Study Finds “Ratings Creep”: Movie Ratings Categories Contain More Violence, Sex, Profanity than Decade Ago
Today’s PG13 approaches 1992’s R; development of
standardized, universal rating system urged
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Boston
,
The
researchers developed a database that included movie ratings and rating reasons
obtained from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) www.MPAA.org
and information about movie content from two independent resources, Kids-in-Mind
www.kids-in-mind.com and Screen It! www.screenit.com.
They then assessed the relationship between movie ratings and content and trends
for films released between
Thompson
and co-author Fumie Yokota, formerly a researcher at HSPH, found a significant
increase of violence, sex and profanity in films over the 11-year period,
suggesting that the MPAA became increasingly more lenient in assigning its
age-based movie ratings. Their
results suggest that the overall increase arose largely from increases in
violent content in films rated PG and PG-13, increases in sexual content in
films rated PG, PG-13, and R, and increases in profanity in films rated PG-13
and R. They emphasize that while
this ten-year period represents recent experience, it does not represent the
full time scale of all films.
Comparing
the amount of violence in non-animated and animated G-rated films, the authors
found a significantly higher amount of violence in animated films than in
non-animated films. Thompson added, “Given the possibility of long-term fear
and anxieties from children’s exposure to media, physicians should discuss
media consumption with parents of young children and the fact that animation
does not guarantee appropriate content for children.”
The
MPAA provides voluntary age-based ratings and non-standardized, descriptive
rating reasons intended to inform the public about the reasons a film has
received a particular rating. Thompson and Yokota found the number of MPAA
rating-reasons assigned had increased on average with higher age-based ratings,
but the study concluded that the lack of standardization of the MPAA
rating-reasons prohibits their use in correlating the amount or types of content
with specific rating reasons. This
study also finds large amounts of profanity in R-rated films and some evidence
that the current age-based rating categories are more lenient about allowing
violent content than sexual content.
With
respect to information about the depiction of substances, the MPAA did not
indicate smoking as a rating reason for any of the movies in the database,
although 79 percent of the films included some depiction related to smoking.
The MPAA mentioned alcohol or drugs in its rating reason for 18 percent
of films, while 93 percent of films included depiction or use of tobacco,
alcohol, and/or, drugs, including 26 of the 51 G-rated films (51 percent). Only
five percent of films contained no depictions of tobacco, alcohol, or drugs.
Thompson added, “The findings clearly suggest the need for increased
parental awareness about the prevalence of depiction of substance use in films,
often in ways that normalize or glamorize their use, even if the amount of
depiction in some rating categories continues to decline.”
In
the first ever attempt to correlate movie content with reported revenues, the
study found significantly higher gross revenues for PG-13 and R rated films that
received an MPAA rating reason only for violence compared to those films that
did not. However, the authors
suggest that looking at a crude measure of profit (revenues minus budget) for
R-rated films showed better performance by movies that received only MPAA rating
reasons for sex and profanity.
Thompson,
who is also director of research of the Center on Media and Child Health at
Children’s Hospital Boston, said,
“It’s time for a significant research effort to explore the development and
creation of a universal media rating system. A single system would provide the
simplest tool for parents, if one can be designed and effectively implemented,
and it promises greater clarity and transparency in media rating information.”
She added, “The convergence of media and cross-marketing issues present
major challenges to parents and rating boards, and the industry needs to lead
the effort to bring its rating system into the new integrated media
environment.”
Several
recent examples of cross-media marketing include: The
Chronicles of Riddick (PG-13 rated film) and The
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (M-rated video game); CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation (TV 14 television program, DVD of collected
televised episodes not rated, and M-rated video game); Spider-man
2 (PG-13 rated movie, T-rated console video games and E-rated PC and
hand-held games) and Shrek 2
(PG-rated movie, E-rated computer game).
Thompson
concluded, “Parents and physicians should be aware that movies with the same
rating can differ significantly in the amount and types of potentially
objectionable content. Age-based
ratings alone do not provide good information about the depiction of violence,
sex, profanity and other content, and the criteria for rating movies became less
stringent over the last decade. The
MPAA rating reasons provide important information about content, but they do not
identify all types of content found in films and they may particularly miss the
depiction of substances.”
The
study was supported through general, unrestricted gifts to The Kids Risk
Project.
The
Kids Risk Project at Harvard School of Public Health strives to empower kids,
parents, policy makers, and others to improve children’s lives by focusing on
the risks that children face and on finding cost-effective strategies to better
manage these risks. The project focuses on using an analytical approach to
address risks to children. For more information and answers to Frequently Asked
Questions about this study visit: www.kidsrisk.harvard.edu.