Triple X Action at The Atlantic

Writing at the Atlantic website, Tony Comstock explores an infamous tale of unintended consequences: how the Motion Picture Association of America's old X rating evolved from a content-neutral statement that a film wasn't suitable for kids to a one-character code for porn.

Further reading at Reason: "Censors for Free Speech" and "Guess Who's Coming."

Musical bonus:

Comments

[Mister DNA]

Writing in the Atlantic website, Tony Comstock...

Any relation to the Tony Comstock?

PS... Thanks for the Loretta Lynn. Maybe you'll find a reason to post "Fist City" in the near future.

[J sub D]

She's a personality, enjoying popularity
For making movies Rated X
Posing for a magazine, picture in a limousine
Someone simulating sex
Never thought that she could be
Lonely with her vanity
Wasted days and lonely nights
Working for the sugar man
Make each other happy man
Cause satisfaction's guaranteed all night

[Bradley]

I'll see your Pat Benatar and raise you a Miles Davis. (Who knew he invented drum & bass?)

[Jesse Walker]

That's a Bill Laswell remix released in the middle of the drum'n'bass era.

[miles davis]

black satin

[Jesse Walker]

Yeah, On the Corner is great -- and I'm not generally a fan of Davis' fusion period. I'm just noting that the YouTube clip linked above wasn't in itself good evidence for Davis' prescience.

[Spazmo]

I'm not generally a fan of Davis' fusion period

Not even Aghartha? Man... some people.

[Bradley]

The original mix is equally drum-and-bassy, if memory serves. I stand by my previous comment.

I would've posted the original to begin with, but I couldn't find it on YouTube (Philistines!)

[SugarFree]

I've always been interested in the perverse incentives that the rating schema gave films. If the difference between PG and R is a single "fuck" and the difference between R and X is, say, penetration, why not take a movie that limps over the R line anyway almost all the way to the X line?

In making movies "safe" for kids, the MPAA ushered in the era of T&A.

[Pro Libertate]

Cracked.com just highlighted (among other things) Gene Roddenberry's sexploitation film, Pretty Maids All in a Row.

[SugarFree]

1981's Looker has a lingering tit-shot and a partially obscured full-frontal and it was released as PG.

[Pro Libertate]

The board was drunk that day.

[SugarFree]

Actually, they were given an R and they talked them down to a PG without making any cuts.

Maybe it is just the power of Crichton:

The 1971 film The Andromeda Strain contains a shot showing a deceased woman's bare breasts. The film's G rating is qualified with the text "may be too intense for younger children."

[Pro Libertate]

The Andromeda Strain was rated G? That's just bizarre. Good, wholesome, clean death for the whole family?

[SugarFree]

If you haven't seen Looker, it's wonderfully bad. Looker and Runaway make a great double feature.

[Pro Libertate]

I saw it on HBO many years ago. Runaway is a classic. Gene Simmons wasn't bad as an over-the-top bad guy. Similar to his role in Wanted: Dead or Alive with Rutger Hauer.

[SIV]

Walkabout was rated "GP" and featured full frontal jailbait nudity of Jenny Agutter.

[SIV]

Animals were harmed in the making of that fine motion picture. Kind of a classy version of those Italian cannibal movies

[JW]

IIRC, that was Susan Dey's only nude scene.

[SugarFree]

Cage Without a Key, Echo Park, and First Love. Although they were all fairly brief.

[R C Dean]

You're scaring me, SF.

[Pro Libertate]

He's a Dey Tripper.

[JW]

Sweet toenails! *You're* Mr. Skin!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I always wanted to see the original Rochelle, Rochelle, before they edited it to get down to an R rating.

[kinnath]

I remember when Exotica was released unrated. There was only one theater in town (a dying theater that ain't there now) that would run the flick.

[Jared Miller]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH3k-nEP55s You may like our take on OBAMACARE

[Bradley]

Triple X Action at The Atlantic

I never want to hear those words again. Please.

[Abdul]

Megan McCardle showing her Laffer Curves doesn't get you hot? It worked on Suderman.

[J sub D]

O/T - Sen. Webb of Virginia won't run for reelection in 2012

Too bad. He's my favorite Dem senator.

[poor]

*fap fap fap fap fap*

[wingnutx]

Robocop garnered an X rating. They cut about 60 seconds of gore to get it down to an R.

Criterion Collection unrated version put it all back.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

What, no mention of Fritz the Cat?

I also liked Heavy Metal. When I was 15...