Motion Picture Association of America film rating system

The Motion Picture Association of America's film-rating system is a rating system for films. It is used in the U.S. and its territories to rate a film's thematic and content suitability for certain audiences. The MPAA system applies only to motion pictures that are submitted for rating. Other media (such as television programs and video games) may be rated by other entities. A voluntary system not enforced by law, it is one of various motion picture rating systems used to help parents decide what movies are appropriate for their children.

In the U.S., the MPAA's rating systems are the most-recognized guide for parents regarding the content of movies, and each rating has been trademarked by MPAA so that they are not used outside of motion pictures. The MPAA system has been criticized for the secrecy of its decisions as well as for perceived inconsistencies.

The MPAA's rating system is administered by the Classification & Ratings Administration.

Ratings
Current (since 1922) MPAA movie ratings are:

If a film is not submitted for rating, the label NR (Not Rated) or Unrated is used. However, this is not an official MPAA classification. Films not yet rated by the MPAA, but that are expected to be submitted for rating, are often advertised with the notice "This Film is Not Yet Rated".

Replacement of Hays Code
The Hays Code, in place since 1930, was deemed by Jack Valenti, who became president of the MPAA in May, 1966, as hopelessly out of date and no longer appropriate for the current film and cultural environment. He felt compelled to this position by the release of major studio films such as "Blow Up", "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?", and others which were among the first to feature nudity and profanity. Valenti felt action was required on the part of the respective studios to edit their films appropriately, but that having to deal with each film one-at-a-time in this manner was awkward and inefficient. The Code was revised in 1966 to include the "SMA" (Suggested for Mature Audiences) advisory as a stopgap measure, but Valenti realized that a new approach to film rating was needed in response to "the irresistible force of creators determined to make 'their films'", and to avoid "the possible intrusion of government into the movie arena", and on November 1, 1968 the voluntary MPAA film rating system was established, with three organizations: MPAA, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), and the International Film Importers & Distributors of America (IFIDA), as its monitoring and guiding groups.

The original movie ratings (used from 1968 to 1970) were:


 * G: General Audiences - all ages admitted
 * M: Mature Audiences - all ages admitted, but parental discretion is advised
 * R: Restricted - children under 16 not admitted without an accompanying parent or adult guardian
 * X: No one under 18 admitted

This content classification system originally was to have three ratings with the intention of allowing parents to take their children to any film they choose. However, the National Association of Theater Owners urged the creation of an adults only category, fearful of possible legal problems in local jurisdictions. The "X" rating was not an MPAA trademark: any producer not submitting a movie for MPAA rating could self-apply the "X" rating (or any other symbol or description that was not an MPAA trademark).

From M to PG
The M rating was changed because parents were confused as to whether "M"-rated films or "R"-rated films had more intense content. This led to the "GP" rating in January 1970.

The ratings used from 1970 to 1972, were:


 * Rated G: All ages admitted. General Audiences.
 * Rated GP: All ages admitted. Parental Guidance Suggested.
 * Rated R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
 * Rated X: No one under 17 admitted.

Also in 1970 the ages of viewers admitted to R- and X-rated movies was raised from 16 to 17. However, the age on the X rating varied per the jurisdiction.

By 1972, parents perceived the "GP" rating as not indicative of a film's true content. In 1971, the MPAA added content advisories such as: Contains material not generally suitable for pre-teenagers. In February 1972 the MPAA replaced the GP rating with the new PG rating.

The ratings used from 1972 to 1984 were:


 * Rated G: General Audiences—All ages admitted.
 * Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested—Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers.
 * Rated R: Restricted—Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
 * Rated X: No one under 17 admitted.

By late 1978, the PG rating was reworded; the word pre-teenagers was replaced with children.

The PG-13 rating is adopted
In 1984, explicit violence and gore in the films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins caused an uproar among parents over their PG rating. Their complaints led Hollywood figure Steven Spielberg, director of Temple of Doom and producer of Gremlins, to suggest a new rating to MPAA president Jack Valenti. Spielberg's suggestion was for an intermediate rating of PG-13 or PG-14. On conferring with cinema owners, Valenti and the MPAA on July 1, 1984, introduced the PG-13 rating indicating that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

The first film distributed with a PG-13 rating was Red Dawn (1984). Dreamscape and The Woman in Red were released on the same day the following week. The Flamingo Kid (1984) was the first film to receive the rating, but was not released until December 1984.

The ratings used from 1984 to 1985 were:


 * Rated G: General Audiences — All ages admitted
 * Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested — Some material may not be suitable for children
 * Rated PG-13: Parents are strongly cautioned to give special guidance for attendance of children under 13 - Some material may be inappropriate for young children
 * Rated R: Restricted — Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
 * Rated X: No one under 17 admitted

From 1985 to 1990 the PG-13 rating's wording was changed to: Parents strongly cautioned — Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

X is replaced by NC-17
In the rating system's early years, X-rated movies, such as Midnight Cowboy (1969), Fritz the Cat (1972), and Last Tango in Paris (1973) were understood to be non-pornographic films with adult content. However, pornographic films - if rated at all - sometimes self-imposed the non-trademarked X rating. Thus, the X rating (along with the hyperbolic "XXX") soon became a synonym for pornography in American mainstream culture.

This association led many newspapers and television stations to refuse advertisements for X-rated movies and some cinema owners refused to exhibit them. Such policies led to the distributors' compromise with George Romero's horror film Dawn of the Dead (1978). Participating NATO cinema owners agreed to enforce the audience restriction rating, but the letter X would not appear in advertising. Instead, the following content warning advisory message was displayed: "There is no explicit sex in this picture; however, there are scenes of violence, which may be considered shocking. No one under 17 will be admitted."

In 1989, two critically acclaimed art films, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, were released featuring very strong adult content. Neither was approved for an R rating, thus limiting their commercial distribution. Director David Lynch suggested an RR rating for such adult-oriented films.

The last film rated X by the MPAA was the 1990 horror film sequel Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.

On September 27, 1990, the MPAA introduced the rating NC-17 ("No Children Under 17 Admitted") as its official rating for adult-oriented films bearing the MPAA seal. Henry & June was the first film to receive the NC-17 rating.

The ratings used from 1990 to the late 1990s were:


 * Rated G: General Audiences — All ages admitted
 * Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested — Some material may not be suitable for children
 * Rated PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned — Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
 * Rated R: Restricted — Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
 * Rated NC-17: No Children Under 17 Admitted

In the late 1990s the NC-17 rating age limit was changed by rewording it from "No Children Under 17 Admitted" to "No Children 17 & Under Admitted".

In practice, media that refused to advertise X-rated films also refused to advertise NC-17 movies. In addition, large video distribution businesses such as Blockbuster Video and Hollywood Video refused to stock NC-17 movies. Nevertheless, some stores with this policy stocked unrated films that would otherwise receive the NC-17 rating.

Few NC-17 movies have proved profitable, but United Artists, marketed the big budget drama Showgirls (1995) with an NC-17 rating. To date, it is the only widely distributed NC-17 movie (1,388 cinemas simultaneously). It was a financial failure and established the NC-17 rating as commercially untenable.

The makers of Requiem for a Dream (2000) released it unrated, rather than risk the NC-17 rating. (The MPAA had originally rated the film NC-17, but later released a censored version for theaters that was rated R.) Today, the NC-17 rating is found primarily in art house films where patrons are less likely to have a positive or negative impression of the rating.

Fox Searchlight Pictures released the original NC-17-rated American edition of the European movie The Dreamers (2003) in theaters in the United States, and later released both the original NC-17 and the cut R-rated version on DVD. A Fox Searchlight spokesman said the NC-17 rating did not give them much trouble in releasing this film (they had no problem booking it, and only a Mormon-owned newspaper in Salt Lake City refused to take the film's ad), and Fox Searchlight was satisfied with this film's United States box office result. Another notable exception is Bad Education, a NC-17 foreign-language film which grossed $5.2 million in the United States theatrically (a moderate success for a foreign-language film ).

Films are often released with different versions and different ratings. Since R ratings are preferred for theatrical exhibition, filmmakers often cut films to meet the requirements. The "uncut" (either unrated or NC-17) version is sometimes released in limited engagements, other formats (such as DVD), and in foreign markets. This practice has become commonplace as an enticement to sell DVDs.

Re-released films
Some films, if re-submitted upon re-release, are given a revised rating by the current MPAA. Midnight Cowboy, for example, was rated X upon release in 1969, but re-rated (unedited) R in 1971. Films which predated the ratings system (and thus originally had no rating) are sometimes rated upon re-release. An example is the "approved" (under the pre-1968 MPAA) The Manchurian Candidate which was re-rated PG-13 in 1988.

Additional information for parents
Some film ratings include additional information for parents. For example, the phrase "May Be Too Intense for Younger Children" accompanies the PG rating for Jaws (1975), though this appears to be for comedic and dramatic effect. The more formal information "Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers" is also included. In 1990, the MPAA added brief explanations of the reasons for the ratings on some films.

"Heavy R"
As of March 2007, according to Variety, MPAA chairman Dan Glickman had been trying to create a new rating called "Heavy R" to replace the NC-17 rating. Film studios have pressured the MPAA to retire the NC-17 rating, because it can severely decrease their film's box office revenue.

Advertising materials
The MPAA also rates film trailers, print advertising, posters, and other media used to promote a film. Trailers are commonly referred to as "green band", "yellow band", or "red band" based on the rating given to the trailer by the MPAA. Green, yellow, or red title cards displayed before the start of a trailer indicates the trailer's rating.


 * Green band: approved for all or appropriate audiences; can be shown before a movie with any rating.
 * Yellow band: approved for age-appropriate audiences; Internet trailers only.
 * Red band: approved for restricted audiences; can be shown before R, NC-17 or unrated films.

Rating process
The MPAA does not release specific guidelines as to what content will receive which rating. However, they do state that many factors are considered including content such as sex, violence, nudity, language, adult topics and drug use. Some guidelines can be derived based on the MPAA's actual rating decisions:
 * If a film uses "one of the harsher sexually derived words" (such as fuck) one to four times, it is routine today for the film to receive a PG-13 rating, provided that the word is used as an expletive and not with a sexual meaning (this was mentioned in Be Cool, when Chili Palmer complains about the movie industry.). Both Back to School and Away from Her contain four uses of "fuck" in non-sexual context. An example of a film that might suggest this criterion is Waiting for Guffman, which contains mostly PG-13 content, yet is rated R (brief strong language) because a man auditioning for a role uses fuck in a sexual context while quoting Raging Bull (the only time it is spoken in the movie). Also, some films are rated R but contain minimal use of the word, such as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Run Lola Run, 88 Minutes, and Frost/Nixon. Exceptions may be allowed, "by a special vote of the ratings board" where the board feels such an exception would better reflect the sensibilities of American parents. A couple of exceptions were noted: rare films such as Guilty by Suspicion were allowed as many as nine uses of the word; probably because of the precedent set in the 1970s by politically important films such as All the President's Men. All the President's Men was once rated R but then re-rated PG on appeal. It is a common misconception that if a movie uses fuck in a nonsexual context more than once, it will automatically receive an R rating. In reality, PG-13 movies are routinely allowed two or three uses. Some movies such as Valkyrie, I, Robot, and The Sum of All Fears each have fuck said once, but still received the PG-13 Rating.  But there have been two extreme circumstances so far: Gunner Palace has 42 uses of the word, 2 used sexually, and The Hip Hop Project has 17 uses. Both films were rated PG-13 on appeal from an R rating. Precedent for this dates back to the early days of the system, in which an independent film called "Saturday Morning" (a documentary including interviews with youth) was allowed many extra uses of the word to accommodate its documentary nature without restricting its primary audience. (See Farber's book, described below, for documentation of the "Saturday Morning" fact.)
 * A reference to drugs, such as marijuana, usually gets a movie a PG-13 rating at a minimum. A well known example of an otherwise PG movie getting a PG-13 for a drug reference (momentary, along with brief language) is Whale Rider. The film contained only mild profanity but received a PG-13 because of a scene where drug paraphernalia were briefly visible. Critic Roger Ebert criticized the MPAA for the rating and called it "a wild overreaction."
 * A graphic or explicit scene of illegal drug use will earn a film at least a PG-13 rating (such as Ray, where Ray Charles is depicted using heroin and marijuana) and, especially in the case of hard drugs, even an R rating. In rare cases, extremely graphic scenes of hard drug use will get a film an NC-17 (see Bad Lieutenant, rated NC-17 "for sexual violence, strong sexual situations & dialogue, graphic drug use.")
 * In May 2007, the MPAA announced that depictions of cigarette smoking would be considered in a film's rating. On a side note, Universal Studios has a policy on depictions of tobacco. Starting April 16, 2007, they presume that no smoking incidents appear in youth-rated (G, PG, PG-13) films, and that if there is such an incident, a "health warning" that usually states "THIS FILM CONTAINS DEPICTIONS OF TOBACCO CONSUMPTION" will appear on any marketing material, DVD packaging, end credits, etc. Walt Disney Pictures no longer allows smoking in its movies, or at least in its newer movies, as 101 Dalmatians was released uncut on DVD after Disney banned smoking in its films despite Cruella de Vil being portrayed as a fanatic smoker.
 * If a film contains strong sexual content, it usually receives at least an R rating. The film Lost in Translation contained a scene in a strip club that had brief topless nudity while the song "Fuck the Pain Away" by Peaches played in the background. The scene was brief and the rest of the film had PG-13 level content, but the film still received an R rating. In general, films containing female nudity receive an automatic R rating. In the case of I Capture the Castle, a shot of a topless woman got the film an R rating "for brief nudity". In many other countries with a similar ratings system (such as the UK, Australia, and Canada), the film received an equivalent of G or PG. However, there are many films including buttock and/or breast nudity (and in some cases, genital nudity) that are rated PG-13 or less. A few examples:
 * The 1971 film The Andromeda Strain contains a shot showing a deceased woman's bare breasts. The film's G rating is qualified with the text "may be too intense for younger children."


 * Sixteen Candles contains a shower scene where there is a close-up of breasts and buttocks. PG rated (re-rated on appeal; previously it was R rated).
 * Doc Hollywood has a scene with full frontal female nudity where Julie Warner emerges from a lake nude. This film is one of a number of PG-13 films in which a person's (in this case female's) genitalia can be clearly seen.
 * Beowulf A scene where Grendel's mother emerged from the water, though her breast are covered, but not her genitalia. PG-13 rated.
 * Back to School includes a scene where Rodney Dangerfield accidentally walks in on a showering co-ed. PG-13 rated.
 * Titanic has a scene with Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) drawing a nude portrait of Rose (Kate Winslet), while the actress lay nude in her pose. PG-13 rated.
 * National Lampoon's European Vacation has a brief scene where a woman unbuttons her shirt, revealing that she is not wearing a bra. Both nipples are exposed. PG-13 rated (re-rated on appeal, previously it was R rated).
 * The Adventures of Baron Munchausen features a live-action depiction of Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus in which the title subject is portrayed nude. Her genitalia are not visible, though her breasts and nipples are. PG rated.
 * Airplane! has a scene in which, during a moment of panic and confusion aboard the jet airliner of the title, a topless woman runs close to the camera, briefly faces it, then continues running. Only her nude torso is shown; her face is not visible. PG rated.
 * Trail of the Pink Panther features a scene in which two women are shown in a grape vat nude and their breasts are shown (very briefly). PG rated.
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi features a scene in Jabba's throne room where, as a dancer is being dropped into the Rancor pit, her top comes off and her breasts are shown for a split second. PG rated.
 * Weekend at Bernie's II features a scene where Bernie, who is being dragged by a parasail, pulls the bikini tops off of two women on a beach. Bernie drops them while airborne, and they fall into a man's hands. One of the women snatches the tops back from the man, and her breast is seen for a split second. PG rated.
 * The US theatrical version of Godzilla vs. Megalon features shots inside a container truck with pornographic material on the back wall. G rated.
 * The Living Daylights features two scenes of nudity. The first scene is when James Bond exposes a woman's breasts to distract a guard. The second is when a men's washhouse is rolled over in a camp in Afganistan. Nude behinds are shown. PG rated.
 * Diamonds are Forever shows female breasts several times throughout the movie. PG rated.
 * Octopussy clearly shows breasts and naked behinds throughout the opening credits. A woman later emerges from a pool without any clothes on. Her behind is shown. PG rated.
 * In Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Tarzan doesn't wear clothes until his late teenage years, leading to 5 minutes of full frontal nudity. PG rated.
 * In Critters 2: The Main Course, bounty hunter Lee chooses a human form to transform into, and the result is him morphing into a model from an issue of the Playboy magazine. As he transforms, his new female form is seen topless. PG-13 rated.
 * In Monster in the Closet, as Margo is in the shower and she gets interrupted, her breasts are briefly shown. PG rated.
 * In Howard the Duck, as Howard is propelled out of his apartment, he crashes through the wall of a female duck with human-like breasts in her bath. PG rated.


 * Shirtless men are allowed in G-rated films, while topless women usually earn at least a PG-13. Before the adaptation of the PG-13 rating, topless women could be seen in several PG-rated films such as some of the ones mentioned above.. Even after the PG-13 rating had been implemented, topless women have been featured in PG-rated films, but generally in documentaries that depict it in a cultural or scientific context, such as in Babies. If a film contains male rear nudity, it is more likely to be given a lower rating than if the nudity were female. Male nudity is generally regarded as ribald (i.e. mooning) or natural, while female nudity is generally regarded as sexual. When it comes to exposed genitalia, there appears to be a double standard that allows male genitals to be shown much more often and more graphically than female genitals. Some films containing full-frontal male nudity have received PG and PG-13 ratings, such as The Cider House Rules (PG-13), in which a male migrant worker takes a shower and his genitalia are visible for a few seconds, though the scene is very brief and not in a sexual context. Films containing male or female full-frontal nudity usually earn an R rating, or possibly NC-17 if depicted in sexual situations. Many R-rated films have male frontal nudity such as Boogie Nights, Jackass: The Movie, Jackass: Number Two, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Kinsey, Sideways, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Life of Brian, Watchmen, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and many more. While many films show female full-frontal nudity, in nearly every case, only the pubic hair is seen and the actual vulva is not seen. The end result is that male genitals are far more prevalent than female genitals in R-rated films. R-rated movies have also been allowed to show erect penises, such as in Bruno, The Hangover, and The Departed, while no R-rated film has ever shown aroused (wet) female genitals, suggesting a double standard.
 * Films that have legitimate historical or educational value are often granted leniency. Some have argued that the level of violence in Saving Private Ryan merited an NC-17 rating, but that the film was given leniency because it was a historical war movie (However, in both the UK and Ireland the film received a 15 certificate, in New Zealand the film received an R16 rating and in Australia an MA15+ rating after an appeal against the initial R rating). This argument also came up when The Passion of the Christ was released without cuts, with an R rating.
 * Violence which includes bloodshed will usually receive a PG-13 or R rating, though in extreme cases bloodshed violence may receive an NC-17 rating. The film Scream was originally rated NC-17 for "graphic horror violence and gore" but under appeal by director Wes Craven, it was changed to R with some overly graphic content cut out. It does depend on how long the blood is actually shown and how much of it. Bloodless violence will usually be rated PG or PG-13 (e.g. Alien vs. Predator; the unrated version contains the same content as the PG-13-rated version in terms of violence. However, every violent scene includes bloodshed. The same thing happened with Pearl Harbor, in which explicit gunshot wounds and violence were added to get an R rating on the director's cut DVD.) The anime Appleseed has PG-13 level violence. However, there was a scene of a mecha crushing a man's head, with resulting blood. The MPAA rated it R for "some violence", but the scene was rather undetailed compared to other films of its type, like The Matrix. (In the UK, Appleseed was rated 12A and in Spain it was rated 13.) There Will Be Blood had no explicit violence, but the MPAA also rated this film R for "some violence". There is a scene in which a man is beaten with a bowling pin and a small pool of blood is shown onscreen as a result.
 * Ratings criteria are intended to reflect changing norms and compromises between the diverse needs and rights of various interests in a large and complex modern society. Inevitably, the private views of the Ratings Board members will affect what is deemed acceptable for children to watch, determined in part by the culture of the time. Therefore, an evaluation of ratings criteria must specify what year or approximate period of time is being referred to, when modeling the standards relevant to each film classification. For example, according to This Film Is Not Yet Rated, films depicting homosexual sex scenes have been treated much more harshly than those depicting similar heterosexual scenes.

Early use of the G rating
From the adoption of the system through the mid-1970s, mildly adult mainstream films such as Airport, Planet of the Apes, The Green Berets, The Odd Couple, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and 2001: A Space Odyssey were commonly released with G ratings. During this time, adult content such as mild cursing, partial nudity, and mild violence were sometimes found in G-rated films. By the 1970s, however, the G rating became strongly associated with children's films. Many G-rated adult films have since been re-rated PG.

MPAA Ratings Board
Members of the MPAA's Classification and Rating Administration, which the MPAA claims consists of a broad, demographically representative panel of parents, view the movie, discuss it, and vote on the film's rating. The age of a panel members' child(ren) does not affect the eligibility of participating in the parental panel. Further information about members is difficult to obtain, as they operate in secret. The only publicly known member is chair Joan Graves. If the movie's producer is unhappy with this rating, he or she can re-edit the film and resubmit it, or can appeal to an Appeals Board. Appeals generally involve a film which was rated R for which the producer is seeking to have the rating changed to PG-13, or a film rated NC-17 for which the producer is seeking to have the rating changed to R.

According to This Film Is Not Yet Rated, the members of the board as of December 2005 were:
 * Joan Graves, Chair
 * Anthony "Tony" Hey, Senior Rater, 61,
 * Scott Young, Senior Rater, 51,
 * Joann Yatabe, Senior Rater, 61,
 * Matt Ioakimedes, 46,
 * Barry Freeman, 45,
 * Arleen Bates, 44,
 * Joan Worden, 56,
 * Howard Fridkin, 47,
 * Kori Jones, now deceased

and the MPAA Appeals Board members:


 * Matt Brandt, President, Trans-Lux Theatres
 * Pete Cole, Film Buyer, The Movie Experience
 * Bruce Corwin, Chairman & CEO, Metropolitan Theatres
 * Alan Davy, Film Buyer, Regal Entertainment Group
 * Mike Doban, President, Archangelo Entertainment
 * Steve Gilula, CEO Fox Searchlight Pictures
 * Frank Haffar, COO, Maya Cinemas
 * John Lodigian, Vice President of Sales, Sony Pictures
 * Michael McClellan, Vice President & Film Buyer, Landmark Theatres
 * Milton Moritz, CA/NV Chapter President, National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
 * Lew Westenberg, VP of Operations West Coast Division, Loews Cineplex Theatres
 * Jonathan Wolf, Director, American Film Market
 * Reverend James Wall, United Methodist Minister, National Council of Churches
 * Harry Forbes, Representative, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Effects of ratings
Legally, the rating system is entirely voluntary. However, signatory members of the MPAA (major studios) have agreed to submit all of their theatrical releases for rating, and few producers are willing to bypass the rating system because of the potential effects on revenues. Most films released unrated are independent films, pornographic films, foreign films, direct-to-video films, and other films not expected to receive wide distribution. Specialty format films such as large format films are sometimes not submitted for a rating.

While its intent is debated, ratings are associated with the marketing strategy for a film. Since the 1970s, G ratings have been commonly associated with children's movies and could limit a movie's audience.

PG ratings are sometimes also associated with children's films, and are widely considered to be commercially bad for films targeted at teenagers and adults. For example, the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was not targeted at children, received a PG rating, which some believe caused it to underperform at the box office as preteens and teenagers may have brushed it off as a "kiddie flick".

For his 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, director Melvin Van Peebles came up with a winning ad slogan ("Rated X by an All-White Jury") that proved successful with the urban market.

In the 1970s the East Coast based Century theater chain used its own rating system, with only three categories instead of four: For All Ages, For Mature Audiences, and No One Under 17 Admitted, with most, but not all, R-rated films receiving the middle designation, under which no age limits were enforced.

In 2000, because of issues raised by Senator Joseph Lieberman, the National Association of Theatre Owners, the major trade association in the U.S., announced it would start strict enforcement of identification checks for R- and NC-17-rated movies. Many retailers of videos prohibit the sale of R-rated movies to minors.

The R Cards
Starting in 2004, GKC Theatres (now Carmike Cinemas) had 'R-Cards' that let teens see R-rated films without adult accompaniment. The cards generated much controversy, and Jack Valenti of the MPAA said in a news article: "I think it distorts and ruptures the intent of this voluntary film ratings system. All R-rated films are not alike." The president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, John Fithian, also says that the cards can be harmful. He noted in a news article for the Christian Science Monitor that the R rating is "broad enough to include relatively family-friendly fare such as Billy Elliot and Erin Brockovich (both famous movies rated R for language) along with movies that push the extremes of violence, including Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill."

Emphasis on sex versus violence
The movie rating system has had a number of high profile critics. Film critic Roger Ebert argues 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 argues that the rating system is geared toward looking at trivial aspects of the movie (such as the number of times a profane word is used) rather than at the general theme of the movie (for example, if the movie realistically depicts the consequences of sex and violence). He has 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 has also called for the NC-17 rating to be removed and have the X rating revived. He felt that everyone understood what X-rated means while fewer people understood what NC-17 meant. He called for ratings A and X to identify whether an adult film is pornographic or not.

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 (Public Affairs Press),[32] he documents a prejudice against sex in relation to violence. This Film Is Not Yet Rated also points out that 4 times as many films received an NC-17 rating for sex rather as they did for violence according to the MPAA's own website.

Tougher standards for independent studios
Many critics of the MPAA system, especially independent distributors, have charged that major studios' releases often receive more lenient treatment than independent films. They allege that Saving Private Ryan, with its intense depiction of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, would have earned an NC-17 had it not been a Steven Spielberg film. The independent film Saints and Soldiers, which contains almost no sex (there is a scene where 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. The comedy Scary Movie, released by a division of The Walt Disney Company's Dimension Films, contained "strong crude sexual humor, language, drug use and violence," including images of ejaculation 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, contained "explicit sexual content and dialogue" and received an NC-17 (the only onscreen penis seen is a dildo). As Parker and Stone did not have the money and the time to edit the film, it retained its NC-17 rating. Adam Carolla's movie The Hammer was given a R rating for brief language which prompted him to question why the MPAA would rate the movie R, despite there being one to two F-words, and other minimal profanities, which is mostly considered PG-13 rated fare.

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 Kirby Dick) respond this proves only that parents find the ratings more useful than nothing at all.

Accusation of "ratings creep"
Although there has always been concern about the content of films, the MPAA has, in recent years, been accused of a "ratings creep", whereby the films that fall into today's ratings categories now contain 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."

Several independent consumer information services have stated that they have perceived a trend in movies containing more objectionable material. In September 2000, the ChildCare Action Project published a report with conclusions similar to that of the Harvard School of Public Health's, where they claimed that their findings indicated a "ratings creep" towards more explicit material.