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Of Rating Systems And Mature Content
AngelHedgie
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, as you all probably know, Manhunt 2 has been shelved by Rockstar in lieu of it basically offending every single ratings board on Earth, even meriting the infamous ESRB "AO".
That's tangential to this thread. But it illustrates one of the major problems with rating systems today - instead of being just a mechanism to classify content, they have become a system to select and purge it. When the MPAA system was created to replace the Hays Code, there was no issue with films receiving a rating of 'X' - many theaters would show such films. Indeed, there are several notable films that were rated 'X', the best known being Midnight Cowboy. But now, film studios scramble to avoid getting an 'NC-17' rating, lest the major theaters and retail chains close their doors. Somehow, I don't think this is how the rating system was meant to work.
That's tangential to this thread. But it illustrates one of the major problems with rating systems today - instead of being just a mechanism to classify content, they have become a system to select and purge it. When the MPAA system was created to replace the Hays Code, there was no issue with films receiving a rating of 'X' - many theaters would show such films. Indeed, there are several notable films that were rated 'X', the best known being Midnight Cowboy. But now, film studios scramble to avoid getting an 'NC-17' rating, lest the major theaters and retail chains close their doors. Somehow, I don't think this is how the rating system was meant to work.
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the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Are we certain of this though?
Many measures are put in place as PC ways to simply stop something.
Uhhh...
A Clockwork Orange too?
probably cuz it doesn't exist anymore
That had a version edited in order to get an R rating in order to get more theatres to screen it. Midnight Cowboy wasn't very popular until it got rereleased with an R rating.
Exactly.
I don't disagree here, but at the same time, the reason there is no market for NC-17 movies is because most theatres refuse to show them. Can't really make money on a product that no one wants to sell.
That's a good point - the theaters could not just be reacting to only a few people wanting to see those movies - they could be concerned about their reputation and driving away people who would not be interested in seeing an NC-17 movie anyway.
That's true. That's also the reason Blockbuster won't stock NC-17 movies, but will happily stock unrated movies with NC-17-level content. They want to be seen as a family-friendly chain.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.