SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How the MPAA Works | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey everybody, Chuck here for another. summer movie playlist feed drop. Uh, today we're going to be covering how the. MPAA works and this is from June 2014. and it delves into the ins and outs of. the MPAA and how they decide on rating. movies cuz it's sort of a dark art as. far as we're concerned. So check it out. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from. how stuffworks.com.

Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. and Jerry. But where's Waldo? I right. over there apparently. Man, I wish. people could hear the in between stuff. I think Jerry was recording that last. one. Oh yeah, I think so. She used to. give us neat little uh outtakes, but she. doesn't do that anymore. No, those days. are long gone. They exist in the vault, though. How you doing? Not good. No. No.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I am. off today. Out. Out of your game? Yeah. It's weird. Well, I think this is the. perfect podcast to set you straight. Why? Because it's something that we both. have some passion about against. Yeah. I. think anybody who's seen um the. documentary, this film is not yet rated. Yeah. That would be uh very difficult to. not. be persuaded to feel strongly about the.

MPAA and its practices. Yeah. And at. least how they do things. But we're. going to try to be objective. Yeah. I'm. going to go ahead and say upfront, I. have no problem with rating a film's. content so parents can decide whether or. not it's appropriate. I think it's. valuable, but I think there are ways to. do it that I don't think the MPA does. Yes. So, how I just wanted to float that. early on. Okay. I think that was. probably smart. Okay. Okay. Um I don't.

have kids, so I don't really whatever. But I mean, I can understand the value. of that kind of thing. Yeah. But it. gives you an idea. Like I like having an. idea what I'm about to see, too. I feel. like I can tell just from watching a. trailer, preview, seeing a movie poster. I'm pretty um. I'm pretty intuitive when it comes to. the the marketing techniques of movies. Yeah. But I think like being a film. nerd, it's like is the new uh is the new.

Avengers movie going to be rated R? That. really tells you something. Of course, it won't be. No, it never would be. because PG-13 is the the uh that's the. strike zone these days. It really is. Apparently, PG-13 movies pull in more. money than all other ratings combined. Yeah. And it's a relatively new uh. phenomenon. You want to talk about its. origin? Yeah, let's do it. So, back in. 1984, a man named Stephen Spielberg.

uh had two movies out. Who? Stephen. Spielberg, right? Uh he directed one, Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom. And. he produced another, Gremlins. Yeah. And. both of them caught he caught a lot of. heat from both of them. Sure. Indiana. Jones for the heart removal scene. specifically. Yeah. But also the snake. the live snake at the feast thing. Yeah. Yeah. All the snake babies, the. eyeballs, all that stuff. Yeah. Uh and. then with Gremlins, it was just. downright terrifying in a lot of.

different places, especially if you're a. kid. And the reason he caught heat was. because both of those movies were rated. PG. Yeah. And so, uh, Spielberg went to. the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association. of America, and said, "Let's do. something about this because these. clearly aren't our movies." Yeah. But. they apparently aren't PG movies either. So, maybe we should come up with. something in between. And PG-13 was. born. Yeah. And this was before he had.

all the sway in the world. He was. influential, but it wasn't like. Spielberg today who could have just. waved his wand and made it happen. Yeah. But I think uh even at the time he was. important. He Yeah. There were very few. directors at that time who could have. gotten something like that done. Yeah. Too. But um so that's where PG-13 came. from. And uh that like you said, that's. the strike zone now. And the reason why. is because that is the kind of movie. that caters to um young teenage boys who.

apparently are the most successful at. getting girls to go to movies with them. Yeah. So if you can get a a movie rated. PG-13 Yeah. you're going to make a bunch. of money. Yeah. Plus it makes sense. It's right there in the middle. Yeah. You know, but the problem is is it's. become a means of almost advertising. that rating rather than cautioning. parents. It's a way of attracting the.

audience. Yeah. True. It's like this. isn't some kids PG movie. This is as. close to an R movie as you can get in. Yeah. And I think filmmakers try to. achieve that rating um by either scaling. back their R-rated movie or juicing up. their PG movie or adding more violence. because apparently PG-13 movies are um. have tripled in violence over the last. like few decades. Yeah. And um they now. have according to one study more.

violence than their R-rated. counterparts. Yeah. And different kinds. of violence that you didn't used to see. Yeah. You know. Um. All right. I guess. we should go back in time a little bit. Let's Is it Wayback Machine? Sure. Let's. go. Let's go way back in time in. Hollywood. [Music]. All right. It's 1922. Hollywood and Vine. is a a viable intersection in Hollywood. at the time, unlike now. Although people.

are going to say, "No, they built that. area back up." Yeah. Uh, and that is. when the NPA was born in the early. 1920s. Yeah. And at the time it was up. to local authorities or your state or. your municipality to either stamp. something as uh moral or immoral. Um, there were no ratings on movies. And. thanks to a guy named uh Will Hayes who. was the first president of the NPA, he. installed the Hayes code and said um.

you're either going to pass or fail. It's either going to be stamped immoral. or moral. Right. And the reason Will. Hayes, who was the MPAA president, came up with the Hayes code, which was. really extensive. Yeah. It was like if. you uh if you talk about the government, it always has to be good. Uh sexuality. has to be like repressed and just. basically how you think about all movies. from like the 30s and 40s. Just squeaky.

clean. basically like the the division. between good and evil is very clearly. defined and the good guy always wins. Uh. and if you didn't fall into that haze. code, like you said, your movie would be. stamped immoral. But the whole reason he. came up with this code was because local. municipalities could pass their own. obscenity laws and that could be bad for. business. So as in not even get your. film exhibited, right? Um, so remember. in the ACLU episode where we're talking.

about that one um that one movie that. New York just that the Catholics said, "No, you can't show that here." And the. ACLU went to work getting uh getting the. Catholics beaten in court, right? Even. though it was just a bad movie, had. nothing to do with Well, I mean, it did, but it shouldn't have been shown because. it was so terrible. Was it bad? I I. don't remember. Yeah. I mean, it was. supposed to be not very good. Okay. Um, but it happened like that kind of thing. happened a lot. like local local town. said, "No, we're not going to show that. movie." So, Hayes figured out if if. Hollywood policed itself, then they.

could control what you know what movies. came out and therefore everybody could. make a bunch of money. That's right. And. that's the point of the MPAA. They're. the lobbying arm of six major Hollywood. studios. Yeah. They're they're they work. for them. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's one. way to say it. But they And it's just. those six, too, isn't it? Uh well, yeah, I mean you there's definitely an. argument these days that independent. filmmakers have a much rougher time with.

the NBAA. Yeah. Um but most of the. indies too are eventually distributed by. the majors anyway. I got you. You know. what I'm saying? Okay. Uh so flash. forward a bit in our way back machine to. the 1950s. Things changed a little bit. after World War II. Mhm. And people, I. guess the easiest way to say it is. people loosened up a little bit and. didn't mind certain elements in their. entertainment any longer. Yes. A big. example this article uses Frank Sinatra. uh got an Oscar nomination for playing a.

heroin addict in The Man with a Golden. Arm. And that couldn't have happened in. the 1940s. No. Millions of people hadn't. died in World War II yet. That's right. I imagine that kind of loosens you up as. far as. the seeing curse words and stuff in. movies goes. Yeah. Like that's not a big. deal. Like World War II is a big deal, right? Get your honest down. Exactly. Yeah. That was the that was the big one. the big first crack to the Haze Code. Yeah. Uh and then there were I think.

that you said he won an Oscar, right? Yeah. It was a really good movie. That. kind of opened the floodgates so that by. the end of the 50s you got some like it. hot Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon are. dressed like women hitting on Marilyn. Monroe. Yeah. And um at that point it. was pretty obvious the haze code was. dead. Yeah. I mean they weren't passing. the code but they were still getting. released. So once something is uh. subverted like that it's it's dead in. the water. Right. So. there was a that was fine for a little. while. I think the haze code just kind.

of fell to the wayside and people were. releasing movies without any kind of. moral or immoral stamp. But the rating. system as we understand it today hadn't. come about yet. Yeah. So it's kind of a. limbo period until uh 1968. and a uh store owner in New York with. the last name of Ginsburg got busted for. selling nudie mags to 16-year-old boys. and he took it all the way to the. Supreme Court. Yeah. saying you can't. you can't can't say anything about this.

There's federal laws about obscenity, not local laws. And the Supreme Court. said, "You know what? We really think. it's up to local municipalities to. decide what they want their minors. exposed to or not." Yeah. That got. Hollywood's attention because all of a. sudden local municipalities could decide. whether or not they wanted to show. movies to minors or not. So the what was. old became new again. And Jack Valente. who is in charge of the MPAA said, "We. need another system of self another.

self-p policing system." And he came up. with the rating system that that we have. today. Yeah. And he uh I mean Jack. Valente was the head of the NBA for. close to 40 years. And he initially the. intention was to stop censorship because. he feared that the movies were going to. start being censored locally. And so I. think the the origins of the MPA's. rating system were were. art centered, art centered, but also. money centered because again, if you.

have if you have town A showing the. movie, but towns B through L deciding. that the movie is obscene and not. showing it, then you're losing that. money in B through L. So what Valente. came up with was this idea that let us. tell you what is appropriate for minors. or not, what movie is, and we'll just. make a simple rating system. Yeah. GPG, R or X. H the old X. Yeah. And XX, which.

wasn't even formally a rating. It was. just uh marketing tool. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz. three X's, that's like whoa. I wonder if. anybody ever came out with one with four. X's. Yeah. or double XX even. Yeah. Like, yeah, we cut out that one part, so. we're going to take an X. Uh, yeah. Christian, uh, our colleague here, wrote. a great blog post about the the former. X-rated movie. Is that right? Yeah. I'll. have to check that out. Yeah, it's good. For on Brain Stuff for Stuff of Genius, uh, on the Brain Stuff blog earlier this. year, and you actually recommended it uh.

on your blog, the X rating. Yeah, the. the best read this week. Yeah, I. remember recommending one of his things. I just don't remember that one. It was. good. I thought about asking him in. here, but then I thought, nah, we got. it. Nice. Um, so yeah, back then it was. G through X and um, well, we'll talk. about, you know, how that changed maybe. after this message break. All right, so no longer do we have. X-rated movies. Now we have something. I.

guess we should just go through what. these ratings mean today in 2014. Okay, so you've got your G. G's always been G. General general audience. Anyone can see. it. Yes. And that's your your family. cartoon that kids love and parents are. forced to go to, right? Uh then you've. got PG. Um that means no drug use. Um. maybe a little violence because as we'll. learn, the NPA has less problems with. violence and more problems with language. and sex. Huge criticism. Huge criticism.

Uh uh PG-13, which we've, you know, kind. of been through. Um, then you've got. your R and that is no one under seven. This is a suggestion that no one over 17. be admitted without a parent. And uh. these aren't laws though. That's one. thing it's important to point out. Those. are suggestions and then theaters have. policies. Yes, that's and let's kind of. dig into that. So none of this is. legally binding. No, none of them are. anything more than recommendations.

They're basically saying that this movie. has x amount of profanity or x amount of. nudity or lacks any drug use or. something like that. Sure. And so for. what the MPAA thinks the average moral. compass of the average American thinks. about these different things like sex, drugs, nudity, all that stuff. This. movie falls into this rating, right? And. again, it's not enforceable. You don't. even need to have a rating to release a.

movie. But if you want to get your movie. in theaters, there's basically no. theater chain out there right now, no. major theater chain out there right now. that will show an unrated movie. Yeah. It's a completely voluntary system to. submit your film to the MPA ratings. board. But it's de facto, but you have. to do it. Yeah, that's the rub is that. they say it's voluntary, but you. actually have to pay a fee to submit. your movie if you ever want to have it. shown in theaters, right? And the fee is.

anywhere from like $25,000 for a big. budget movie to $750 for a short. Yeah. Um and so you you submit your movie. Well, we'll get into it in a second. Let's talk some more about um the rest. of the ratings. Yeah. Well, there's only. one more and that's NC17 which replaced. X and that means uh this was in 1990 and. that basically means that it's for. adults only and you should not come in. if you're under 18, right? And also. means these days that it's foreign or. about lesbian or gays basically. Yeah.

Not fully, but sure. It's pretty close. Yeah. Um and NC7, the first movie to. come out with that was Henry in June. Yeah. Not to be confused with Benny in. June. No. Uh, and it basically sunk that. movie because everybody was like, "Oh, this is X now." NC7, if you jumble it. all together, it looks like X. And the. whole reason they came out with NC7 was. to replace X because X was associated.

exclusively with pornography in the. minds of movie goers. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Um, all right. So, let's get into this. the. the actual ratings board. There's the. MPAA and then working for the MPAA is. the classification and ratings. administration, CARA. Mhm. And uh CARA. doesn't say whether your movie stinks or. not. Cara is eight to 13 people and they. are called raiders and they are overseen. by a senior raider and they sit down and.

watch these movies and take copious. notes on what they think uh based on. their standards is uh I don't want to. say offensive but just noteworthy, right? Like maybe they're not offended, but they think the average mom and. Shboan might be offended, right? supposedly, which is a kind of a thing. because the whole rating system, as you. just kind of pointed out, is subjective. Totally subjective. They supposedly uh. here here's the other rub is it's all.

secret, right? You you can find out a. federal judge's name and address, but. you can't find out who a raider is for. your films. It's all conducted in. private. None of the stuff is released. Yeah. And that's one of the big rubs in. that documentary and with filmmakers in. general is it's all, you know, done. behind closed doors. There's never any. explanations provided. These people are. supposed to have kids between ages of. five and 17, but many of them do not, right? Either have kids at all or have.

kids that are older than 18. Yeah. Um. it basically frees them up from any. accountability. Yeah. To do this all in private and in. secrecy. And until that movie um by. Kirby, what is Kirby's last name? Henry. and June. No, no, the the documentary. Oh. Oh, yeah. This film is not yet. rated. Yeah. When until Kirby Dicks um. this film is not yet rated came out like. all of this stuff was just conjecture.

and Hollywood legend. Yeah. He was the. first one to really basically he tailed. these people tailed them to lunch. Yeah. to find out who they were and eavesdrop. on them and like did some digging and. found like these anonymous people did. not fall into the requirements that the. MPAA said they did. And so not only was. it in secret, it was. it was fraudulent basically this rating. system. So.

according to the standards, you submit. your film, this group of people, this. anonymous group of people watch it, they. rate it, then they come together and. vote on a rating, and then they pass. their their. um vote along to a senior raider. Yeah. Who talks to the movies's distributor, director or producer, says, "Here's the. rating. Here's why we rated it like. this." And then you you're faced with a. choice. Uh you can accept the rating. Mhm. You can edit your film as per the.

uh C's um recommendations. Take out. these bad words, cut the sex scene a. little early, right? Leave all the. violence. Yeah. Um or you can reject the. rating and just release your movie as. unrated. Yeah. Which, well, you can try. to release it, but since no one will. show it, it's really sort of a misnomer, right? But it's becoming increasingly a. thing. Again, you need the rating to get. your movie shown in movie theaters. Yeah. But what happens if you don't care.

if your movie comes out in theaters? Video on demand. Yeah. Or just releasing. it to the internet. Now, I'm I'm curious. about that how that's going to change. the landscape. Well, right now it's a. huge threat to the MPAA because all of. the power they wield is found in this. rating system. And if for theaters Yes. And if no one's going to theaters, then. the MPAA loses all of that power, which. is a big deal, especially now because. the MPAA is needed more than ever as a. lobbying group because of online piracy,

which we'll talk about some more. So, it's a very precarious time for the MPAA. right now. And it's a terrible time for. them to be under as much scrutiny and. public attack and critique as they are. Yeah. So it's I mean they got spears. sticking out every which way and their. trunk is flailing and they're honking. That is true. One thing I should point. out is I said it is that there's no. accountability. That's what the NPA says. is the good thing about the secrecy is.

that it frees them up that anonymity. does. It frees them up from. accountability. Um I just don't agree. Right. Okay. So the uh if you want to. appeal there were there was apparently a. change made in response to Kirby Dick's. movie. Yeah. Um the documentary before. if you were appealing your rating which. is very difficult. Um it almost never. was done. You never won. That's for. sure. Right. And when you were appealing.

you couldn't reference any other film. It was totally done in a vacuum which is. pretty preposterous. Yeah. Like that's. the only way to be able to tell is like. wait a minute if you said this about. this then why not this for my movie. right which meant that there was no real. standard yeah that that you could point. to or there were standards you could. point to they just wouldn't be. considered yeah or at the very least if. they do have written standards they. don't release them so you don't even. know what they are right so um the MPAA.

is uh they've got their rating system. they've got the appeal appeals process. which was also in secret unless that's. changed. Right. Uh I think I think the. appeals board not only was the appeals. board in secret but they weren't even. just raiders. They were people from the. industry. Right. And the theater owners. association. Exactly. Whereas the uh. people who are raiders are supposedly. unaffiliated with the movie industry and.

are just like average ordinary parents. representing uh your middle America, we'll just call it. Even though I think. that's insulting. The thing is though is. a lot of people criticize the MPAA and. say these raiders are um really. representing the six major studios who. rake in 95% of the 10.9 billion dollars. made in the United States. Yeah. um in. theaters alone, just ticket sales, not. DVD or anything like that. Yeah. Um and.

that's what the MPAA does in addition to. rating. They are, like we said, the. lobby arm for these six studios. That's right. And they uh I guess we. should talk about piracy now, huh? That's one of their other big uh besides. from raiding movies, they are heavy in. the lobby against um well, especially. now with online piracy because the. digital distribution network is uh it. seems like the way forward as far as. distribution goes, right? Like it's the.

f it's not the future, it's the present. and the future. And the NPA has a. they're accused of um basically trying. to quell new technology. Yeah. by just. saying like, well, let's just keep. people from peer-to-peer file sharing in. total so that they can't steal movies in. part. Um, and if you go back to the. early 80s, Jack Valente was known to. have um railed and lobbyed against the. legality of VCRs. Yeah. Um, people are.

just going to be recording things and. handing them out to their friends. Exactly. Yeah. So, there was a um the. MPA has a long history of basically like. just doing anything it can to stifle. innovation. Yeah. In order to protect. the profits of these big movie studios, the other problem with them lobbying um. in favor of these six movie studios is. that they inherently have a conflict of. interest against the studios that are. not part of these six that they. represent. Yeah. But whose movies they.

still rate, right? So they've been. accused of um more scrupulously or. scrutinously rating the movies of rival. studios or foreign studios. Yeah. When. assigning a rating. Well, and that's why. filmmakers call consistently for. transparency. It's it's I don't think. there are many filmmakers out there. saying there should be no rating. We. should just maybe some like uh Lars. Fontrier, you know, or Verer Herzog, right? They're probably like no ratings.

at all. Yeah. But I think they just want. transparency, like open it up and let. everyone know how this is all done, right? Who these people are and give us. an idea on what in the world we're. submitting to, right? Voluntarily, quote. unquote. Pretty interesting. So, you. were talking about online piracy, um, and with digital distribution being a. big deal now. Yeah. The MPA is needed. more than ever because they have to. lobby Congress to fight online piracy. Yeah. at a time when more and more.

people are distributing online and going. around the MPAA. So, it's losing its. power, right? But it needs its power. more than ever. So, like we said, it's a. precarious time for the MPAA. Yeah. And. they tried a few things. They were. successful with the um uh what was the. first one in 2000? The uh digital SOAPA. No, the Digital Millennium Copyright. Act. Oh, right. which basically that up. until then it wasn't a federal crime to. share movies on peer-to-peer networks,

right? That one did it and they got that. passed. The MPAA lobbyed and got that. passed. Yeah. They've cracked down on. camcorder uh recording. Yeah. Like when. you're in New York City and someone has. that brand new copy of Godzilla on a. video cassette for you. Yeah. That's. because if you've seen Seinfeld, someone. went and sat in that theater with a a. camera recorder and just made a stupid. awful quality pirated version. Yeah. And. it says that those are the most common. I guess I kind of believe that they're.

also the worst quality. Like sometimes. people will like get up and move in. front of the camera like they go to the. bathroom or something. And yeah, it's uh. I've never seen one, but I think they're. terrible. Yeah. um much I don't want to. say more common, but probably more. common these days are like copies of. screeners. Yeah. Like they send out DVDs. to everybody who's members of the. Academy. Oh yeah. To vote on movies. And. so around Oscar time or before Oscar. time, it seems like the internet gets. flooded with way more highquality copies.

of these major movies that are up for. awards. Yeah. I think now they have um. thanks to the NPA have uh something. coded to your name now on your copy. So. like they'll know who leaked it or. whatever. I think so if I'm not. mistaken. I'm not surprised by that. Um. apparently if you want to show uh Frozen. at your church Yeah. you better have a. public performance license because it is. illegal to show a movie outside of your.

home. Yeah. That surprised me. But there. are a lot of uh especially in the. summertime, a lot of community. screenings. Like every city now has uh. you know, Atlanta shows them in uh I. think at Oakland Cemetery. Mhm. Some. other places in New York, they have them. all over the place. Sure. And. technically, yeah, they're supposed to. have a license to do so. I'm sure they. do. The big ones. Yeah, the big ones. I'm sure do. But like at your community. pool when you want to show ET Mhm. and. uh the feds could come kick kick the. gate down around the pool. arrest.

everybody. I bet they don't love HBO. these days cuz you know HBO Go Yeah. Um. people steal that. They're just like, "Hey, dude, what's your login?" Oh, right. Yeah. And HBO came out and. they're like, "Who who cares?" Yeah. People are watching it. Yeah. Like go. watch uh True Detective. Maybe you'll. sign up for HBO. Yeah. Because you liked. it. Or maybe you'll just support the. show period on social media. Yeah. Even. though you're getting it for free. Like. we're making enough money basically. Yes. And that's something that a lot of.

people say, you know, film industry, we. don't really feel that bad for you. Yeah. Sean Austin, sit down because you. guys made $10.9 billion in America in. ticket sales alone in 2013. We don't feel that bad about this whole. conundrum that the MPAA is facing. What's Sean Steel? Was he one of the. voices or Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. I. don't think I knew that. Yeah, he he was. uh I can't remember the there was like a.

a whole um kind of push an antipiriracy. push a few years back and he was the. face of it part of it. Yeah. Yeah. And. he looked really mad about things too. Rudy. But um speaking of piracy, I. remember there was a a story that came. out recently. It was if you think about. it at first it's like ww but then if if. you really kind of lend lend it some. thought it's really disturbing. Yeah. Um. there were there was a report of. prisoners at a prison being shown.

pirated movies and some of the prisoners. were there for pirating movies. Oh wow. And it like really think about the. injustice behind that. Yeah. Like that's. just crazy town. Imagine if you've been. like selling counterfeit furs and you go. to prison and all of the all the guards. are wearing counterfeit fur coats. be. pretty swing in prison. It'd be weird, but it would also be unjust. Yeah. Yeah. True. But in relation to this, it's just.

more and more widespread every day. It. feels like it's it's a losing battle. I. think that the MPAA is fighting right. now. Well, I think I read somewhere. today that they I think they might. release a few of the Raiders names per. film, not all like 13, right? But I need. to look up that uh look that up again. because that I don't know. I don't see. the uh why releasing a three out of 13. names does anybody any good. It does. zero good. Yeah. Uh and speaking of. doing zero good, um the this there's.

kind of a new attachment to the rating. system that they have now. It's called. Check the Box. Yeah. And um it's it's. basically a brief description of why a. movie is like PG-13. Yeah. So it'll say. like intense sci-fi action or something. like that or some drug use. Yeah, that. kind of thing. Um, and some critics of. the MPAA say it's just basically like. shooting a laser beam into like a.

15-year-old boy's brain. Yeah. Like. brief nudity. Come see it. Right. PG-13. Check it out, kid. Yeah. Um, and I think. a lot of people are looking at it like. it's it's just kind of a disingenuous. advertisement, right? cynical. advertisement because the uh the MPAA is. accused of not regulating or even. potentially directly marketing to kids. under the age of the movies that are.

being advertised. Yeah. So like you're. seeing a lot of ads for like R-rated. movies on websites that are like very. popular among like the 17 and under. crowd. Yeah. Um there's a lot of tie-ins. for PG-13 movies with like kids toys. Yeah. For kids who are under PE who are. under 13. Um and so there's like this. idea that there's the MPAA is supposedly. serving America's moral moral compasses. Yeah. But really at the same time.

they're undermining that morality that. they're supposedly defending. Yeah. By. marketing and exploiting kids. Yeah. That'd be like a cigarette company. having a cartoon animal as their mascot. Can you imagine? That'd be weird. Uh. well, one thing about the um the. subjectivity of it and the fact that it. is a closed book and they filmmakers. don't even know, you know, what how to. tailor their movie to achieve a certain. rating. I mean to within a certain.

degree, but they've learned how to. manipulate it because there is no set. standard by if you watch that film is. not yet rated. And you've heard plenty. of stories over the years about. filmmakers intentionally putting in. things that they never intend to be in. the final movie. Oh yeah. Just to sort. of distract from some of the other. things. So they'll shoot something kind. of really outrageous. uh to get the MPA's Raiders hunches up. And what they they were never going to. keep that part anyway, right? subverting.

the system because there is no set. standard. Yeah. And they're just the the. stuff they want to keep in is. comparatively Exactly. more palatable. And if you don't have the set standard. where you can go and I wonder what those. sheets look like on the interior, you. know? I mean, that's the great mystery. Yeah. Surely they have their own. interior standards. They're not just. like, watch it and see what you think. Well, they have group discussions, too. Man, I'd love to sit in on those. So, the uh I read another criticism of the.

MPAA is that the difference between. PG-13 movies and our movies these days. is the profanity and the sexuality. Um. that they're similar in violence, if not. more violent in PG-13 movies, and that. this is kind of messed up, that the MPAA. has very little problem with violence. Yeah. But when it comes to bad words or. sexuality of almost any nature except. for women being objectified and men. being gratified. Yeah. Um then the MPAA.

suddenly puckers up. Well, yeah. Any a. woman achieving receiving sexual. gratification or a homosexual couple. NC7. Yeah. virtually like guaranteed or. depending on how they do it are if it's. coming out of like one of the major. studios. So in other words, a man can. receive pleasure from a woman and of. course it's scrutinized somewhat because.

any kind of sex is more heavily. scrutinized than violence, right? But if. a woman does, like you said, or if it's. a gay couple, it's all over. So. homophobic, misogynistic, you you decide, right? and um. fetishistic of violence, you know. Yeah. Like here's one example. There's a great article called don't. expect any major changes to the NBA. rating system in 2014. Yeah. And it's. basically Chris Dodd, who's the new head. in the gang digging in and saying, you.

know what, uh we uh talk to your average. parents and we pull them and this is. what they want. Um but they don't No, none of those studies are released. Yeah. None of those conversations are. released. Um, a movie like Filamina, which you saw, was rated R. Good. Yeah. It was about a lady looking for her. long- lost son. It was so far from an R. movie, it was ridiculous. Yeah. But it. had a couple of Fbombs in it. Um, so. they cut those out and they bring it to.

a PG-13. You might think, who cares? Cut. up the F-bombs, make it PG-13. But. there's something bigger going on here, you know? Yeah. There's a great AV Club. article about um how just totally. out of step a lot of the ratings are and. they they have 15 movies listed and. basically talk about their ratings. Um. like the first one they talk about once. Yeah. That romantic um it wasn't like a.

romantic comedy, was it? No, I would say. it was a bittersweet. Just a modern-day. romance told through music, right? It. wasn't a musical, but there were a lot. of musical numbers. Highly inoffensive. love story. Yeah, very sweet movie. Uh, it had the same rating as uh Hostile 2, which is basically torture porn. They. they both got the same rating. Yeah. Should we should read this first line? Okay. From the AV Club. Uh, in early. summer of 2007, two films were released. with Ratings. One featured a scene where.

a naked woman is suspended from a. ceiling, while another naked woman. slashes her with a Sith and bathes in. her blood. The other featured two Dublin. musicians singing songs together, falling in love, and opting not to act. on it. Like there was never any sex. scene. They didn't even get together. really. No, they're both rated R. Both. rated R because of profanity. Rushmore. rated for the uh. scene at the end where there Max is.

putting on the play, the Vietnam play. And there uh is a shot of a couple. little kids looking at on on the set. There's some uh Playboy centerfolds up. in the locker. Yep. Like on the Vietnam. set, and these it shows these little. kids like looking at those like a. 12-year-old would probably do. And it. got an R for that. Got an R for that. Happiness. Todd Solins. One of my favorite movies. of all time. Yeah. Uh they tried to give. it an NC17 rating and he said, "You know. what? I'm not cutting anything. You can.

just go. take a long walk off a short pier is. what I think he famously said to them.". Yeah. And uh he released his movie as. unrated. Oh, really? Yep. I don't think. I knew that. Way to go, Todd Solins. Uh. or if you're looking at some serious. homophobia, um the great 1989 movie and. Longtime Companion. features no real sex acts at all. Nothing explicit. Um in fact, the AV. Club says it could show on network TV.

today with just a few alterations. Um but it was about a gay couple and uh. so it got an NC7. Yeah, there's. something called Afternoon Delight, which was a um. a movie about a woman who. hires a a jigalo. Yeah. And it. apparently is heavy on the um the woman. receiving sexual gratification. It got. an R rating. Yeah. Despite And it got an.

R rating after apparently the director. cut a lot of stuff out and the director. said, "What the hey?" after um Wolf of. Wall Street came out. You're like, "Have. you seen this movie?" With like some. very graphic apparent sex scenes between. a man and a woman. Yeah. But Leonardo. DiCaprio is the one enjoying it the. most, so it's fine. It's an R, right? Blue is the warmest color. Yeah. Last. year that uh a teenage lesbian love. story NC7. Yep. Got a lot of attention.

And there were some theaters that. allowed uh high school age kids to go. see that anyway because again this isn't. law. It's not binding. It's up to the. theaters. Yeah. It's just so strange. that such a small group of people have. such influence on such a large industry. And yeah, the more you dig into it, the. more conflicts of interest arise and the. more arbitrary the standards become, the. more blood boiling it is. I highly. recommend you go read some stuff like.

Rated R for ridiculous by Kirby Dick. His little uh yeah, his little um op-ed. about MPAA. Um that one US News and. World Report article you wrote or. suggested was good. I wish I wrote it. Had you been uh there would have been. used correctly. Oh, did they misuse it? What? Yeah, I know. That's terrible. Uh. so the NPA will defend themselves and. they say that there is no such bias and. that we all these objectionable scenes.

are rated on the graphic uh quality and. how graphic it is. Um but if you just. look at the you'd have to be a dummy not. to see these correlations, right? Uh and. then the fact that they don't seem to. care that much about violence in this. age where. I don't know. Does it influence people. to go shoot up a school? Who knows? Did you see that John Oliver quote. that's going around? Uh, yes. But what. was it? It's like uh somebody. unsuccessfully tries to carry a bomb.

onto a plane in their shoe. We all take. our shoes off. Oh, right. There's like. 30 something school shootings after. Coline and absolutely nothing's changed. Yeah. or the Onion article that's going. around too now is uh. this is something that can't be. prevented says the only country where. this kind of thing happens all the time. Something like that. I'm paraphrasing. Oh yeah, it's the Onion. Yeah, good stuff. NPA, keep keep doing. the fighting the good fight. Yeah, go.

check out like just go start reading up. on it. It's funny how much we just take. this stuff for granted, but when just. start digging just slightly beneath the. surface at the very least, see this film. is not yet rated. It's really good. Yeah. Um really engrossing. And you. know, for every hundred documentaries. that come out, what five of them are. like really great. Sure. Most of them. are pretty good. Some are terrible. So. any really good one is worth seeing just. in and of itself. Agreed. Uh if you want.

to learn more about the MPAA, type those. letters into the search bar. houseofworks.com and I said search bar. so it's time for listener mail. Uh I'm going to call this wild parrots. Um. Josh mentioned in the tattoo podcast. that he had heard parrots like to hang. together when free and I wanted to burst. in the podcast booth and tell you about. the wild parrots of San Francisco. I'm. not going to get into it except to say. that over the course of my life the. parrots in San Francisco were a sort of. living legend that one would. occasionally get the privilege of.

spotting now and then. However, about. three years ago, I moved in with my aunt. in the little uh San Francisco suburb of. Brisbane. And apparently, the famous. flocks of parrots were also making their. home there since it was warmer and less. windy. Uh these parrots were often. hanging uh right outside my bedroom. window, which is pretty amazing. Or no, she says amusing. I say it's amazing, but also somewhat annoying. Uh. especially since my first son was just a. little guy then and a very light. sleeper. And these suckers are loud. That is true. They are very loud. Also,

guys, I'm sending you the link to watch. the preview of the 2003 documentary, The. Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. So, I. didn't know there was a documentary. I've heard that. I've heard of that. before. I never uh knew what it was. about. Amy, I will check that out. Thank. you. Thank you for writing it. Yeah. Thanks a lot, Amy. Uh if you have a. documentary recommendation, we are. always interested in those. Heck yeah. Uh you can tweet them to us at. syskodcast. You can uh post them on. facebook.comstuffyou. should know. Uh and you can send us an.

email to stuffpodcast@houseuffworks.com. And as always, join us at our home on. the web, the beautiful stuff you should. know.com. [Music]. For more on this and thousands of other. topics, visit howstuffworks.com. [Music].