Agendas, agendas … everybody’s got them and the MPAA just made theirs blatantly obvious. Jack Valenti and co. have just hit Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9-11 with an R rating meaning anyone under 18 who wants to see the film must be accompanied by a parent or guardian because of “violent and disturbing images”. I have two things to say about this:
First, the American ratings system is a mess. Seriously.
Second, this is a film made up dominantly of newsreel footage. How can you POSSIBLY say that something is okay for broadcast on the nightly news where it is readily available to absolutely anybody but cannot be seen by youth who pay for the right to see that exact same footage in a movie theater? Does it make any sense at all for something like this to get hit with a harsher rating than the sex-and-violence-for-entertainment that regularly makes it into PG-13 films without a second glance? When did the MPAA suddenly become more strict than the FCC?
This is pretty ridiculous and Lion’s Gate is, not surprisingly, appealing. Say what you will about Moore’s ability and willingness to spin just about anything into positive press for himself – that Tony Blair thing just reeks of a media stunt to me – but Valenti is wildly in the wrong here in my opinion. You can read the full story at the Hollywood Reporter here.
