The Motion Picture Association of America is well-known for its clear bias towards major film studios and against the struggling independent filmmakers. Some argue that this is true because studio-backed films are more commonly tame in anticipation of receiving a wider audience and in fear of possible controversy, where as independent films are able to explore the darker, grittier, and more realistic aspects of life. Regardless, however, studio executives supposedly do have quite some power on the MPAA. Countless comparisons have been made between highly popular, big-budget films and lesser-known independent films, both with similar content, and the latter almost always receives the harshest ratings. Unfortunately, a harsher rating is exponentially more damaging to an independent film than to a major studio's film. Independent filmmakers are desperately seeking audiences and attempting to "get their films out there." As it is, these artists hardly had enough money to produce their films in the first place; if the film does not gross enough, then future films will be even more difficult to create. Big budget films, however, have no reason to fret over an R-rating, considering only a small portion of an audience is lost, and many teenagers will manage to sneak in, regardless. This makes the MPAA's bias towards a major film studio's work all the more upsetting and unjust.
Not only is the MPAA biased in terms of the people who produced a film, the committee is also fairly biased to letting certain content slide while condemning others as immoral. Violence is commonly disregarded as a minor offense in films, where as films that contain a hint of sexuality are immediately stamped with a PG-13 rating or worse. Any sexual taboos, even the ones as commonly accepted as homosexuality, are considered extremely more offensive than any sex scene between a heterosexual couple, sometimes even garneing an NC-17 rating. Films such as The Departed or Kill Bill, which are full of gore and pain, are simply rated R.
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3 comments:
This is a great point for your first argument. I never thought about the MPAA being bias toward independent filmmakers, but everything you talked about is so true. Of course an R-rating would hurt an independent film more than it would a big budget film. Big budget filmmakers can already afford to advertise more and attract a larger audience therefore a harsher rating wouldn't have as bad an affect on it. Also the point that you made about how the MPAA is bias toward the content of certain films was another great one. A film could contain an enormous amount of violence and gore and it still wouldn't get as harsh a rating as one containing sexual content. Overall I think you chose a really interesting topic and you're doing an excellent job of proving your argument. I can't wait to read the final report!
The distinction between ratings independently produced and film studio movies is definitely a creative topic. But while there may be examples to support this, are there any motivations for the MPAA to support large films over independent ones? How do these studio executives influence the ratings- and has anyone been caught in this kind of manipulation?
This bias may be upsetting, but I don't know if that plea supports your argument that the MPAA is unjust. The rating system can't be the only reason why independent films struggle, as much as one would like to sympathize with the filmmaker (and I do!).
I just watched "This Film is Not Yet Rated" to help me with my own topic, and it completely reflects the second paragraph of this argument. They have side-by-side comparisons of movies with sex scenes between heterosexual and homosexual couples, and the homosexual sex scenes are more often slapped with an NC-17 even if the scene is less explicit. It also delves into the negatives of violence in film and how the negative impacts are much worse than that of sex and nudity while the treatment of the two are completely out of kilter. "Sin City" got an R rating for its obscene violence while "The Dreamers" received an NC-17 for nudity and sexuality which apparently wasn't even very explicit. The whole system is really out of whack.
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