The Facts

Whale Rider, widely considered a family film and a feminist statement, received a PG-13 rating for a flash of drug use which was inherent to the story.

Lost in Translation, an Oscar-nominated and benign film about a deep and meaningful connection between a man and a woman of different generations, received an R-rating for one scene of completely meaningless sexual content.

In a study involving the top 100 grossing films of 1994, it was discovered that 10 percent of the PG-13 films had more acts of violence than the average R-rated film, and it is no coincidence that these films were all mainstream.

Previous president of the MPAA, Jack Valenti, was granted the honor of getting his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he was accompanied by an interesting group of people, the heads of Warner Brothers Studio, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Sony Pictures.

The MPAA so firmly planted the idea that all films with any rating more severe than an R were essentially pornography that, when the NC-17 rating was created, religious groups criticized the move as an attempt to broaden the audience of pornographic films for more money.

Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Matt Stone are well-known for their ability to trick the MPAA into giving the desired rating.