Opal Isle
30-09-2004, 21:42
Thursday, September 30, 2004
MPAA - Motion Pictures Association of America
These guys are the guys who put the ratings on movies.
G - General Audiences
PG - Parental Guidance Suggested
PG-13 - Parents Strongly Cautioned
R - Restricted
NC-17 - No one under 17 admitted.
Now, back when I was real young, my parents never cared too much about what movies I watched, so I've sunk into the habit of not paying attention to movie ratings. I have college friends who refuse to go see movies rated R, so I've recently got into the habit of checking the ratings on movies, so I can see if there are any decent looking movies out that they might like to come see with me (since I work at a theater and therefore don't have to pay, nor do my guests). Anyway, I noticed that the MPAA ratings are really pretty funny. Funnier than a lot of movies I've seen anyway. Let's take a look at some MPAA Rating humor.
Napoleon Dynamite. It's rater PG. One of the only three current movies that is rated PG (out of the couple dozen that are out). One of the things Napoleon Dynamite is rated PG for (as opposed to G) is "thematic elements." Now, the only movie currently in theaters with a G rating is Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. I have not seen that movie, nor do I plan to anytime soon, however, I feel pretty confident in assuming that Princess Diaries 2 also has some "thematic elements." In fact, just about the only movie I've seen recently that didn't have thematic elements would probably have to be "Open Water," but that movie didn't have much of anything...and that's a whole different story that I might get to some other day.
Cellular is rated PG-13. One of the reasons given for the rating is "terror situations." Would we have seen this as an excuse five years ago? No. Cellular would probably receive the same rating, but the logic behind the rating would probably be a little more down to earth.
The Forgotten is rated PG-13. One of the reasons given for the rating is "intense thematic material." If movie producers want to get their ratings lower (so that more people can see the movie and they can earn more money), they apparantly have to make a boring storyline.
Hero is rated PG-13. The full reason for the rating is "stylized martial arts violence a scene of sensuality." Now, I would have to agree with this rating, however "sensuality" doesn't quite seem to fit. Sexuality would have been a more appropriate description (especially if you've seen the movie), and "stylizied martial arts" is a bit unnecessary. It seems to say that if it would have been a different kind of violence, the rating wouldn't be so high.
I, Robot is rated PG-13. It should be rated NC-17, as no one under 17 should be exposed to Will Smith's ass, however, the reason for the rating is "intense stylized action, and some brief partial nudity." Every time I look at movie ratings, the number of adjectives in front of "nudity" increases, and again, here we have another case of action being something that calls for a higher rating. Had I, Robot been ;ess interest and had they cut out some brief partial nudity, the movie might have been rated PG.
Open Water is rated R for "language and some nudity." You notice how the MPAA didn't complain about the lack of a good plot?
Resident Evil: Apocalypse is rated R. One of the reasons given is "non-stop violence." All I can say is that if there is one second of that movie that has no violence in it, I think Screen Gems (the distributor of RE:A) should sue the MPAA. I seriously doubt that the violence is non-stop.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is rated PG. One of the reasons given is "sequences of stylized sci-fi violence." I don't think I can harp on this enough. Why can't the MPAA just say "violence"? Are sequences of stylized sci-fi violence worse than regular violence--whatever that may be...?
Spiderman 2 is rated PG-13. It actually has fewer reasons than most of the PG movies. The only reason given is "stylized action violence," and I fail to grasp how it isn't also sci-fi violence. Also, I don't understand how Spiderman 2, with only one reason given for its rating gets PG-13, when other movies, with more reasons, sometimes one even similar to "stylized action violence," are only rated PG.
Anyway, for more information about the MPAA, you can visit http://www.mpaa.org/
And for more information concerning movies that are currently play, you can visit: http://movies.yahoo.com/
Source: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=comfog
MPAA - Motion Pictures Association of America
These guys are the guys who put the ratings on movies.
G - General Audiences
PG - Parental Guidance Suggested
PG-13 - Parents Strongly Cautioned
R - Restricted
NC-17 - No one under 17 admitted.
Now, back when I was real young, my parents never cared too much about what movies I watched, so I've sunk into the habit of not paying attention to movie ratings. I have college friends who refuse to go see movies rated R, so I've recently got into the habit of checking the ratings on movies, so I can see if there are any decent looking movies out that they might like to come see with me (since I work at a theater and therefore don't have to pay, nor do my guests). Anyway, I noticed that the MPAA ratings are really pretty funny. Funnier than a lot of movies I've seen anyway. Let's take a look at some MPAA Rating humor.
Napoleon Dynamite. It's rater PG. One of the only three current movies that is rated PG (out of the couple dozen that are out). One of the things Napoleon Dynamite is rated PG for (as opposed to G) is "thematic elements." Now, the only movie currently in theaters with a G rating is Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. I have not seen that movie, nor do I plan to anytime soon, however, I feel pretty confident in assuming that Princess Diaries 2 also has some "thematic elements." In fact, just about the only movie I've seen recently that didn't have thematic elements would probably have to be "Open Water," but that movie didn't have much of anything...and that's a whole different story that I might get to some other day.
Cellular is rated PG-13. One of the reasons given for the rating is "terror situations." Would we have seen this as an excuse five years ago? No. Cellular would probably receive the same rating, but the logic behind the rating would probably be a little more down to earth.
The Forgotten is rated PG-13. One of the reasons given for the rating is "intense thematic material." If movie producers want to get their ratings lower (so that more people can see the movie and they can earn more money), they apparantly have to make a boring storyline.
Hero is rated PG-13. The full reason for the rating is "stylized martial arts violence a scene of sensuality." Now, I would have to agree with this rating, however "sensuality" doesn't quite seem to fit. Sexuality would have been a more appropriate description (especially if you've seen the movie), and "stylizied martial arts" is a bit unnecessary. It seems to say that if it would have been a different kind of violence, the rating wouldn't be so high.
I, Robot is rated PG-13. It should be rated NC-17, as no one under 17 should be exposed to Will Smith's ass, however, the reason for the rating is "intense stylized action, and some brief partial nudity." Every time I look at movie ratings, the number of adjectives in front of "nudity" increases, and again, here we have another case of action being something that calls for a higher rating. Had I, Robot been ;ess interest and had they cut out some brief partial nudity, the movie might have been rated PG.
Open Water is rated R for "language and some nudity." You notice how the MPAA didn't complain about the lack of a good plot?
Resident Evil: Apocalypse is rated R. One of the reasons given is "non-stop violence." All I can say is that if there is one second of that movie that has no violence in it, I think Screen Gems (the distributor of RE:A) should sue the MPAA. I seriously doubt that the violence is non-stop.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is rated PG. One of the reasons given is "sequences of stylized sci-fi violence." I don't think I can harp on this enough. Why can't the MPAA just say "violence"? Are sequences of stylized sci-fi violence worse than regular violence--whatever that may be...?
Spiderman 2 is rated PG-13. It actually has fewer reasons than most of the PG movies. The only reason given is "stylized action violence," and I fail to grasp how it isn't also sci-fi violence. Also, I don't understand how Spiderman 2, with only one reason given for its rating gets PG-13, when other movies, with more reasons, sometimes one even similar to "stylized action violence," are only rated PG.
Anyway, for more information about the MPAA, you can visit http://www.mpaa.org/
And for more information concerning movies that are currently play, you can visit: http://movies.yahoo.com/
Source: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=comfog