I watched the documentary, This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated, recently. I’ve long been critical of the MPAA, and this film gave me no reason to change my mind. The doctored facts, hypocrisy and duplicity of the MPAA was on full display.

It was run for years by ex-Washington insider, Jack Valenti. Because of his contacts within government, he was able to bolster a system where the film industry would police itself without interference from Washington. Another benefit of this relationship with government was the ability to lobby for laws that were very beneficial to the industry.

This film exposes many things about the MPAA that most folks may not know. For instance, it is not a government agency. It has no legal authority, and cannot censor films. However, this is only half the story. Because the organization is made up of all industry players (cinema owners, studios, distributors, etc.), they do have power to limit distribution and exposure of films that don’t play by their rules.

Another disturbing trend the documentary covered was the acceptance of extreme violence over sex. Many child experts agree that violence is far more traumatizing to children than sex. They are even more biased against homosexual sex.

I think people need to understand what the MPAA is and what it is not. It is an organization that serves big business, not consumers. We don’t need them to tell us what is okay to watch. We can stay informed, and decide what to watch ourselves.