Strange MPAA Warnings

[Mofo Rising]

The MPAA is no friend of mine.  Lately, however, there decision to list the reasons for their ratings in the ratings logo has been causing me quite some amusement.  Mostly because they are so very oddly specific and at times almost nonsensical.

Here's two that caught my attention (emphasis mine):

The Dark Backward
Rated R for brief scenes of bizarre, comic sensuality.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Excellent movie, by the way.)
Rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images.

Any examples amused anybody else?

[AnubisVonMojo]

I've always been a fan of Shaun of the Dead's MPAA rating: "Rated R for zombie violence/gore and language." as well as Twister's, "Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of very bad weather." and Alien vs. Predator's, "Rated PG-13 for violence, language, horror images, slime and gore.", as I was unaware that slime had an effect on the ratings for a movie...

[AnubisVonMojo]

Oh yeah, and Team America's classic rating, "Rated R for graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language - all involving puppets." Heh heh.

[frank]

Bill Bryson wrote in one of his books about this. Back then, he lived in the UK and was probably not aware that "language" could be a synonym of "swearing" or "cussing", as about everybody else outside the US. Thus, he (and I) were slightly irritated, when we read a movie was rated for "excessive usage of language"...("WTF! They talked too much?" - reminded me of my sister saying:"Nah, didn't like it. Lots of talk, little action...")

Since then, I liked ratings that actually describe movies better than the tag lines, like:

"shark-related violence" for "Sharks"

and

"non-stop ninja action" for "Three Ninjas Knuckle Up".

Imagine how people would be shocked to find out that there was shark/ninja/zombie-violence in a shark/ninja/zombie-movie! Now, this will never happen again.

[Susan]

Why do they have to be so educated about it? Why not just say something like

Rated R for Boobies! Boobies! Boobies!

[frank]

"Battle of Britain" (1967) had "mild British profanity". WHAT?? Examples, please!!

[frank]

While surfing on the net looking for some examples for ratings I stumbled on this site: http://www.screenit.com/all_titles.html

It is obviously some movie review site by parents for parents, where they can look up some specific movie and find out if it is suitable for their kids. Now, this might generally be a good idea, but the dissection of each movie makes the reviews on this site look rather pathetic! It seems like they list every single stiff drink, and every glass of wine, and every kiss, and every bare butt, and every “full frontal nudity”, and every single cussword (“more than 65 f-words, at least 27 s-words,….”), and every single drop of blood and severed head and so on and on…

I actually had to look up “cleavage”.

This is interspersed with recommendations. E.g. in the Will kids want to see it?-section: “If they're fans of someone in the cast, or of the Coen brothers and their films ("Fargo," "Raising Arizona," etc...), they just might.” (for The Big Lebowski)

Honestly, if you were ever interested how many times you can spot blood in “28 day later”, read it up here! Lots of laughs…

However, imagining a bunch of parents watching a horror flick and making ticks on some list for every bad word, drink, cigarette, body, “cleavage” etc seems somewhat kinky to me….

[raj]

"Battle of Britain" (1967) had "mild British profanity". WHAT?? Examples, please!!

IIRC, they use the word "bloody" as in "bloody hell."  For the Brits "bloody" is a cussword as it's a shortening of God's Blood.

I've seen British books circa WWI that in addition to having G_d d_mn (apparently editing out the vowels is what it took to get past the censors) had l__sy instead of lousy.  Lousy I'm guessing meant full of lice and was a bad word back in the day.

[CheezeFlixz]

"Battle of Britain" (1967) had "mild British profanity". WHAT?? Examples, please!!

IIRC, they use the word "bloody" as in "bloody hell."  For the Brits "bloody" is a cussword as it's a shortening of God's Blood.

I've seen British books circa WWI that in addition to having G_d d_mn (apparently editing out the vowels is what it took to get past the censors) had l__sy instead of lousy.  Lousy I'm guessing meant full of lice and was a bad word back in the day.

So then that begs the question ... 'If you don't know it's a cuss word, is it a cuss word?'

[Susan]

"Battle of Britain" (1967) had "mild British profanity". WHAT?? Examples, please!!

IIRC, they use the word "bloody" as in "bloody hell."  For the Brits "bloody" is a cussword as it's a shortening of God's Blood.

I've seen British books circa WWI that in addition to having G_d d_mn (apparently editing out the vowels is what it took to get past the censors) had l__sy instead of lousy.  Lousy I'm guessing meant full of lice and was a bad word back in the day.

So then that begs the question ... 'If you don't know it's a cuss word, is it a cuss word?'

i heard a snippet on the radio bout people trying to get santa to stop saying "ho" because of the alternative meaning. How many 5 year olds are gonna make that connection?

[CheezeFlixz]

i heard a snippet on the radio bout people trying to get santa to stop saying "ho" because of the alternative meaning. How many 5 year olds are gonna make that connection?

I believe that was in Australia but after some outcry they backed off of it. It's PC gone mad. Soon Sioux-Zun (should be Zahn) you will have to change your name as you might offend the red man injun savage brave Indian Native American.

[Mofo Rising]

Why do they have to be so educated about it? Why not just say something like

Rated R for Boobies! Boobies! Boobies!

It often seems like to me they're using it as an alternate form of advertising.

Of course, b-movies have been doing this for years.  Right next to me is a dvd of Basketcase that says "WARNING: This program contains nudity and excessive violence!"

It's the little touches like the exclamation mark that make all the difference.

[indianasmith]

WARNING: This film is a colossal mistake that will ruin your life, frighten children, and bruise fruit!


(Actually, Dogbert said that about Dilbert's tie, but if I saw a movie with that label I would have to rent it!)

[Susan]

i heard a snippet on the radio bout people trying to get santa to stop saying "ho" because of the alternative meaning. How many 5 year olds are gonna make that connection?

I believe that was in Australia but after some outcry they backed off of it. It's PC gone mad. Soon Sioux-Zun (should be Zahn) you will have to change your name as you might offend the red man injun savage brave Indian Native American.

Ahh..not quite my friend. For I am part Native american ;-)

[CheezeFlixz]

Ahh..not quite my friend. For I am part Native american ;-)

Which part?