MPAA and Censorship

Apparently a new film called Facing the Giants (2006) has landed the MPAA before the United States House of Representatives. The film received a PG rating (instead of G) for what the house accuses the MPAA of religious discrimination. Apparently the fact that the film has a strong religious message was supposed to be the reason behind the rate increase. Of course the MPAA has been quick to deny it and what has come out of it is a desire by the House to review the MPAA standards for ratings.

Now, I am the last person to defend the MPAA and its ratings standards. However, the religious community has no room to complain when the MPAA, in my humble opinion, looked the other way when it rated Gibson’s Passion of the Christ (2004) R not the NC-17 it deserved for violence. I say this considering a film like The Cooler (2003) was originally given an NC-17 rating because of its violence and a single shot that showed the pubic hair of a woman, not actual nudity but pubic hair. The director fought the rating and successfully had it lowered to R. It is long known that the MPAA is softer on violence than it is sex, and sexuality. Often films that have male nudity or male-male sexual content will carry a heavier rating than similar films that have male-female sexual content and female nudity.

Remember the last time Congress was involved with Hollywood, we ended up with the Hays production code that severely limited the content of films. They decided that self-imposed censorship was better than a government intervention and moved forward with the code (see here for more info on the code). When the code was lifted we were left with the MPAA, which has used the rating system we are all aware of.

I truly hope that the United States Congress decides to move on to more pressing issues and allow the MPAA to correct itself. I don’t believe that there should ever be government censorship, education is one thing, but censorship is another. If we allow the government to begin to censor or force the MPAA to declare items more offensive because of religious or any other political reason, then art and our society will suffer. Let us not forget the days of the HUAC / McCarthy trials of the 1950s and how that changed our Nation. If we are to have a free society, we should be willing to take the good with the bad and do so without government intervention.

I also can’t wait to see This Film is net Yet Rated.