Film Rating System

What is a film rating system?

A film rating system is a classification scheme that places each film in an age band before release. A board watches the finished cut and judges how graphic and frequent the violence is, how explicit the sex and nudity are, how strong the language is, and whether drug use is shown. Tone matters too: the same act can be rated differently depending on how it is staged and how long the camera stays on it.

In the United States ratings are issued by the Classification and Rating Administration, part of the Motion Picture Association, one of the gatekeepers of the film industry. The trade group was called the MPAA until it shortened its name to MPA in 2019. The system is voluntary: no law requires a rating, but most cinema chains will not book an unrated wide release. In many other countries classification is run by a government or legally backed board.

Every rating comes with descriptors, such as "for sequences of strong violence and some language", which often tell parents more than the letter.

What do G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 mean?

| Rating | Official meaning | What it usually allows | |---|---|---| | G | General audiences, all ages admitted | Mild peril, no strong language | | PG | Parental guidance suggested | Some mild language, brief non-graphic violence | | PG-13 | Parents strongly cautioned; some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 | Intense action with little blood, brief non-sexual nudity, as a guideline one use of the strongest expletive | | R | Restricted; under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian | Graphic violence, strong language, sexual content, drug use | | NC-17 | No one 17 and under admitted | Explicit sexual or extreme adults-only material |

The letters mark thresholds, not recommendations. A PG-13 film can be more frightening than an R-rated drama; the rating flags content that crosses a line, not whether a film is good for children.

NC-17 replaced the old X in 1990. X had never been trademarked, so adult-film producers adopted it and the letter became a stigma. NC-17 was meant to fix that, but many cinemas and retailers still refuse NC-17 titles, so studios rarely release in that category.

What does PG-13 mean and where did it come from?

PG-13 is the middle band that most studio tentpoles aim for: intense enough for action and horror audiences, open to teenagers without an adult. It did not exist when the MPAA launched its system on November 1, 1968, with G, M, R and X. M became GP and then PG in the early 1970s, and for more than a decade PG covered everything from family comedies to Jaws (1975).

In 1984 two PG releases, Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, drew complaints that their violence was too strong for young children but short of an R. Steven Spielberg, who directed Temple of Doom and produced Gremlins, is widely credited with suggesting an in-between category. PG-13 was introduced that summer and soon became Hollywood's commercial center.

Age ratings around the world

Each territory classifies films on its own, so an international release collects a stack of certificates:

• United Kingdom (BBFC): U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18. 12A lets under-12s see a film in cinemas with an adult.
• Germany (FSK): 0, 6, 12, 16 and 18.
• France: all audiences, or not for under 12, 16 or 18.
• Russia: 0+, 6+, 12+, 16+ and 18+.
• Australia: G, PG, M, MA15+, R18+ and X18+.
• Japan (Eirin): G, PG12, R15+ and R18+.

European boards tend to be more relaxed about nudity and stricter about violence than the US board, so an American R can be a 12 or a 15 elsewhere, and the reverse. Streaming platforms show local age labels next to each title, and US television uses its own TV-14 and TV-MA labels.

Because every market needs a certificate, ratings are a line item in film distribution: the delivery schedule lists which versions exist and what each territory granted.

How a rating shapes the film you make

For filmmakers the rating is a creative and contractual limit that starts in development.

• Contracts. Studio and financing deals often require the director to deliver a film "no more restrictive than PG-13" or R. If the first submission comes back harsher, the film is cut until it passes.
• Staging and coverage. Violence reads as PG-13 or R depending on blood, duration and what the lens shows. Cutting away before the impact, holding a wide instead of an insert, or playing a kill in silhouette can move a scene down a band. Shooting a restrained and a graphic take protects the edit.
• Resubmission and appeal. Producers can re-edit and resubmit, or appeal. Blue Valentine (2010) was first rated NC-17 and won an R on appeal without cuts. For the US release of Eyes Wide Shut (1999), digital figures were added to block parts of the orgy scene to avoid an NC-17.
• Marketing. The rating decides where trailers can run and who can be targeted, a core question for film marketing.
• Home versions. Cut material often returns later as an "unrated" edition or a director's cut.

On FlashBoards you can plan this before the shoot: pin the target rating and its descriptors next to the storyboard and mark the shots that need a restrained alternate take, so the gentler version exists before anyone asks for it.

Film ratings vs. the Hays Code

Both are Hollywood self-regulation, but they work in opposite directions.

The Hays Code, strictly enforced from 1934, told filmmakers what could not appear in any film: no nudity, no detailed crime methods, no ridicule of religion, and wrongdoing had to be punished by the end. Every film was meant to suit everyone.

The rating system that replaced it in 1968 allows almost any content but sorts films by audience. A film can show what the Code banned if it accepts a restrictive rating. That shift opened the door to Midnight Cowboy (1969), the only X-rated film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, and A Clockwork Orange (1971), first released with an X and later trimmed for an R.

In short: the Code censored content; the rating system labels it.

Further reading

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), documentary dir. Kirby Dick · Stephen Vaughn, Freedom and Entertainment: Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media (Cambridge University Press, 2006)