Narc of the Matinee

Director Kirby Dick on his documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Kerry Howley | September 15, 2006

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This is absurd. Artists should have the opportunity to put out whatever they want to the public, and any adult should have access to it. That decision should not be made by ten anonymous people living in Los Angeles.

Reason: Is there one film that stands out as having been unfairly targeted by the MPAA?

KD: But I'm a Cheerleader. This was a teen comedy, a very sweet story, a love story. The sex is so non-explicit that it's kind of surprising, given the story. And yet that was given an NC-17 rating. That's a clear case of homophobic bias in the rating system. The other one is A Dirty Shame in a different way. It should have been rated R, no question about it. It's very similar to Team America in many ways. And had it been rated R, I think it would have done the kind of business Team America did. Because it was rated NC-17, there is a stigma of pornography that gets associated with it and there are all kinds of limits on distribution.

Reason: What's the problem with keeping raters anonymous? Why should it matter?

KD: The reason they keep the raters' names secret, they claim, is to protect them from industry influence. But in fact, the only people who have any kind of significant contact with them are people from the studios. Heads of studios contact the raters during post-production. Oftentimes on a weekly basis over many years they develop relationships and they are in a position to guide the rating process and influence votes. The independent filmmakers and foreign filmmakers not only don't have that access, they're not even aware that the studios have that access.

Reason: Given the expansion of backend markets, is the MPAA declining in significance?

KD: The MPAA would probably prefer there be no rating system at all, but if there is going to be one they want to control it. Right now the way it's set up, it financially benefits them. Even if the DVD marketing increases, this rating system helps them make more money. They show a film with an R-rated version, then they are able to add a few more sex shots and release it unrated and sell the same film to the same audience twice, which is a producer's dream. So again they have no motivation to change this even as the backend markets increase. Will it lose its significance? Maybe, slightly, over time. But I think you'll still see theatrical releases as the primary point where a film is being advertised. So that's the one place the studios want to keep control of because that's when the focus on a film is most intense and they want to make sure they have control of that rating system.

Reason: But at the same time, it's easier than it has ever been to avoid the MPAA's influence.

KD: No, I don't think so.

Reason: In that consumers have more access to uncut versions.

KD: That's true. Except for, filmmakers do not want to go out with an NC-17 rating. More importantly, their investors don't want to go out with an NC-17 rating. So they demand that their filmmakers deliver an R. So the film is censored at the script stage even before it gets to any kind of distribution outlet. You never have the option to purchase the film the filmmaker intended to make. That's part of the reason people say American sex scenes all look so similar. Directors are shooting to get an R rating, and they're very careful to work within those limits. If you look at a film like Bertolucci's The Dreamers, a film made without regard to the American rating system, it's a much more interesting cinematic exploration of sexuality.

Reason: What is there to stop the emergence of a rival rating system?

KD: People wouldn't pay attention to it. This is the one that has the most focus. It's associated with the MPAA, which is the marketing machine. One could set it up but one would have to have the marketing muscle to drive people to it. There are good ones out there now, like screenit.com, which is a model system in many ways because it provides information to parents and to the public. So they can make the decision themselves rather than ten anonymous people living in L.A. making the decision for them.

Reason: Is there a partisan angle here? Jack Valenti and [current MPAA head] Dan Glickman are both liberal establishment figures.

KD: Liberal and conservative is a bit of a distraction. If you want to create an opposition, it's wealth versus those without wealth. As Valenti says in my film, he has friends on both sides of the aisle. As lobbyists, they will do anything for anybody to get the votes their trade organization wants them to get. They have no particularly significant allegiance.