Celebrating 50 years

G. PG. PG-13. R. NC-17. These simple letters are synonymous with the moviegoing experience.

As the father of two children now in their twenties, it seems like only yesterday that these ratings helped me and my wife decide if a certain movie was appropriate for our kids. In my early career, I spent two decades running youth-focused entertainment companies, at The Jim Henson Company and WildBrain. At both companies, age-appropriate content was our business, so the care that parents apply to their children’s viewing habits is very familiar to me.

Now, as Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, an important part of my job is to act as a steward of the MPAA film ratings. That’s why it is with great delight and pride that I join everyone here at the MPAA in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA).

Fifty years is an important milestone in any walk of life, from birthdays to great marriages to successful companies and brands. But given the extraordinary changes in our culture, entertainment, and society over recent decades, this anniversary feels particularly hard-earned and special.

My predecessor Jack Valenti, created the MPAA ratings in 1968 amid mounting calls for censorship and the specter of government intervention. It is important to remember the context of that transformative year and decade for American life – the sexual revolution, Vietnam, political assassinations, racial strife – and how the expansion of mass media was seen as a threat by many corners of society.

Jack forged a dynamic program that would provide American parents with a reliable and easy-to-use tool to help them make viewing choices for their children, while also protecting the First Amendment rights of filmmakers and the creative process. He also had the good sense to form a partnership with the exhibitor community, represented by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), which is on the front lines of American families’ reactions to movies and ratings. I am fortunate to have a strong, collaborative relationship with my counterpart at NATO, President and CEO John Fithian.

Through the decades, the rating system gained credibility and acceptance with audiences—and today it stands as the gold standard of voluntary industry self-regulation.

We could point to many factors behind the ratings’ success. But the clearest one of all comes directly from its founding mission: to maintain the trust and confidence of American parents.

Meeting this critical standard required a dynamic system that could evolve along with society. One way we achieved this was by appointing movie raters who are themselves parents, who reflected diverse backgrounds, and who came from different regions of the country. Under the leadership of the CARA Chair, Joan Graves, we have continued to align the ratings with the views of America’s parents by conducting regular surveys and listening to feedback from parents around the country.

It should come as no surprise, in a diverse country like ours, that we have heard voices and views from all sides. We are well aware we have our share of detractors and that ratings are inherently imperfect. Some consider us overly permissive; others insist we are prudes. After rating nearly 30,000 films in 50 years, the overwhelming majority of which are accepted by filmmakers and the public without controversy, I believe we tend to get it right.

The internet and other technological advances have also encouraged the ratings to evolve. We have come a long way from the days of sending weekly rating designations by mail to newspapers, where they ran in print. Moviegoers today are more likely to look up rating information on FilmRatings.com, other websites, mobile apps, or electronic ticket kiosks.

But that’s not all. For 3D movies, raters don glasses in order to view a movie just as an audience would. The last-minute nature of CGI production means our rating team sometimes gives a preliminary rating before the most elaborate special effects scenes are completed. In the last year, the advertising team has reviewed more than 68,000 pieces of marketing materials, from trailers and one-sheets to Twitter ads, Snapchat videos, and even gifs.

It’s not inconceivable that one day soon a studio will break the mold and release a feature film in virtual reality. When that happens, our rating team will be ready.

As long as human beings continue to seek out stories in movie theaters, on their living room televisions, or the palm-sized screens of their iPhones, and as long as parents continue to seek reliable information about what content is suitable for their families, we will do our part to support and inform them. After all, parents are among the most important decision-makers in society. If we can keep their faith, we know we have positioned ourselves for the best possible future.

Charles H. Rivkin
Chairman and CEO
Motion Picture Association of America