Emphasis on sex and language versus violence The film rating system has had a number of high-profile critics. Film critic
Roger Ebert called for replacing the NC-17 rating with separate ratings for pornographic and non-pornographic adult film. Ebert argued that the system places too much emphasis on sex, while allowing the portrayal of massive amounts of gruesome violence. The uneven emphasis on sex versus violence is echoed by other critics, including
David Ansen, as well as many filmmakers. Moreover, Ebert argued that the rating system is geared toward looking at trivial aspects of the film (such as the number of times a profane word is used) rather than at the general theme of the film (for example, if the film realistically depicts the consequences of sex and violence). He called for an A (adults only) rating, to indicate films high in violence or mature content that should not be marketed to teenagers, but do not have NC-17 levels of sex. He also called for the NC-17 rating to be removed and to have the X rating revived. He felt that everyone understood what X-rated means, while fewer people understood what NC-17 meant. MPAA chairman
Dan Glickman has disputed these claims, stating that far more films are initially rated NC-17 for violence than for sex, but that these are later edited by studios to receive an R rating. Despite this, an internal critic of the early workings of the ratings system is film critic and writer Stephen Farber, who was a CARA intern for six months during 1969 and 1970. In
The Movie Ratings Game, he documents a prejudice against sex in relation to violence. The 2006 documentary
This Film Is Not Yet Rated also points out that four times as many films received an NC-17 rating for sex as they did for violence according to the MPAA's own website, further mentioning a bias against homosexual content compared to heterosexual content, particularly with regards to sex scenes. Filmmaker
Darren Stein further insists that his tame teen comedy
G.B.F., which features multiple same-sex kisses but no intercourse, strong language, violence, or nudity, was "rated R for being gay." The 2011 documentary
Bully received an R rating for the profanity contained within the film, which prevented most of the intended audience,
middle and
high schoolers, from seeing the film. The film's director, Lee Hirsch, has refused to recut the film, stating, "I feel a responsibility as a filmmaker, as the person entrusted to tell (these kids') stories, to not water them down." A petition collected more than 200,000 signatures to change the film's rating and a version with less profanity was finally given a PG-13 rating. However, the 1995 teen drama
Kids, which director
Larry Clark wanted rated R so parents could take their kids to it for educational purposes, still received an NC-17 rating due to its content of teen sex, and the MPAA turned down Clark's appeal. The film was then released unrated by
Miramax (under Shining Excalibur Films because Miramax, formerly owned by
Disney, hesitated to release it as an NC-17 film).
Inconsistent standards for independent studios Many critics of the MPA rating system, especially
independent distributors, have charged that major studios' releases often receive more lenient treatment than independent films. The independent film
Saints and Soldiers, which contains no nudity, almost no sex (although there is a scene in which a German soldier is about to rape a French woman), very little profanity, and a minimum of violence, was said to have been rated R for a single clip where a main character is shot and killed, and required modification of just that one scene to receive a PG-13 rating. Eric Watson, producer of the independently distributed
Requiem for a Dream (initially rated NC-17 before having its rating surrendered and released unrated) complained that the studios are paying the budget of the MPAA, which gives the studios leverage over the MPAA's decisions. The comedy
Scary Movie, released by
Dimension Films, at the time a division of
The Walt Disney Company, contained "strong crude sexual humor, language, drug use and violence," including images of
ejaculation,
fellatio and an
erect penis, but was rated R, to the surprise of many reviewers and audiences; by comparison, the comparatively tame porn spoof
Orgazmo, an independent release by
South Park creators
Matt Stone and
Trey Parker and distributed by
October Films (since absorbed into
Focus Features), contained "explicit sexual content and dialogue" and received an NC-17 (the only on-screen penis seen in the film is a
dildo). Parker and Stone did not have the time and money to edit the film, so it retained its NC-17 rating, the duo later stated that the MPAA refused to note specific scenes to remove and theorized that the organization cared less because it was an independent release which would bring it significantly less money. In contrast, Parker and Stone's following feature film,
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, was distributed by a major studio (
Paramount Pictures) and, after multiple submissions and notes from the MPAA, received an R rating.
Pixar's 2011 film
Cars 2 has been criticized similarly for featuring on-screen gun violence and a torture scene, despite being rated G. Former vice president,
Joan Graves, claimed in an interview with
The Hollywood Reporter that she regretted rating the film as G and that parents actually care more about ratings at the lower level. She says: “We had a divided vote on Cars 2 but the G’s won. I had misgivings because as they’re going around the track, there’s a lot of ‘kill em’, kill em,’ but I thought, ‘OK, well, it’s animated’ and I talked myself down the cliff. The parents did not. They felt very very misled. It was our fault.” In contrast, critics of the system have accused the ratings board of giving PG ratings to family-friendly films such as
Frozen and
Finding Dory, despite seemingly having no justification.
Call for publicizing the standards Many critics of the system, both conservative and liberal, would like to see the MPAA ratings unveiled and the standards made public. The MPAA has consistently cited nationwide scientific polls (conducted each year by the Opinion Research Corporation of
Princeton, New Jersey), which show that parents find the ratings useful. Critics such as Matt Stone in Kirby Dick's documentary
This Film Is Not Yet Rated respond this proves only that parents find the ratings more useful than nothing at all. In the film, it is also discussed how the MPAA will not reveal any information about how or why certain decisions are made, and that the association will not even reveal to the filmmaker the specific scenes that need to be cut in order to get an alternative rating.
Accusation of "ratings creep" Although there has always been concern about the content of films, the MPAA has been accused of a "ratings creep", whereby the films that fell into specific ratings categories in 2010 contained more objectionable material than those that appeared in the same categories two decades earlier. A study put forward by the
Harvard School of Public Health in 2004 concluded that there had been a significant increase in the level of profanity, sex and violence in films released between 1992 and 2003. Kimberly Thompson, director of the study, stated: "The findings demonstrate that ratings creep has occurred over the last decade and that today's movies contain significantly more violence, sex, and profanity on average than movies of the same rating a decade ago."
Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips wrote in 2010 that the MPAA ratings board "has become foolish and irrelevant, and its members do not have my interests at heart, or yours. They're too easy on violence yet bizarrely reactionary when it comes to nudity and language."
Trademark infringement In 2005, the MPAA sent cease-and-desist letters to some writers of
fan fiction regarding their usage of the film ratings; many related websites now use alternate ratings systems designed as parallels to those of the MPAA. In 2025, the MPAA sent a cease-and-desist letter to
Meta Platforms after it announced that
Instagram content for teenagers would be "guided by PG-13 ratings". == See also ==