Sep 22, 2006  |  By: GREG MARZULLO  | COMMENTS     

Hollywood has been assailed by activists of all stripes over the years for depicting violence, sex, drug use and other adult themes in films. Luckily, moviegoers have a board of average American parents to rate films, so viewers know what they’re about to see. Or are they so lucky?

Kirby Dick’s documentary “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” seeks to reveal the often secretive rating system that’s operated by the Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theater Owners.

During the documentary, Dick hires a lesbian private investigator, Becky Altringer, to find out the names of the raters, which are kept secret with a ferocity reminiscent of the Soviet government. Altringer does indeed discover the names through various acts of subterfuge.

The board — which gives films a G, PG, PG-13, R or NC-17 rating — is made up mostly of white, straight people and more than a third of these “average” parents have children over 18.

Some of the film’s more unsettling conclusions are that gay-related movies frequently fall into the NC-17 category because of same-sex love scenes. This rating curses a film’s distribution and marketing prospects, because some movie houses and video retailers won’t carry NC-17 fare, and there are restrictions on when and where such movies can be advertised.

“The rating systems, from my perspective, rates gay-themed films almost a full rating more restrictively [than straight films],” Dick, 54 and straight, told the Blade. “It’s helped perpetuate the homophobia of the culture.”

In one particularly damning segment, a split-screen reveals similar scenes from gay films and straight films side-by-side. The gay films received the NC-17, but the straight films got the more marketable R rating.

KIMBERLY PEIRCE, the lesbian director of “Boys Don’t Cry,” says that the board gave her an NC-17 rating partly for the scene when Brandon, after going down on Lana, wipes his mouth off. This, and the anal rape scene, gave it the extreme rating — the board, apparently, had no problems with scenes of Brandon being shot and beaten.

Violence appears to skate by while sexual pleasure gets the ax, but Kori Bernards, a spokesperson for the MPAA, told the Blade that perception is incorrect.

“We don’t agree with [Dick’s] assessment of the system,” says Bernards, 37. “Most movies are rated NC-17 for violence, but filmmakers go back and cut them and resubmit them for a rating.”

FILMMAKERS often work with Joan Graves, the chair of the Rating Board, who, according to the film, is a registered Republican, has children who are in their 20s and 30s and lives in a multi-million dollar home.

However, Bernards is quick to point out that Graves seeks out diversity in her hiring for the board.

“She’s a person of very good judgment who takes her job very seriously and tries to recruit people who similarly have good judgment and have diverse backgrounds,” Bernards says.

Out of the 10 board members, only three senior members are known to the public and work with the filmmakers on adjusting their films to fit the R rating. Films can be resubmitted after the cuts are made, or the rating can be appealed.

The appeals process is equally mysterious with everyone in the room wearing numbers and unwilling to divulge names. Add to that the presence of two clergymen who supposedly don’t have any role but still witness the proceedings, and the entire thing feels downright Inquisitional. 

“This Film Is Not Yet Rated” received an NC-17 rating, even after an appeal, but the film — like its title — is being released unrated.