  Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 1343 Registered: 05-2006 |
Back in 1969 Midnight Cowboy was given this rating. Boy, how far we have come... Nowadays, this film would be given an R rating. We've deffinatly seen worse. Is this a testiment of us becoming disensitised or more accepting in the arts? | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3999 Registered: 01-2005 |
In 1940, you'd have gone to jail for viewing it. | ||
Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 1833 Registered: 01-2008 |
I remember seeing The Last Picture Show in 1971 at a movie theater with my cousins, uncle, and aunt. About halfway through the movie, when Cybill revealed her ta-tas, my uncle and aunt stood up and yanked my cousins out of the theater. Fortunately for me, they were visiting us up in northern MI at my parent's cottage, and the theater was within only a few walking blocks of it. Oh yeah, I was dating a girl who lived up there year round at the time, and she had quite a nice rack on her. My cousins and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing cards in the cottage one evening, and my girlfriend was standing right behind me, keeping my ears warm. I sensed my uncle's glare at me and I asked him what he was looking at. He exploded in anger, saying that he didn't care if it was my parent's cottage or not, that no kid gets smart with him!! But I knew what he really was hot and bothered about...LOL!! (Message edited by Flanders_field on March 18, 2009) | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 4217 Registered: 11-2007 |
Over the air European television, (game shows,etc.) would be given a hard "R" or "X" rating by our MPAA. In that regard, we are still in the 1960's. | ||
Classicyesfan Member Username: Classicyesfan Post Number: 643 Registered: 04-2008 |
I think "Midnight Cowboy" received the "X" because of the homoerotic material, although it was much more apparent in the novel. Remember, this was the same year that Stonewall occurred, "Boys in the Band" was controversial, and this film suggested the topic that dared not speak it's name. It might have received a PG these days. | ||
Islandman Member Username: Islandman Post Number: 2004 Registered: 08-2004 |
I just watched a documentary called This Film is Not Yet Rated. It goes into the secret world of the MPAA. Pretty interesting. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt04 93459/ | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5408 Registered: 06-2004 |
I've been working on a book project and have read up some on the MPAA, Hays, and Breen offices. Most people don't realize that the seal of approval and the ratings system were/are the motion picture industry policing itself so that the Federal government would keep its fingers out of the business. By policing themselves they also succeeded in making the once existing state and city censorship boards go away. (btw the graduate library at UMich has the Will Hays papers 1922-1945 available on microfilm as well as some Breen office excerpts from the collection at the Academy's Herrick Library) | ||
Ccbatson Member Username: Ccbatson Post Number: 19524 Registered: 11-2006 |
Check out Watchmen. Granted it is rated R, however, on the surface, being a comic book adaptation, I would not be surprised if some little kids slipped in to it. R is not strong enough for this one. Granted, I liked it (but I am an adult), but it could have been polished up a bit in regards to unnecessary and gratuitous content. | ||
Islandman Member Username: Islandman Post Number: 2006 Registered: 08-2004 |
Lilpup, Definitely check out that doc. Interesting how clergy is involved in the process, and it all cloaked in secrecy. Watchmen sucked. I haven't wanted to walk out of a movie so badly since Matrix 2. The soundtrack was a hodgepodge of "classics" that were incogruous to the thematic cutscenes they were applied to. I am a graphic novel and comic book fan, but this did not do it for me. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5410 Registered: 06-2004 |
I wouldn't say it's all cloaked in secrecy, just in business and politics. Of course filmmakers want it to look dark or twisted because they're the ones getting (btw the doc's online at http://video.google.com/videop lay?docid=-559517494445537267 (Message edited by lilpup on March 19, 2009) | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 2150 Registered: 03-2006 |
It can be as violent as possible, but if it has one nipple, forget it! Watchmen being more than R is a joke! It has sex in it and a blue schlong. Wow! Never mind the fact that it shows someone's bone rip through their skin! | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5411 Registered: 06-2004 |
It really has evolved from the basis of the original code. Crime wasn't as much of an issue as long as the criminals weren't sympathetic characters and (usually) paid a price (caught or killed) by the end, though brutal killings were not supposed to be presented in detail. There was no easy method for similar reconciliation for violation of 'laws of nature.' A bone sticking through the skin, or some other stomach churning injury, may be gruesome but in and of itself isn't a moral issue. In 1956 the general principles of the code were: 1) No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin. 2) Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented. 3) Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation. Obviously there were work arounds to get stories told without the graphic nature that exists today e.g. Gigi tells the story of a young woman being groomed to be a courtesan and Tea and Sympathy deals with the 'false charge' (author's intent, not my take) of homosexuality. While everyone rants against censorship (though the modern ratings system is not censorship) one does sometimes have to step back and ask "What's the filmmaker's purpose?" for certain images. I sort of view modern ratings much the same way I do a UL label on an electrical device. If I were a parent I would seriously wonder how filmmakers would expect me to grant kids access to a film without some kind of advanced information about content. To a certain degree, imho, more graphic content makes for lazy (or nonexistent) storytelling skills. | ||
Ccbatson Member Username: Ccbatson Post Number: 19551 Registered: 11-2006 |
Chitaku...it (Watchmen) also had rape, incest, torture, murder of a pregnant woman, Pedophilia with rape and murder....not just the ever present blue shlong. Did you sleep through those parts? |
