4. This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Film rating in the United States is decidedly screwed up. Its time for a quick history lesson. Beginning in 1934, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) began enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code or Hays Code as it is often referred. The Hays Code laid out exactly what was and was not acceptable in films and not abiding the rules resulted in your film not being produced. In 1968, Jack Valenti as president of the MPAA got rid of the Hays Code and replaced it with the MPAA film rating system. It turns out the system is far from perfect and maybe old white guys arent the best at choosing what we watch. With a broken system in place, Kirby Dick took it upon himself to show us just how in need of fixing it is. The process of obtaining a rating is convoluted and the ratings themselves borderline arbitrary. The ratings board, supposedly comprised entirely of parents, is shrouded in secrecy with the identities of its members being far from public knowledge. Dick goes all out, even employing a private investigator, in order to show us the MPAA inner workings and speaks with filmmakers to illustrate the struggle to obtain the illustrious rating, all before presenting his own film to the board. It is truly shocking just how little we know about the ratings that are placed on our films. The American system is deeply flawed and has murky definitions for each rating level. In addition the American aversion to sex is made abundantly clear. The shear amount of violence that is tolerated and deemed acceptable for children, since a desire to decide what is best for the children is a founding principle of the rating system, is sickening. Homosexuality is harshly punished for no clear reason other than ignorance. The film forces the system into the light for us to finally see its monstrously ugly face.
This Film is Not Yet Rated will upset and frustrate you as it rightly should. Often smelling a bit like censorship the rating system may be due for an overhaul. After all, it took around 30 years for them to realize that the Hays Code wasnt right; time is running out on this system.