Chapter 16 Question 5
Think back to the variety of movies you’ve seen over your lifetime. Odds are, you’ve seen a wealth of movies through many different decades. Now think about the content covered within those films. MPAA ratings have certainly changed since they began in the 1960’s. What was once inappropriate is now readily acceptable in todays society. For example, the vulgarity portrayed in the 1980’s Breakfast Club (which was rated R), would likely be a PG 13 movie if it were to be released today. It is for this reason that I think that the rating system should not necessarily be ‘changed’ but enhanced rather.
The way I propose that the rating system should be enhanced is to give the reasons why the film earned the rating that it did. Even though you can easily access the reasons behind the given rating online or from various other sources, I think it would make much more sense to give a brief reason underneath the rating as to why it was given the rating it did. This could easily be done by letters like ‘v’ for violence or ‘n’ for nudity. By doing this, there would be no surprises for viewers or complaints when they were blindsided by the content of a ‘racy’ PG 13 rated film.
As the times change, so do the contents of movies. As the contents of movies change, so must the rating systems. This is how I propose they change it. G rating could likely stay just a G rating PG could possibly include a rating of IH for inappropriate humor if thats what it includes. PG 13 could include descriptions such as MN for mild nudity or SC or sexual content. R could include any of the dedicated ‘bonus’ ratings.
Ratings are essential as guideposts for movies, but that line that is drawn has become so fuzzy that one can never really know what to expect upon deciding to go to a movie. This is a way to help solve this problem or at least make it a little more clear. It could also help by clearing up the MPAAs inconsistency of movie ratings by allowing the viewer judge for themselves.