind of argument is exactly the kind which leads to the problems. First, you assume that AO means sex. Second, you assume that if it's AO, it can't be subjectively of high quality.
The easiest way to shoot down your arguments is to google lists of movies rated NC-17, which is the rating which disallows anyone under 18 from watching a movie, and which is the functional equivalent of ESRB's AO.
Among that list you will see movies like Requiem for a Dream, and documentaries like This Film is Not Yet Rated, which is actually very relevant to this whole discussion. (The film actually chose to be unrated, as being rated would have earned the documentary NC-17).
It only covers a small aspect of what they do, but This Film Is Not Rated is solidly ok. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/