More Evidence that I Don't Understand the MPAA

[omorka]

Someone explain to me how But I'm a Cheerleader had to get cut to get an R instead of an NC-17, but Watchmen gets an R as shown? I mean, that has to be the hardest R ever. It's got more gore than any two average horror movies. It's got multiple sex scenes, one fairly explicit and extended. The Comedian says the fuck word twice a scene. There's smoking. There's drinking. Multiple characters explicitly disavow belief in God; there are a couple examples of gross blasphemy. And, of course, there's the nuclear blue wang.

What in the heck was in the first cut they gave them, that they removed it and it looked like an R in comparison?

Comments

[princejvstin.livejournal.com]

American attitudes toward characters and situations with anything above a 0.9 on the Kinsey scale.

[moontyger.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I also wondered how on earth Watchmen was only R. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed the movie. But that doesn't change the fact that I would have expected a higher rating.

[cifarelli]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_I%27m_a_cheerleader
lists out the scene contents that got cut to make the R rating.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know; I've watched the interview with the director that most of that is taken from. But I haven't seen a "comparable" list for Watchmen anywhere yet.

[cifarelli]

Bah, looks like I misinterpreted which movie you were looking for said list for. *shrug*

I'm not entirely sure I want to see what got cut from watchmen. Gore was overdone for my taste as is.

[merispork.livejournal.com]

It's all about homosexual content. American Pie came out the same year as BIAC and had much worse (and much grosser) sexual content... but between the 'socially acceptable' genders.

However, things have changed a lot in the last 10 years. I'd be willing to bet that if But I'm a Cheerleader came out today, it would manage an R with little problem.

I'll second the recommendation to see "This Film is not yet Rated." It's a thought provoking documentary, with lots of comparison shots and interviews with directors/producers/etc.

[pinesandmaples]

Yeah, I was going to toss out the idea to see This Film is Not Yet Rated.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

I have, in fact, seen it. Having seen it doesn't make this make any more sense, though. (Mostly, it reinforces the suggestion in the documentary that the ratings are highly subjective.)

[omorka.livejournal.com]

I've seen it (I think I even posted about it at the time). One of the things they mention, though, is that the MPAA's primary standard appears to be "does it make me uncomfortable." I would think that, if a fully clothed female masturbation scene meets that criterion, that the Nuclear Blue Wang (plus the teeny sideways glimpse of Nite Owl II's flesh-and-blood penis) would overfill it. And that's aside from the relentless gore.

The director of Kinsey mentions his experience with the ratings board in the DVD commentary. They called him after the viewing, told him he had an R, and thanked him - apparently the debate between NC-17 and R had been long and deep, and they "learned a lot."

[brezhnev.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure about that. I could have sworn that the apple pie was male. ;)

[b3zsgirl.livejournal.com]

I guess we will find out when the uncut extended version comes out on DVD. Not sure I could sit through over 4 hours of it though.

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

But the Nuclear Blue Wang (which I still think would be a great name for a rock band) was CGI, which makes it OK. Same logic as with Beowulf's PG-13. (OK, there was just enough molten gold to cover CGI Angelina Jolie's nipples...)

Seriously: I have no idea what their standards are anymore. I don't think they have any idea, either.

[panthyr.livejournal.com]

I about died laughing in Beowulf when he stripped off to sleep in Heorot and all the strategically-placed items covered his Little Beowulf - especially when Wiglaf's arm was in the way...

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

Actually, the CGI nipples got them an R rating, and they re-rendered Angelina's artificial breasts and re-submitted to get the rating they got.

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

I generally agree with your point, but I feel like you go off on a weird tangent here.

Smoking is allowed in R rated films, and is also part of many PG films. Studios have policies about smoking, but this has little to do with MPAA ratings.

I also wasn't aware the MPAA had ratings based on declarations of atheism. A number of films about atheism have been released with PG ratings. This should not even be an issue. It worries me that you bring it up as if it is more objectionable than anything in But I'm a Cheerleader.

Blasphemy is more of an issue, but still considered mild in film terms. While most standards and practices groups mark examples of blasphemy for removal from general audience materials on TV, I do not believe that blasphemy could ever push a film from R to NC-17.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Remember that there are two different church representatives on the rating review board. This Film Is Not Yet Rated presents fairly convincing evidence that they're voting members, even thought they're not supposed to be. I'd be deeply surprised if their presence, and the question of what they would and wouldn't find objectionable, wasn't one of the things the regular ratings board kept in mind. It certainly seems to me like films that are critical of Christianity (or religion in general) get harder ratings than their content would otherwise call for.

Having said that, my list wasn't supposed to be in any particular order, except for starting with the gore and ending with the NBW.

[asland32.livejournal.com]

Two reasons:
1) It's a "comic book movie" and therefore family friendly fun!
2) The MPAA can be bought.