The Political Economy of NC-17 Ratings

At LAT, "Two Films, Two Sex Scenes, Two Different Ratings":

One new movie generating Oscar buzz shows a woman engaged in a steamy sex act with another woman in a scene that lasts just over a minute without any nudity. Another new movie also piquing the attention of Academy Awards voters shows a man performing an identical act on a woman in a scene that lasts just over a minute without any nudity.

Filmgoers who watch both movies, especially those oral sex scenes, would be hard-pressed to describe how one is more explicit than the other.

Yet the first movie, "Black Swan," a supernatural drama from Fox Searchlight that opened this weekend, was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Assn. of America, which means it can play in nearly all theaters across the country. The second film, "Blue Valentine," which opens Dec. 31, was given a dreaded NC-17 because of what the Weinstein Co. studio says is that scene.

An NC-17 rating means anyone younger than 17 cannot see the movie in theaters — even if they are accompanied by an adult. Many theater chains have a policy of not exhibiting NC-17 films, and some media outlets refuse to carry ads for NC-17 movies. That means the box office receipts and cultural impact of an NC-17 film are likely to be much more limited than an R-rated movie. No NC-17 rated film has ever won a major prize at the Oscars.

The "Blue Valentine" rating is the latest in a string of controversial decisions by the MPAA and its Classification and Ratings Administration board that have raised the anger of filmmakers and moviegoers. Critics of the system say that the raters take a much harsher line on sex, language and drug use than they do on violence and that the panel's standards are murky and inconsistent.

"I don't have an answer for why that movie ["Black Swan"] would be OK and ours wouldn't," said "Blue Valentine" director Derek Cianfrance, who called the NC-17 rating "a form of censorship." "There's not an ounce of skin, and it's not gratuitous in any way. I'm confused and baffled."