A Sociological Film Rating System

Have you ever pondered our society's choices in what to censor and what to warn us about in film ratings? Like, why are we generally more concerned with sex in films rather than violence? And there are other problems that don't get censored or rated at all. What about those?

The Motion Picture Association of America provides us with our standardized rating system, giving films a G, PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17, depending on how they measure up to certain criteria. These include, but are not limited to, language (i.e. use of profanity), nudity, sex, violence, drug abuse, sensuality, "adult activities and other elements," and--in the case of NC-17 films--"abborrational behavior."

The overarching themes are language, sexuality, and violence. This is the Triad of Evils; the three things we most need to shelter our kids from. Or are they?

What if the triad were sexism, racism, and heteronormativity? What would the ratings system look like then? And how would the movies get recategorized to fit these new criteria? Based on research by Emily Kazyak and Karin Martin at the University of Michigan, we might hypothesize that Disney would end up with the R rating in this new scheme.

And then I thought further: this would form an excellent basis for an introductory sociology class project. I am SO planning on doing this with my class this fall. It is certainly preferable to grading a bunch of term papers.

Option 1: The project is to put together and try out a new rating system. Their assignment would be to review the Motion Picture Association of America's descriptions for each level. Each student would work individually to come up with a new system based on sociological concepts. They would have to include 5 concepts from the readings in their new rating system. They would devise a way to break down each concept into G, PG, R, and NC-17 levels. What would be R-level racism?

Turn in: (1) A worksheet raters can use to rate a movie, filled out using their all-time favorite movie (so they already know it well and can really focus on the rating criteria when they watch it) (2) A page or so describing their rating system, and (3) one page or so in which they describe what rating they gave their movie and why.

Option 2: I put together a worksheet for them to use and give them a description of the rating system. I pick the criterion, etc. Then, they have to select a movie that's come out in the last five years and rate it.

Turn in: (1) A completed worksheet, (2) a paragraph synopsis of the rating and why, like you would give the press to publish, and (3) a 3-page description of details from the movie supporting their decision. I would then compile everyone's synopses and post them as a group.

Thoughts? Option 1 is more work for them, option 2 is more work for me. But with Option 2, I can build on it year after year since the ratings are standardized. However, they might learn more with option 1, and they'd have more freedom to pick their own criteria....