# Rules for automatic "R" rating **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993 "2003-02-14T03:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/21 "2003-02-14T16:35:35Z")
The MPAA rating system is highly capricious. Look at the “rule” posted above and all it’s exceptions posted later. There is a panel of “ordinary” people. The makeup changes over time. What one group decided 10 years ago might not be what they decide now. In particular, Big Hollywood Films get away with a lot more than indies. A lot more. Why “ordinary” people would have such a bias is peculiar and then some. There are no enforced rules, people have threatened lawsuits (e.g., Kevin Smith) and they have backed down because they know they can’t afford to lose a test case. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/22 "2003-02-14T16:51:10Z")
I’ve linked to [this article](http://www.moviemaker.com/issues/41/mpaa.html) before; I think it’s an interesting peek at the ratings system. The main focus of the article is how films from big studios are given “lighter” ratings than films from independant sources with similar content. Some relevant excerpts: > [@](#): > > {P}roducer Eric Watson was given some insight into the makeup of the Ratings Appeal Board that upheld the NC-17 for _Requiem for a Dream_ when he was told there were two priests on the jury. This calls into question not only the MPAA’s assertion that jury members have a “shared parenthood experience,” but also raises serious doubts about the board being representative of America as a whole. > … > Other than by offering some broadstroke standards, such as how they view use of the word “fuck” (one non-sexual use of the word will get you a PG-13, one sexual use commands an R), the MPAA’s rating guidelines are murky, at best. Said Matt Stone, “The MPAA has no set rules. Things change from movie to movie. It makes no sense. In going through the notes we saw that they had no standards, so we decided these people are stupid and we’d just try to get it past them. If there was something they said couldn’t stay in [South Park], we’d make it 10 times worse and five times as long. And they’d come back and say, ‘OK, that’s better.’” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/23 "2003-02-14T17:58:45Z")
Here are the 17 words that would cause _me_ to automatically give an ‘R-rating:’ (but yet keeping this thread ‘clean’) 1.\*\*\*\* 2.\*\*\*\* 3.\*\*\*\* 4.\*\*\*\*\* 5.\*\*\*\* 6.\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 7.\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 8.\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 9.\*\*\*\* 10.\*\*\*\*\*\* 11.\*\*\*\*\* 12.\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 13.\*\*\*\* 14.\*\*\*\* 15.\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 16.\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 17.\*\*\*\*\*\*\* Happy ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/24 "2003-02-14T20:15:50Z")
Regarding the differentiation in using “fuck” in a sexual vs. a nonsexual context, Albert Brooks has a somewhat famous quote on the issue. “If I say I’m going to fuck you over a desk, that’s an R,” he says. “But if I say I’m going to fuck you over _with_ a desk, that’s a PG-13.” Yes, it’s basically a stupid system, but to paraphrase that well-known political quote, it’s the worst possible system except all of the alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/25 "2003-02-14T20:46:09Z")
Of course, money plays a role. If a movie house can pay the MPAA, they can get whatever rating they want. Case in point: _Batman Returns_. In any rational universe, that would have gotten an R for extreme violence and sexual content. In this world, it got PG-13 to attract the teenybopper market. A few `fucks' do not an R movie make. Not even a `motherfucker’ or a `shit-swilling fucking asshole’. Not having enough money does. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/26 "2003-02-14T21:39:12Z")
> [@](#): > > A few `fucks' do not an R movie make. Not even a `motherfucker’ or a `shit-swilling fucking asshole’. Not having enough money does. This is, of course, Bulls\*\*\*. No amount of money will get you a rating less than R with those words. Your larger point has some validity, but it’s centered around the area the MPAA is notoriously most lenient on: violence. The more cartoony, the more likely they’ll give it a pass. Sexual suggestiveness (especially if it’s comedic and overt) gets a PG-13; sexual candor (not necessarily explicitness) gets an R. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/27 "2003-02-15T07:22:41Z")
Then, regarding the several posts made after mine, can someone explain to me how Spaceballs still got a PG even with its single non-sexual use of the F-word? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/28 "2003-02-15T07:39:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*Then, regarding the several posts made after mine, can someone explain to me how Spaceballs still got a PG even with its single non-sexual use of the F-word? \*\* Just one use? Is this it: ? (courtesy IMDB) Dark Helmet: Out of order? FUCK! Even in the future, nothing works! (also) Barf: I know we need the money, but… Lone Starr: Listen! We’re not just doing this for money… We’re doing it for a SHIT LOAD of money! Barf: Oh, you’re right. And when you’re right, you’re right. And you - you’re always right. Reasons: 1 Hi UncleBeer! 2 It’s a Mel Brooks comedy 3 Mel wanted a PG rating ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993/29 "2003-02-15T16:02:55Z")
Well, _Spaceballs_ was made only three years after the PG-13 category was introduced; I imagine they didn’t have the same standards at the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-for-automatic-r-rating/154993.md?page=1)