Media Ratings Madness

America is schizophrenic when it comes to depictions of sex and violence in media.  We tell ourselves that we want to protect children from graphic sex and violence in movies, TV and video games because we're afraid that it will have a negative effect on them.  If we assume that violence and sex in media is something that we should concerned about, Americans should be concerned about the methods we have chosen to make this  happen.

When it comes to movies, we have the MPAA's rating system.  There are two components to this.  First, there is the "G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17" portion.  This is the actual rating.  Along with that, the MPAA descriptors to inform people why a certain rating was given.  These could include items like "graphic violence" or "strong language".  But, what do these ratings actually mean?  Probably nothing.  The MPAA says on it's website that it's board of parents tries to represent what they think the average American parent's standards.

I think it's pretty clear that they've failed to represent the average American.  While the descriptors may be useful enough, the actual rating are nearly useless.  The head of the MPAA Ratings Board said recently that they do not make "qualitative judgement" about movies.  While she was referring how good or bad a movie is, you can't say that film ratings are anything but qualitative judgments.  So, are the qualitative judgement of a bunch of people whose judgments on such matters we cannot verify.  Would you walk up to a random person on the street and as if the new Batman movie is appropriate for your kids?  That's what you're doing if you rely on the MPAA's ratings.  The MPAA would argue that they use criteria to take some of the subjectivity out of it, but a quick look at the guide for the ratings system will show you that in place of subjectivity, they've inserted arbitrariness.

Video games suffer from from much of the same problem under the ESRB's rating system.  While the descriptors are again helpful, the rating itself is nearly useless.  All one needs to do is compare the Halo games to the Grand Theft Auto games.  One has been all over the news (though, mostly Fox) because of the things you could do: killing policemen, patronizing prostitutes, killing prostitutes, buying, selling and using drugs, driving drunk and the list goes on.  In Halo, faceless space marines defend the world from alien invaders.  Unlike Grand Theft Auto, there's no cursing, no drugs, no alcohol, no blood, the violence is cartoonish rather than graphic, and there is not a prostitute to be found.  The fact that these games are given the same "M" (mature) rating shows you what a joke the system is.

While the discriptors in the movie and game rating systems can be helpful, the actual ratings are arbitrary and inconsistent.  Anybody who wants to know what's really going on in a movie or game would be well served to look beyond what the ESRB and MPAA are providing you, because they're not giving you much.