With only two films under his belt, his latest being the arthouse hit “Don’t Think Twice,” it hasn’t taken long for Mike Birbiglia to be introduced to the frustrations of the Motion Picture Association of America. At one point or another, directors will wind up dealing with the ratings board, which is notorious for favoring violence over sex and squirming at the merest suggestion of nudity. But perhaps most baffling of all is the MPAA’s stance on swearing, where only a few utterances of the word “fuck” can earn a film an R-rating. Yet graphic violence and mayhem in a film, as long as it’s not too bloody, will earn a PG-13 rating.
In light of “Suicide Squad” opening on Friday, Birbiglia called out the MPAA for their prudish inconsistency via Twitter, and got some support from Judd Apatow.
Suicide Squad has machine gun killings and bombings and got a PG-13 rating. @Dontthinkmovie gets an R because adults smoke pot. Confusing?
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) August 3, 2016
Studios own the ratings board. Violence sells so they make pot and sex the scary thing so they seem caring. https://t.co/S3VpKxUXbu
— Judd Apatow 🇺🇦 (@JuddApatow) August 3, 2016
Certainly, an issue that isn’t talked about enough is how the whims of the MPAA have an adverse affect on storytelling, with writers and directors forced to work their away around dialogue and plot elements to avoid an R-rating, with most studios looking to avoid that stamp, particularly for mainstream pictures. And there’s definitely something strange about a system that says it’s okay for a teenager to witness mass carnage, but not someone smoking pot. And Apatow’s summary, while a bit cynical, is probably not untrue either.
So another day, another ridiculous example of the MPAA’s dysfunctional approach to ratings. [Yahoo]
