WEBVTT - SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How the MPAA Works 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, everybody, chuck here for another summer movie playlist feed drop. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.240 Today we're going to be covering how the MPAA works, 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:13.240 and this is from June twenty fourteen, and it delves 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.360 into the ins and outs of the MPAA and how 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.360 they decide on rating movies because it's sort of a 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.200 dark art as far as we're concerned. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.000 So check it out. Welcome to Stuff you should know 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:32.360 from HowStuffWorks dot com. 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.680 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.839 Charles W Chuck, Bryant, Jerry. 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.120 But where's Waldough right over there? 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:41.720 Apparently? 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:44.920 Man, I wish people could hear the in between stuff. 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:47.920 I think Jerry was recording that last one. 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.839 Oh yeah, I think so. She used to give us 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.320 a neat little outtakes, but she doesn't do that anymore. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.760 Those days are long gone. They exist in the vault though. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:00:59.880 How you doing? Not good? 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:00.720 No? 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.400 No, I don't know what's wrong with me. I am 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.000 off today? Out of your game? Yeah, it's weird. 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.480 Well, I think this is the perfect podcast to set 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:09.919 you straight. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:11.559 Why, because it's. 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.679 Something that we both have some passion about against. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.920 Yeah, I think anybody who's seen the documentary this film 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:25.320 is not yet rated. Yeah, that would be very difficult 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:31.760 to not be persuaded to feel strongly about the MPAA 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:32.839 and its practices. 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.200 Yeah, and at least how they do things. 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:37.360 But we're going to try to be objective. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.280 Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say up front, 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:43.560 I have no problem with rating of film's content, so 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.800 parents can decide whether or not it's appropriate. I think 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.120 it's valuable, but I think there are ways to do 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:53.360 it that I don't think the MPa does. Yes, So 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.800 I just wanted to float that early on. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:01.680 Okay, I think that was probably smart. Okay, Okay, I 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.600 don't have kids, so I don't really whatever, But I 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:07.760 mean I can understand the value of that kind of thing. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:09.919 Yeah, but it gives you an idea, Like I like 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:11.519 having an idea what I'm about to see too. 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.200 I feel like I can tell just from watching a 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:20.720 trailer of previewsing a movie poster. I'm pretty I'm pretty 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.280 intuitive when it comes to the marketing techniques of movies. 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.360 Yeah, but I think like being a film nerd, it's like, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.920 is the New uh? Is the New Avengers movie going 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:35.960 to be rated? R? That really tells you something. 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.280 Right, it won't be no it never would be because. 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:42.079 PG thirteen is the the that's the strike zone these. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.400 Days, it really is. Apparently PG thirteen movies pull in 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.000 more money than all other ratings combined. Yeah, and it's 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:54.600 a relatively new phenomenon. You want to talk about its origin, Yeah, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.800 let's do it. So back in nineteen eighty four, a 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:04.079 man named Steven Spielberg had two movies out who Steven Spielberg? Right. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.560 He directed one, Indiana Jones and the Templar Doom, and 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:13.760 he produced another, Gremlins. Yeah, and both of them he 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:15.560 caught a lot of heat from both of them. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.480 Sure, Indiana Jones for the heart removal scene specifically. 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.840 Yeah, but also the snake, the live snake at the 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.000 feast thing yeah yeah, all the snake babies, the eyeballs, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:26.720 all that stuff. 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:27.040 Yeah. 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.239 And then with Gremlins, it was just downright terrifying in 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.200 a lot of different places, especially if you're a kid. 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.400 And the reason he caught heat was because both of 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:41.560 those movies were rated PG. Yeah. And so Spielberg went 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:46.160 to the NPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America, and said, 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:51.080 let's do something about this, because these clearly aren't our movies. Yeah, 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.760 but they apparently aren't PG movies either, so maybe we 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.960 should come up with something in between. And PG thirteen 0:03:58.240 --> 0:03:58.640 was born. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:03.040 Yeah, and this was before he had all this way 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.720 in the world. He was influential, but it wasn't like 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.040 Spielberg today, who could have just waved his wand and 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:08.680 made it happen. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.480 Yeah, but I think even at the time he was important. 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.000 He Yeah, there were very few directors at that time 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.440 who could have gotten something like that done too. So 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.640 that's where PG thirteen came from. And that, like you said, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:26.919 that's the strike zone now. And the reason why is 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.159 because that is the kind of movie that caters to 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.160 young teenage boys, who apparently are the most successful at 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:41.120 getting girls to go to movies with them. So if 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:46.640 you can get a movie rated PG thirteen, you're going 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:47.880 to make a bunch of money. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.520 Yeah. Plus it makes sense, it's right there in the middle. Yeah, 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:50.880 you know. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.680 But the problem is is it's become a means of 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:59.080 almost advertising that rating rather than cautioning parents. It's a 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.120 way of attracting the audience. Yeah. True, it's like this 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:05.840 is in some kids PG movie. This is as close 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:07.679 to an R movie as you can get. 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.839 In Yeah, and I think filmmakers try to achieve that 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.760 rating by either scaling back their R rated movie or 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:16.719 juicing up their PG movie. 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:23.279 Or adding more violence. Apparently PG thirteen movies are have 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:28.600 tripled in violence over the last few decades. Yeah, and 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.600 they now have, according to one study, more violence than 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.040 there are rated counterparts. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.480 Yeah, and different kinds of violence that you didn't used 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:37.920 to see. 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:38.640 Yeah. 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.560 You know, all right, I guess we should go back 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.120 in time a little bit. Let's is it way back machine? 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:54.160 Sure, let's go way back in time in Hollywood. All right, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:55.200 it's nineteen twenty two. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.800 Hollywood and Vine is a viable intersection in Hollywood at 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.800 the time. I'm unlike now, although people are going to say, no, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.000 they built that area back up. Yeah, and that is 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.440 when the NPA was born in the early nineteen twenties. 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:10.800 Yeah. 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.720 And at the time, it was up to local authorities 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:19.200 or your state or your municipality to either stamp something 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:24.080 as moral or immoral. There were no ratings on movies. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.320 And thanks to a guy named Will Hayes, who was 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.680 the first president of the MPa, he installed the Hayes 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:34.320 Code and said, you're either going to pass or fail. 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:36.800 It's either going to be stamped in moral or moral right. 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.400 And the reason Will Hayes, who is the MPAA president, 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:46.080 came up with the Hayes Code, which was really extensive. Yeah, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.880 it was like, if you talk about the government, it 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:53.040 always has to be good, sexuality has to be like 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.719 repressed and just basically an hetero. How you think about 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.520 all movies from like the thirties and forties, Yeah, squeaky clean, 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.640 basically like the division between good and evil is very 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.960 clearly defined and the good guy always wins. And if 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.280 you didn't fall into that Hayes code, like you said, 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.920 your movie would be stamped immoral. But the whole reason 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:17.160 he came up with this code was because local municipalities 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.920 could pass their own obscenity laws and that could be 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:23.120 bad for business. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.080 So is it not even get your film exhibited? 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.480 Right? So remember in the A c l U episode 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.160 where we're talking about that one, that one movie that 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.080 New York, just the Catholic said no, you can't show 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.400 that here, and the a cl went to work getting 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.080 getting the Catholics beaten in court. 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.240 Right, even though it was just a bad movie, had 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.640 something to do with well, I mean it did, but 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:48.640 it shouldn't have been shown because it was so terrible. 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:50.240 Was it bad? I don't remember. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.080 Yeah, I mean it was supposed to be not very good. 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.000 Okay, but it happened like that kind of thing happened 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.600 a lot like local local town said we're not going 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.640 to show that movie. So Hayes figured out if if 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:04.440 Hollyoo policed itself, then they could control what, you know, 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.600 what movies came out, and therefore everybody could make a 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.480 bunch of money. That's right, And that's the point of 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:16.040 the NPAA. They're the lobbying arm of six major Hollywood studios. 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.840 Yeah, they work for them. Yeah, well, yeah, that's one 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.200 way to say it. But they and it's just those 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:26.480 six too, isn't it. Uh well, yeah, I mean you 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.840 there's definitely an argument these days that independent filmmakers have 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.920 a much rougher time with the MPAA. Yeah, but most 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.760 of the indies too, are eventually distributed by the majors. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:38.280 Anyway, I got you. You know what I'm saying. 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.800 Okay, So flash forward a bit in our wayback machine 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.080 to the nineteen fifties. Things changed a little bit after 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:49.199 World War Two, and people, I guess the easiest way 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:50.800 to say it is people loosened up a little bit 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:56.320 and didn't mind certain elements in their entertainment any longer. Yes, 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.360 A big example this article uses Frank Sinatra got an 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:03.480 oscar nomen for playing a heroin Addict and the Man 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.120 with a Golden Arm. And that couldn't have happened in 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.000 the nineteen forties. 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.880 No, millions of people hadn't died in World War Two yet, 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.640 that's right. I imagine that kind of loosens you up 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:17.600 as far as the seeing Chris words and stuff in 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:18.360 movies goes. 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:20.559 Yeah, like that's not a big deal, Like World War 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.640 two is a big deal, right, get your haunches down exactly. 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:27.760 Yeah, that was the big one, the big first crack 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.760 to the Hayes code. Yeah, and then there were I 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:33.760 think that you said he won an oscar, right. Yeah. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.520 It was a really good movie that kind of opened 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.319 the floodgate so that by the end of the fifties 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.520 you got some like it. Hot Tony Curtis and Jack 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.600 lemon are dressed like women hitting on Marilyn Monroe. Yeah, 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.080 and at that point it was pretty obvious the Hayes 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:48.319 code was dead. Yeah. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.040 I mean, they weren't passing the code, but they were 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.600 still getting released. So once something is subverted like that, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:54.600 it's it's dead in. 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:59.360 The water, right, So there was a that was fine 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.000 for a little while. I think the Hayes coach just 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.520 kind of fell to the wayside, and people were releasing 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.600 movies without any kind of moral or immoral stamp. But 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.560 the rating system as we understand it today hadn't come 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.520 about yet, so it's kind of a limbo period until 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:18.800 nineteen sixty eight and a store owner in New York 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.040 with the last name of Ginsburg got busted for selling 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.840 nudimags to sixteen year old boys, and he took it 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:30.000 all the way to the Supreme Court, saying, you can't 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.760 say anything about this. There's federal laws about upsnity, not 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.720 local laws. And the Supreme Court said, you know what, 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.680 we really think it's up to local municipalities to decide 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:43.000 what they want their miners exposed to or not. That 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:47.240 got Hollywood's attention because all of a sudden, local municipalities 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.480 could decide whether or not they wanted to show movies 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.200 to miners or not. So what was old became new again. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.160 And Jack Valenti, who was in charge of the MPAA, said, 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.440 we need another system of self knowther self policing system, 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.960 and he came up with the rating system that we 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:04.520 have today. 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.400 Yeah, and he, I mean Jack Valenti was the head 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.199 of the NBA for close to forty years, and he 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.560 initially the intention was to stop censorship because he feared 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:18.679 that the movies were going to start being censored locally. 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.400 And so I think the origins of the MPA's rating 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:24.479 system were. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:29.640 Art centered, art center, but also money centered, because again, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:34.199 if you have if you have town A showing the movie, 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.920 but Town's B through L deciding that the movie is 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.120 obscene and not showing it, then you're losing that money 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.880 and B through L. So what Valenti came up with 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:47.880 was this idea that let us tell you what is 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.040 appropriate for minors or not, what movie is, and we'll 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:56.640 just make a simple rating system. Yeah, gpg R or 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.319 X the old X yeah. 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.920 And triple X. It wasn't even formally a rating, it 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:03.360 was just. 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:04.680 A marketing tool. 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.360 Yeah. Yeah, because three x'es that's like WHOA. 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.520 I wonder if anybody ever came out with one with 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:10.240 four X. 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.080 Yeah or double X even yeah, like we cut out 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:18.040 that one part so ta X uh. Yeah. Christian our 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.160 colleague here wrote a great blog post about the former 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:22.040 X rated movie. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.319 Is that right? Yeah, we'll have to check that out. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.480 It's good for brain stuff for stuff of genius. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.000 On the brain Stuff blog earlier this year, and you 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:34.800 actually recommended it on your blog the X rating, yeah 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:36.360 the best I remember it this week. 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:38.480 Yeah, I remember recommending one of his things. I just 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:39.880 don't remember that one. It's good. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.079 I thought about asking him in here, but then I thought, yeah, 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.360 we got it N So yeah, back then it was 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.440 G through X and well we'll talk about you know 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:57.280 how that changed maybe after this message break. All right, 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.719 so no longer do we have X rated movies? Now 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.480 we have something. I guess we should just go through 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:06.200 what these ratings mean today in twenty fourteen. Okay, so 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:07.480 you've got your G. 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:09.840 G's always been G general audience. 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.120 Anyone can see it, Yes, and that's your your family 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.920 cartoon that kids love and parents are forced to go to. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:17.800 Right. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.240 Then you've got PG that means no drug use, maybe 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:26.280 a little violence, because as we'll learn, the MPa has 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.960 less problems with violence and more problems with language and sex. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.199 Huge criticism, huge criticism. 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.800 PG thirteen, which we've you know, kind of been through. 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.400 Then you've got your R and that is no one 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.720 under seven. This is a suggestion that no one over 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.760 seventeen be admitted without a parent. And these aren't laws though, 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.200 that's one thing that's important to point out. Those are suggestions. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:50.679 And then theaters have policies. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.560 Yes, it's let's kind of dig into that. So none 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.520 of this is legally binding. Now, none of them are 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:02.040 anything more than recommendation. And they're basically saying that this 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:08.360 movie has X amount of profanity or x amount of nudity, 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.200 or lacks any drug use or something like that. And 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:17.680 so for what the MPAA thinks the average moral compass 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:22.840 of the average American thinks about these different things like sex, drugs, nudity, 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.760 all that stuff, this movie falls into this rating. And 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.120 again it's not enforceable. You don't even need to have 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.880 a rating to release a movie. But if you want 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.240 to get your movie in theaters, there's basically no theater 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.280 chain out there right now, no major theater chain out 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.320 there right now that will show an unrated movie. 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:45.400 Yeah, it's a completely voluntary system to submit your film 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:47.480 to the MPa ratings board. 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.239 But it's de facto. 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.720 But you have to do it. Yeah, that's the rub 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.160 is that they say it's voluntary, but you actually have 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:56.800 to pay a fee to submit your movie if you 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.320 ever want to have it shown in theaters. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.600 Right, is anywhere from like twenty five thousand dollars for 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.040 a big budget movie to seven hundred and fifty dollars 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:10.520 for a short. Yeah, and so you submit your movie. Well, 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:12.080 we'll get into it in a second. Let's talk some 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:13.880 more about the rest of the ratings. 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.280 Yeah, well there's only one more, and that's NC seventeen, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.200 which replaced X. And that means this is in nineteen 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:23.000 ninety and that basically means that it's for adults only 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.920 and you should not come in if you're under eighteen. 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.040 Right, and also means these days it's foreign or about 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.920 lesbian or gays. Basically, yeah, not fully, but sure, it's 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:39.080 pretty close. Yeah, and NC seventeen. The first movie to 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.880 come out with that was Henry in June. Yeah, not 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.400 to be confused with Benny and June. And it basically 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.240 sunk that movie because everybody was like, oh, this is 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.760 X now, right, NC seventeen. If you jumble it all together, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.960 it looks like X. And the whole reason they came 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.720 out with NC seventyeen was to replace X because X 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.920 was associated exclusively with pornography in the minds of moviegoers. 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:08.040 Yeah exactly, Yeah, all right, so let's get into this. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.400 The actual ratings board. There's the MPAA, and then working 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:17.760 for the MPa is the classification and ratings administration Kara, 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.520 and Kara doesn't say whether your movie stinks or not. 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:27.480 Kara is eight to thirteen people, and they are called raiders, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.320 and they are overseen by senior Raider, and they sit 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.320 down and watch these movies and take copious notes on 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:38.160 what they think based on their standards. Is I don't 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.440 want to say offensive, but just noteworthy, right, Like maybe 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.040 they're not offended, but they think the average mom and 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:46.520 sheboygan might be offended. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.560 Right supposedly, which is a kind of a thing, because 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.720 the whole rating system, as you just kind of pointed out, 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.080 is a subjective. 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:01.160 Totally subjective. They supposedly. Here's the other rub is it's 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:01.880 all secret. 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:02.800 Right. 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.360 You can find out a federal judge's name and address, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.119 but you can't find out who a raider is for 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.000 your films. It's all conducted in private. None of the 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.399 stuff is released and That's one of the big rubs 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:19.080 in that documentary and with filmmakers in general, is it's all, 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.840 you know, done behind closed doors. There's never any explanations provided. 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.080 These people are supposed to have kids between ages of 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:28.960 five and seventeen, but many of them do not, right, 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:30.600 either have kids at all or have kids that are 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:31.480 older than eighteen. 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:31.880 Yep. 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.919 It basically frees them up from any accountability. Yeah, to 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.600 do this all in private and in secrecy. 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:45.480 And until that movie by Kirby what is Kirby's last name? 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:49.840 Henry and June No no, the documentary. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.080 Oh oh yeah, this film is not yet rated. 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:55.919 Yeah, until Kirby Dick's this film is not yet rated 0:17:56.080 --> 0:18:00.679 came out, Like all of this stuff was just conjection 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.320 and conjecture in Hollywood legend. He was the first one 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.440 to really basically he tailed these people, tailed them to 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.760 lunch to find out who they were and eavesdrop on 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.200 them and like did some digging and found like these 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.399 anonymous people did not fall into the requirements that the 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:21.719 NPAA said they did. And so not only was it 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:27.760 in secret, it was it was fraudulent. Basically, this rating system. 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:33.160 So according to the standards, you submit your film. This 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.719 group of people, this anonymous group of people, watch it, 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.280 they rate it, then they come together and vote on 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:44.000 a rating, and then they passed their their vote along 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.520 to a senior raider. Yeah, who talks to the movie's 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.880 distributor or director or producer says, here's the rating, here's 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.560 why we rated it like this, and then your face 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:58.200 with a choice. You can accept the rating. You can 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:03.919 edit your film as per the CI's recommendations. 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.000 Take out these bad words, cut the sex scene a 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:07.920 little early, leave all the violence. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:13.840 Yeah. Or you can reject the rating and just release 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:15.360 your movie is unrated. 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:19.000 Yeah, which, well, you can try to release it, but 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:20.919 since no one will show it, it's really sort of 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:22.320 a misnomer. 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:27.040 Right, but it's becoming increasingly a thing again. You need 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.119 the rating to get your movie shown in movie theaters. Yeah, 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.760 But what happens if you don't care if your movie 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.600 comes out in theaters, video on demand, yeah, or just 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:37.120 releasing it to the internet. 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.400 Now, I'm curious about that. How that's going to change 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:40.040 the landscape. 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.080 Well, right now, it's a huge threat to the NPAA 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.919 because all of the power they wield is found in 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:47.040 this rating system. 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.600 And if for theaters yes, If no one's going to theaters. 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.720 Then the MPAA loses all of that power, which is 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:58.359 a big deal, especially now because the NPAA is needed 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.200 more than ever as a lobbying group because of online piracy, 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.040 which we'll talk about some more. So it's a very 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:06.800 precarious time for the MPAA right now, and it's a 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.520 terrible time for them to be under as much scrutiny 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.200 and public attack and critique as they are. So it's 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.720 I mean, they got spears sticking out every which way, 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:22.280 and their trunk is flailing and they're honking. That is true. 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:24.359 One thing I should point out is I said, is 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:25.800 that there's no accountability. 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.720 That's what the NPA says. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.560 It's the good thing about the secrecy is that it 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.560 frees them up. That anonymity does. It frees them up 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:34.480 from accountability. 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:39.840 I just don't agree, right, Okay, So the if you 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.560 want to appeal, there was apparently a change made in 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:49.439 response to Kirby Dick's movie the documentary before if you 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:55.240 were appealing your rating, which is very difficult, almost never 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:56.040 was done. 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:58.480 Well you never want that's for sure. 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:01.520 Right, And when you were appear you couldn't reference any 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.840 other film. It was totally done in a vacuum, which 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:07.119 is pretty preposterous. 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.320 Yeah, Like that's the only way to be able to 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:12.000 tell us, like, wait a minute, if you said this 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.000 about this, then why not this for my movie? 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.960 Right, Which meant that there was no real standard, yeah, 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:21.480 that you could point to, or there were standards you 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:23.800 could point to, they just wouldn't be considered. 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:25.520 Yeah, or at the very least, if they do have 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.080 written standards, they don't release them, so you don't even 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:28.640 know what they are. 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:35.840