This Film Has, Unfortunately, Been Rated
Seven years ago, filmmaker Kirby Dick released an eye-opening documentary entitled “This Film is Not Yet Rated.” In it, Dick launched an investigation into the secret review board responsible for the classification of films under the Motion Picture Association of America's umbrella ratings policy. In addition to arguing that the MPAA reacts more favorably to films financed and backed by Hollywood studios while penalizing independent filmmakers, “This Film is Not Yet Rated” highlights the hypocritical attitudes centered on violence and sex, particularly sexual acts depicting homosexuality or female empowerment. Not surprisingly, the MPAA responded by slapping “This Film is Not Yet Rated” with an NC-17 rating of its own.
Part of the MPAA's rationalization for assigning “This Film is Not Yet Rated” an NC-17 rating was that Dick utilized clips from other films that previous boards had cited as the reason for their respective NC-17 ratings. One clip features Chloe Sevigny receiving oral sex from Hilary Swank. Their film, the autobiographical “Boys Don't Cry,” about transgendered murder victim Brandon Teena, was such a small production that Swank confided to CBS that she earned only $3,000 for her Oscar-winning performance. According to “Boys Don't Cry” director Kimberly Peirce, whose story was a main feature of “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” while the MPAA took issue with the scene where Teena is gang-raped by his eventual murderers, their primary complaint was with the consensual sex scene between Sevigny (who played Teena's love interest, Lana) and Swank due to “the length of Lana's orgasm”.
The treatment of “Boys Don't Cry” highlights the slant against homosexuality. In the romantic comedy “Pretty Woman” and the family-friendly film “Ghostbusters,” leading male characters–Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman” and Dan Aykroyd in “Ghostbusters”–receive oral sex from females (albeit, a poltergeist female in “Ghostbusters”) yet only earn an R and PG rating, respectively.
Part of the MPAA's rationalization for assigning “This Film is Not Yet Rated” an NC-17 rating was that Dick utilized clips from other films that previous boards had cited as the reason for their respective NC-17 ratings. One clip features Chloe Sevigny receiving oral sex from Hilary Swank. Their film, the autobiographical “Boys Don't Cry,” about transgendered murder victim Brandon Teena, was such a small production that Swank confided to CBS that she earned only $3,000 for her Oscar-winning performance. According to “Boys Don't Cry” director Kimberly Peirce, whose story was a main feature of “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” while the MPAA took issue with the scene where Teena is gang-raped by his eventual murderers, their primary complaint was with the consensual sex scene between Sevigny (who played Teena's love interest, Lana) and Swank due to “the length of Lana's orgasm”.
The treatment of “Boys Don't Cry” highlights the slant against homosexuality. In the romantic comedy “Pretty Woman” and the family-friendly film “Ghostbusters,” leading male characters–Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman” and Dan Aykroyd in “Ghostbusters”–receive oral sex from females (albeit, a poltergeist female in “Ghostbusters”) yet only earn an R and PG rating, respectively.