This Film is Not Yet Rated

Apparently, you can use the “F” word once in a film and still get a PG-13 rating, but only if it’s used figuratively, as in “fuck you.” Using the word literally, as in “I want to fuck you,” seems generally to earn you an R. But you can never be sure. Enter the murky world of the MPAA ratings board, where the rules (if there are any) are kept intentionally vague and the members’ identities are secret.

In “This Film is Not Yet Rated, ” the clever, comical, documentary by Kirby Dick, titillating footage that vexed the ratings board, interviews, and a verité thread involving a devoted lesbian private investigator, combine to expose the hypocrisy and inanity of the MPAA ratings system.

The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is an association created to protect the interests of its members, the seven major Hollywood movie studios. Jack Valenti became the organization’s president in 1966, and in 1968, he created the MPAA film rating system, which imposes a theoretically voluntary rating on films, meant to help parents know whether or not a film is appropriate for their children. According to board chairman Joan Graves, all board members have young children of their own, but in “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” this claim is proven to be false.

After an opening sequence of familiar sex scenes from popular movies (genitalia obscured by exaggerated black boxes), the film begins with an interview with Kimberly Peirce, the director of “Boys Don’t Cry.” The film originally received an NC-17 rating which, Peirce was told, was due the length of Chloë Sevigny’s orgasm in a particular scene. Peirce explains what is to become one of the primary arguments of the film, that “unfamiliar territory breeds NC-17.” In other words, sexual behavior that might be considered deviant (including any scene where a woman appears to be enjoying it a bit too much) is judged more harshly than conventional sexual behavior.

Other examples abound. The film “But I’m a Cheerleader,” was originally given an NC-17 rating because of a very reserved scene in which a teenaged lesbian is masturbating—over her nightgown. The director Jamie Babbit said that she felt especially insulted by this because the film “American Pie,” which was released at the same time as her film, features a scene in which a teenaged boy masturbates into an apple pie, but received only an R rating. The John Waters film “A Dirty Shame” doesn’t even have any nudity, but received an NC-17 rating because of its “general tone.” According to Waters, it appears as though “just talking about sex” can get you an NC-17 rating.

The biggest laugh comes when, after managing to identify almost all the anonymous ratings board members (with the help of his private investigator), Kirby Dick then submits “This Film is Not Yet Rated” to the board. Not surprisingly, it receives an NC-17, which means that Dick gets to experience the appeals process first hand. Though he isn’t allowed to film most stages of the process, he uses cartoon reenactments to tell the story. The NC-17 rating is upheld, but because acceptance of the rating is voluntary and the film is being distributed by IFC, an independent company which doesn’t insist on the MPAA rating, Dick decides to label the film as “not rated.”

The problem with an NC-17 rating is that Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, and other major retailers won’t sell your movie, some newspapers and television stations won’t advertise your movie, most theater chains won’t show your movie, and therefore most distribution contracts require at worst an R rating. One problem with the film is that, first, it doesn’t explain this very well, and second, it places all the blame on the MPAA for handing out the NC-17 rating, instead of faulting the people who won’t show a movie just because it received one. In a Q and A after the film, Dick said that he “really wanted it to be about the effect on independents” an interesting subject which, unfortunately, wasn’t explored in a convincing way in the film. But these are minor quarrels. Overall, I found the film to be informative and highly entertaining.

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