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From: chapman@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Brent Chapman)
Newsgroups: soc.singles
Subject: Movie ratings (R, PG, etc.): any legal standing?
Message-ID: <450@zen.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Fri, 3-Oct-86 23:39:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: zen.450
Posted: Fri Oct  3 23:39:56 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 4-Oct-86 07:39:15 EDT
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Reply-To: chapman@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Brent Chapman)
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Organization: UNIXversity of California at Berkeley
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Does the movie rating system administered in the US (X, R, PG, PG-13, G)
have any legal standing, or is it just a self-inflicted standard in the 
movie industry?  Are the rating boards part of some government agency,
or what?  Is there any legislated requirement that the industry police
itself in this way?

My understanding is that the ratings are imposed by rating boards made
up of industry people (is it like jury duty, where everyone is expected
to take a turn, or is there a group of people who do nothing else but
pass judge rating applications for a living?).  Also, I think the
ratings are advisory in nature, in that a theatre operator can basicly
ignore them as he or she sees fit (subject, of course, to state and
local regulation).  Note that this probably isn't true in the case of
X-rated stuff, but that falls under a different subject (sex and minors)
than other films.  Also, I'm not sure that there really _is_ a formal
"X" rating; my impression is that "X-rated" films are films that the
makers didn't even bother to submit to the rating boards. 

Does anyone know the actual mechanics and legal standing (or lack
thereof) of the ratings system?

Obviously, I have a personal bias in this: I was a sophomore at UC
Berkeley before I was "allowed" (supposedly; I look much older than I
really am) to see an R-rated film.  Obviously, "that ain't the way it
happened..." :-) I'm mildly curious about whether I was in fact
violating some federal or local law, or just sneaking past some
over-snoopy theatre operators (not that the fact that it was a law would
have stopped me, in this particular situation). 


Brent
--
Brent Chapman

chapman@cory.berkeley.edu	or	ucbvax!cory!chapman