Battleangel

Boing Boing notes …

As you’ve no doubt heard, TFINYR is a documentary about the MPAA’s censorious ratings system, whereby a secret group of “parents” meet to determine whether a given film is safe for kids to see. If they give a movie an NC-17 (no children under 17 admitted), it’s a death-sentence: studios won’t promote these movies (sometimes they don’t even release them), most cinemas won’t exhibit them, and Wal-Mart and Blockbuster won’t carry them.

The MPAA’s excuse for this is that it’s an alternative to government censorship of films, but as director Kirby Dick shows, it’s wildly implausible that such censorship would be found constitutional.

This Film is Not Yet Rated makes a compelling case for MPAA ratings system as a form of institutionalized, homophobic puritanism. The ratings board is quite relaxed about violence, especially extreme, gory violence, but takes a dim view of sex, and won’t tolerate sex out of the missionary position, nor gay sex of any kind, nor any suggestion of women getting real pleasure out of sex. It’s an eye-opening look at America’s hidden values, where you can take your kids to see bad guys gunned down by James Bond, but not a lightweight teen-comedy about lesbian girls sent away to anti-gay brainwashing camp.

He then submits his film for rating, and it receives a predictable NC-17 rating. As this is an indie film, the MPAA won’t provide him with specifics about their decision. He asks to have his rating appealed, and is put through an Orwellian process whereby the arbitrators of his appeal (who unanimously vote against him) are kept secret from him. Here his private eye comes to the rescue again, revealing that the neutral arbitration committee includes executives from the major studios (who are presumably easier on their own products than on those of powerless indies), and, incredibly, two members of the clergy.

I find the conclusion about “private” / corporate censorship versus state censorship especially pertinent. Contrary to popular belief, private entities are usually far more dangerous as they not only uphold prudish “communitarian” values PLUS the political considerations you’d expect from the government but are ALSO structured for maximum profit in a field that they themselves are presiding over. And their code of conduct does not have the same value as a constitution nor do they answer to the general public or allow any sense of transparency. Yet, across the board, we are tricked to believe that privatizing every last bit of the commons will somehow make us better off.