Should a New MPAA Rating Level Be Made for Ultra-Violent and Gory Movies?

With the introduction of "Bereavement," many rumors have spread that the MPAA will add a new movie rating to the rating system for movies that have ultra-violent scenes or extreme gore. There have been many people that have suggested that a new rating system should come out to take these types of movies into consideration.

What most people do not realize is that MPAA ratings system goes through changes on a regular basis. A movie that might be rated as NC-17 today might only get an R rating in a few years. The MPAA takes current trends in the world into account each year as they rate movies.

Throughout the years, there have been historical events that have exposed us to high levels of excessive violence and gore in reality. The two World Wars, Vietnam, and 9/11 are just some of the events that have caused to us to become desensitized to certain images of violence. The MPAA takes a look at current TV shows and news programs to gain a better understanding of what people can currently handle.

One perfect example would be "Dawn of the Dead" which came out in 1979. This infamous zombie classic came out right after the end of Vietnam. At the time, critics were ripping George Romero apart for the excessive violence and gore that the movie showed. Tom Savini, the makeup and special effects artist has stated that at the time, he had to be as realistic and graphic as possible to compete with the amount of violence that was shown on TV. The movie ended up in theaters without ever getting an official rating.

"Dawn of the Dead" would not have been able to come out in theaters at all ten years previously. The coverage of the Vietnam War desensitized people to the extreme violence that was going on in reality. It only made sense that a movie like this would be able to come out right after the war that had multiple scenes of extreme violence and gore (for the time).

Taking this idea a step further would be to think about what "Hostel" or "Saw" would have rated if they came out thirty years ago. If they had the rating at the time, they would have both been rated at NC-17. In today's market, they had an R rating. Twenty years from now, they might be PG-13!

"Psycho," which was considered to be the most graphic movie of the time it came out, would be a PG movie today at best. Over the many decades between then and now, we have seen so much that "Psycho" is watched more today for the artistic quality of the movie than the horror.

I have been under the belief for many years that if a director wants to come out with a movie that has extreme violence and gore in it, she should head to the theaters to compare her vision with the visions of other directors. If she believes that hers is significantly more graphic in terms of extreme violence and gore, maybe she should wait five to ten years to make the movie when the MPAA has loosened the qualifiers once again.