The MPAA has a long and storied history of stubbornness. If filmmakers want their movie in theaters, then they have to play by the recently deceased Jack Valenti’s game plan. It’s an iron fist that the film rating organization rules with, and exceptions are less common than Bird Flu deaths. It’s now appears the fascist regime may be etching toward a more fair and balanced system.
Variety is reporting that the MPAA review board has overturned The Hip Hop Project’s R-rating. The film, executive produced by Bruce Willis (Pulp Fiction), follows a group of urban teenagers who examine the rap industry and attempt to make their own album about their lives with a positive message void of typical rap clichés. The documentary is geared towards younger audiences; so, the initial adult rating was far from a buoy.
This is really a step in the right direction that may help to curb the biggest problem facing the MPAA today. The forty year old rating system doesn’t allow directors to tackle teenage problems because any realistic language or imagery results in an R-Rating that will exclude the intended audience. Let’s be serious, every kid I have ever met swears more than Redd Foxx. Lenny Bruce would blush at some of the obscenity-ridden phrases that I’ve heard escape my little cousin’s mouth. So who are we trying to protect?
While this veiled moral façade may come from some parental protection instinct, it only hurts teenagers in the long run. Fact: kids drink. Fact: kids have sex. Fact: by forcing directors to abide by an imaginary code of what’s appropriate, we bind their ability to reach a younger demographics. I for one, would rather discuss problems than sit around and let them continue to grow into a debaucherous epidemic.
Here’s to hoping that the MPAA continues to look at the bigger picture and rewards thought-provoking and important teenage films a PG-13 rating.
