This project, as it evolved, became very personal to me. You see, I have been both a complicated woman and a pearl clutching, movie censorship, mother, and I feel my five decades of metamorphosis are so very applicable to the social power of film. My anchor for this essay is Kirby Dick’s documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a film on Netflix, but unavailable to stream in the United States. Netflix states the following: “Oh no! This title currently isn’t available to watch in your country.” This seems crazy, since I live in the country purportedly with a constitution and a first amendment that protects speech. Is film speech? Is film free? Film is speech, but film is not free. In fact, it is probably the most censored medium in the United States. This Film is Not Yet Rated blows the lid off the arbitrary, and mostly secretive, MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) rating system.
Who pays attention to movie ratings anyway? I did; I did religiously twenty plus years ago. From 1993 to 2008, I was the queen of censorship. But, why? I grew up way too fast. My parents were a rebellion of the 1950’s. They were hippies who censored nothing. By age nine, I was fully responsible for my siblings, and my favorite movie was John Landis’ National Lampoons Animal House. My parents were not parents. I suffered some traumatic experiences as an adolescent so when I became a teen-mother, I vowed to be the parents I did not have. With that vow came movie censorship.
I did not just censor movies. The first show I recall censoring was the cartoon Rugrats. I hated it. I hated the characters being bullies and talking in baby talk. My daughter was not allowed to watch any animated show geared to older kids, or adults, including The Simpsons. I was nuts. Everyone knew and judged me for it. My sister followed the way we were raised. I followed the MPAA ratings to the number. It should be noted she had two boys; I had one girl. While it shouldn’t matter, it definitely did, in lock step with history.
My daughter was also not permitted to watch anything PG 13, until she was thirteen. I believed I was giving her a chance to be a child for as long as possible. I did not want her to grow up hard and fast the way I had. I truly believed nothing terrible could happen if we abided by those ratings; if I approved of everything she watched. It was fear. My sister nearly strangled me with my pearls when she allowed my baby to watch the movie Dodgeball (2004). I was mortified. No one died.
In the present day, I am more mortified by the way these ratings are derived, than by film content. The active and ongoing discrimination that takes place against independent film makers astonished me (This). At 23:49 in the clip we learn the “MPAA is composed of the seven largest producers of film and television in the world, the old great studio names.” Today these companies are Comcast, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, News Corporation, and Fox Corporation.
It disturbs me that all my film decisions as a young mother were dependent on these corporations and their secretly anointed board. I gave them so much power in our lives. It further disturbs me that these are the companies and the people responsible for bias in movies…put this in, take this out and you get your rating (This). They have effectively taken control of public perception regarding sex, gender roles, sexual orientation, race, country of origin, everything that makes us uniquely us, is being fed to us through a filter created by these companies. It should chill every citizen who believes in freedom of speech and thought.
Works Cited
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) – Full Documentary + Bonus DVD Scenes. YouTube, uploaded
by Dan L, 8 April 2023. youtube.com/watch?v=Aq2JiGRUzaw&rco=1. Accessed 12 April 2026.
