The Influence Of MPAA On Society And Sexuality

The MPAA’s Influence on Society and Sexuality Movies are a mainstream agent of sharing creativity, ideas, and information that construct a portion of the United States reality in many different forms. The Motion Picture Association of America has an extreme amount of control over what ideas and information is relayed in films and are made mainstream to the public by using a rating system that has been in effect for almost five decades, rating movies G, or PG is supposed to inform and reassure parents about what is acceptable for their children to watch; additionally, a PG-13 rating informs parents that children 13 and above can “morally” watch the film, or R rated movies that are films that adults know they can “morally” watch. The rating NC-17, which was formally X, is a rating that is viewed as unacceptable for things such as sexuality, language, drugs, or violence (Dow, 2009). This rating system gives the individuals in the association, the “raters” of the films, the ability to decide what content is appropriate for the citizens watch, specifically children under the age of seventeen (Kirby, 2014). There are a multitude of issues regarding the MPAA and the rating system including how the content is rated, for example, why is violence so much more tolerable than sexuality in this rating system? Why does the MPAA have such an influence of sexuality in society? The

This affects what filmmakers compose which also effects what individuals watch, this all falls back onto the MPAA and the control they have on the film industry. Media has such an intense influence on society and the view of many realities, film is a main aspect of that. If the MPAA was using their power to produce acceptance and understanding of sexuality it would have a more positive effect on