Allison Bankieris Film Response

The movie our class watched, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, explored deep inside the movie rating system and board, the NPAA, and discussed how movies get their ratings focusing mainly on the rating of NC-17. If a film receives an NC-17 rating, it cannot be shown in many theaters and loses a wide audience of viewers. Many filmmakers who received NC-17's on the films were interviewed and I found it so interesting how differently the raters viewed their films than how the movie makers intended them to be viewed. What the raters found "disgusting", the filmmakers found beautiful and passionate, such as many homosexual scenes that were in their movies. Several false claims were made by the NPAA as shown in this film. The board has a very unfair representation of people that rate the movies. For example, a former board member disclosed that when he was a rater, he never knew of any homosexual people who were on the board. It seems that the NPAA is comprised mostly of caucasian, straight, older parents. The NPAA tries to keep so many secrets as well. This is unfair to the American public who view these movies, and especially unfair to the filmmakers her put years of time and effort into these films, then receive an NC-17 rating sometimes completely without reason. The board needs some serious reconstruction and their secrets need to be let out.