Written by Linda
March 02, 2009
There is something kind of bratty about director Kirby Dick's This Film is Not Yet Rated. It is one man's finger-pointing crusade to expose the faceless panel of film-raters that call themselves the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).
Sure, we've all heard of Jack Valenti, with his silver hair and big eyes, trumpeting how the MPAA is there to protect the children, and by god, someone has to do it. Valenti is only featured here in pulled footage. But the panel itself—the handful of people that sit in a darkened room to judge a film's moral worth to the public—has always been kept top secret.
Supposedly made up of "regular folks with small children", Kirby exposes the most recent of a constantly rotating panel as people with adult chidren, teens, and, in some cases, no kids at all. Dick hires a sassy private investigator and her young assistant to stalk the fortress-like building that houses the MPAA, and we sit in the backseat of their mini-van (along with Dick) as they peer at license plates through binoculars, follow the raters to fast-food restaurants, and (illegally) go through their garbage. This is kind of entertaining to a point, but quickly starts to feel like extracurricular amateur spy games.
What is most interesting is the information about the rating system itself. The film explains what most of us probably have noticed already: Violence? OK for kids. Sex? Bad bad bad. Gay sex, or even the idea of gay sex? Even worse! Director Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don't Cry) points out the discrimination against the depiction of women's sexual pleasure. Kevin Smith points out the leniency towards gratuitous violence against women. And John Waters, in a hilarious moment, tells of the MPAA's offense toward a scene of sexual pleasure from food ("splooshing"?) in one of his movies.
Getting an NC-17 rating (No Children Under 17) is a death curse for a film trying to get distribution. Many theaters won't show them. Most media won't accept advertising for these films. And, it is pointed out, because the big studios are hand-in-hand with the MPAA (this is one of the revelations discovered by sleuthing), that indies get tougher ratings than major studio films. Eeek.
Interestingly, the same week I watched the DVD, it was announced that the MPAA, under the new leadership of chairman Dan Glickman (after over 30 years of Jack Valenti running the ship) was going to make some changes.
"[The MPAA] will reveal the identities of the senior raters, who interact with filmmakers and distributors. And it will formalize its rules so that raters whose children are grown don't remain on the board. Board members also will undergo formal training.... One revision in the appeals process also will affect filmmakers who have been frustrated that they are not allowed to cite precedents in other films when challenging a rating. Under the new approach, they will be allowed to cite precedents—though a similar word or scene, whether it concerns sex or violence, in another movie won't guarantee that another film will earn a similar rating." (January 17, 2007, Backstage.com)
Similar to McDonald's downsizing their meals after the success of Super Size Me, it appears that This Film is Not Yet Rated has actually shaken things up. The MPAA may be tough on indies, but it looks like it was an indie that made them blink.
DVD NOTES
Special features include commentary by director Kirby Dick, his private investigator Becky, producer Eddie Schmidt, and film critic Moriarty. There are also deleted scenes, including more discussion with Stone, Waters and Smith. Michael Cuetas weighs in on his NC-17 movie L.I.E.S., adding to the argument that the MPAA slaps down on gay-themed sex vs. straight sex, and director Gina Prince-Bythewood offers that the same is true for sex between non-whites (in her film Love & Basketball, the characters are black teens). There is also a short piece of a Q&A with director Kirby Dick at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival (of course with Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles prominently in the front row near the camera).
