轉載自〈Motion Picture Association of America〉:
http://www.mpaa.org/film-ratings/#12
及Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Association_of_America_film_rating_system





【G — General Audiences. All Ages Admitted.】

A G-rated motion picture contains nothing in theme, language, nudity, sex, violence or other matters that, in the view of the Rating Board, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. The G rating is not a "certificate of approval," nor does it signify a "children’s" motion picture. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use are present in the motion picture.


【PG — Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children.】

A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision.

The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.


【PG-13 — Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13.】

A PG-13 rating is a sterner warning by the Rating Board to parents to determine whether their children under age 13 should view the motion picture, as some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the restricted R category. The theme of the motion picture by itself will not result in a rating greater than PG-13, although depictions of activities related to a mature theme may result in a restricted rating for the motion picture. Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. 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. There may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie, but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence. A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context. The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous.


【R — Restricted. Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian.】

An R-rated motion picture, in the view of the Rating Board, contains some adult material. An R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about R-rated motion pictures in determining their suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures.


【NC-17 — Adults Only. No One 17 and Under Admitted. 】

An NC-17 rated motion picture is one that, in the view of the Rating Board, most parents would consider patently too adult for their children 17 and under. No children will be admitted. NC-17 does not mean "obscene" or "pornographic" in the common or legal meaning of those words, and should not be construed as a negative judgment in any sense. The rating simply signals that the content is appropriate only for an adult audience. An NC-17 rating can be based on violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or any other element that most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children.


◎http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDqxuGlxbWc


◎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 patterns in the MPAA's actual rating decisions. 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.

○Language

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 have been allowed two or three uses. Some movies such as Valkyrie, I, Robot, The Social Network, The Sum of All Fears, Philomena and The Martian each have fuck said more than once, but still received the PG-13 Rating. 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.)

○Drugs

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. The 2011 Nickelodeon-animated film Rango caused some controversy over its PG rating among anti-smoking advocates. It was argued that the film showed over 60 depictions of characters smoking in the film, and that because of this, the child-friendly PG rating was inappropriate. 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 at least one older movie, 101 Dalmatians, was released uncut on DVD after Disney banned smoking in its films despite the fact that it portrays Cruella de Vil as a fanatic smoker.

○Sexual Content

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.

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. Some 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. As of 2010, the MPAA has added a descriptor of "male nudity" to movies featuring said content.

Men receiving oral sex (fellatio) are shown more often and more explicitly than women receiving oral sex (cunnilingus) in R-rated films. The R-rated film The Hangover shows an erect penis receiving oral sex with complete genital nudity. However, the film The Cooler contains a scene implying cunnilingus, and the makers were forced to remove a shot of female pubic hair (not genitals) to receive an R rating. This suggests a double standard regarding male and female oral sex.

There are many films including buttock and/or breast nudity (and in some cases, genital nudity) that are rated PG-13 or less:



○Violence

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.

○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.
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