Clarity

Wow....it's been more than two months since my last post. I'm not saying I haven't tried to write some, because I definitely have. I have 4 unfinished posts in my drafts. The problem is that I haven't found anything that really caught my interest. I don't really want to write a blog post that bores me, because I know it would bore you.

However, today in my economics class, my professor made some interesting comments and requests. He told us that universities aren't designed to prepare us for jobs. They don't teach us job skills. What they have an advantage in is teaching us to read and write critically, but more importantly, to think analytically. Universities are here to teach us how to grow in this world. They prepare us to learn quickly and effectively. I said in an earlier post that schooling needs to get with the surge of new media, but now I'm thinking that maybe they shouldn't, or not as much as I previously thought. They can incorporate it into how they teach, but we need to learn how to learn. Universities already have most of this figured out. And here I was, thinking I knew everything about what I need to know. I had no idea.

One last thing: my professor asked us to fall in love. Not with a person, but with an idea. He almost pleaded that we find something to love. We need an obsession. This life can be confusing, but if we have something to focus our lives around, everything suddenly becomes clearer. This university (and many others) is one of the best places in the world to be struck with wonder for something. Center your life around something you love, something that fascinates you. If you can find something that fills you with awe every time you encounter it, your life will be never be empty.

Find that love for something and you will have a lifelong companion, no matter what happens.

Thank you, professor.

"F" is for failure

Sex, drugs, violence, and strong language are almost a given in the motion picture industry of our time. When the movie industry was originally established, the movies generally promoted strong family unity and good morals, but that changed quickly. Today’s movie industry is full of immorality. The set of rules that categorize movies into different ratings have mutated into something shameful. They are lax and allow almost anything into movies that children are able to access. The scary part is that many people don’t even notice it happening.

Back before the current rating system was in place, even before the Motion Picture Association of America (“MPAA”; the rating board of movies) was created, movies weren’t rated at all. Movies were subject to multiple, very strict censorship boards. Movie producers had to pass the varying standards of every one of the boards if they wanted their films to be shown in theaters. The restrictions enforced by the boards were extremely difficult to get past, and in response to this, the MPAA was formed. The MPAA’s job was to judge whether a movie was moral or immoral. If the board decided it was immoral in any way, it was disapproved and not allowed to be viewed in theaters. Suggestive dancing, excessive swearing, and passionate kissing were just a few of the disqualifying factors. This rating system was called the “Hays Code”, after the original chairman of the MPAA, and many producers and theaters complained that is was nothing more than censorship.

Jack Valenti, a subsequent chairman of the MPAA, hated the Hays Code. He went to the National Association of Theater Owners, other shareholders, and the US government, and together they introduced the rating system still in use today. Movies are now rated by a board of parents who rate movies based on how much warning they believe a parent needs to know about a movie’s contents. These groundbreaking changes in the rating system over the past century show how much the content and regulation of the movie industry has changed. The restrictions have gone from extremely strict to extremely accepting.

Even in the currently used system, the ratings have changed. When it was first implemented, there were four categories: G, M, R, and X. G meant “Acceptable to ‘general’ audiences, including children.” M was for “mature” audiences. R meant “restricted” and kids under 17 were required to be accompanied by an adult. The X rating meant that kids under the age of 17 were not allowed. Because of confusion among many parents, the rating “GP” (later PG) was created, meaning parental guidance was suggested. Boundary-pushing movies, like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” caused the rating “PG-13” to be created, which encompassed movies too violent or thematic for PG. Fairly quickly, the “X” rating became associated with pornography, causing movies, newspapers, and magazines to refuse to advertise for any X-rated movie. This killed any movie rated “X”. To fix this problem, the MPAA dropped “X” and “NC-17” was introduced, which, consequently, also became associated with pornography.

Over time, the restrictions for each rating have become more lenient as well. Yes, some movies, originally rated PG or PG-13, have been re-rated to R, but this doesn’t mean movie ratings have become stricter. It just means that the movies have been re-rated to fit the changes in the movie-rating system, which is, in my opinion, still too lenient. Also, any small changes in the ratings causing greater strictness have been overshadowed by blatant allowances elsewhere. One of the biggest allowances in rating restrictions has been the acceptance of nudity in movies.

Looking at the PG rating, the MPAA rules state that, “there may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity.” Even though the MPAA doesn’t state that PG means “for children,” that is what PG has come to mean for the general populace. If they are showing “brief nudity” in movies which parents believe are geared towards children, something has definitely changed in how the MPAA is rating movies.

According to the MPAA, PG-13 movies “may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but do not reach the restricted R category.” The meaning of the PG 13 rating is “Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.” Before the MPAA was formed, and during the Hay’s Code, nudity wouldn’t have been allowed in anything under an R rating. Yet, now the MPAA is allowing nudity to be rated PG and PG-13.

Originally, the MPAA created a specific guideline for controlling the amount of nudity shown in PG-13 movies. The description of the PG-13 rating states, “More than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating, but such nudity in a PG-13 rated motion picture generally will not be sexually oriented.” Now, compared with no rule, this rule is pretty safe.  However, it doesn’t help that they haven’t followed that rule. In the new release, “Limitless,” there is a graphic sex scene that shows a woman’s chest, completely bare. That is sexually-oriented nudity! The movie “Titanic” does the same thing, except not during a sex scene. Though it isn’t sexually oriented, it is still only rated PG-13. Another, “21,” is almost always situated in a strip club. The singular purpose of a strip club is sexual in orientation.

Nudity is getting more and more prevalent in movies. During the year 2000, out of a total of 147 movies rated PG-13, 8 movies had a rating that included nudity (about 5.4%). During the year 2010, out of a total of 177 movies rated PG-13, 19 movies had a rating that included nudity (about 10.7%). Just in the past 10 years, the number of movies with nudity has gone up more than 5%, from one out of twenty, to one out of ten. The MPAA is allowing more movies with nudity to be rated PG-13 now, than they were back in 2000.

MPAA Ratings Chief Joan Graves states, “The ratings system exists for one purpose: to inform parents about the content of films.” Now, the MPAA generally does a good job of telling people what is in a movie, but when it comes to rating and categorizing the films, the MPAA is not doing its job well enough. The MPAA’s ratings are supposed to be a quick way of knowing the general content of a movie. However, with these changes in rating policy, the MPAA is falling short of its mark. The MPAA rating system is becoming less and less adequate, and people need to know and understand this. With the way the motion picture industry is headed, people will need more than just the MPAA system to be informed on movie content.