The MPAA Has It In For Gay-Themed Film

The MPAA might be the most backwards institution in all of America. They're the board that rates and certifies all films released in the United States (Canada has its own advisory board), and they're well known for their lenient policies towards violence balanced with a puritanical view of sex and profanity.

They've slapped the independent dramedy Love is Strange with an R-rating for "language," though reports from those who have seen the film indicate that there is only one profanity in the film (motherfucker). The move is seen by some, including Gay Star News (link below), as a brazen act of homophobia.

The MPAA gave Love Is Strange, starring John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a couple who have been together for four decades but who are forced to move in with their families, the rating supposedly for ‘language’ used in the film – though many are saying the decision is just plain homophobic.

There are no nude scenes in Love Is Strange, no drug use, and no sex scenes. The raciest the film gets is two scenes where Molina and Lithgow are asleep in the same bed while fully clothed.

Part of me believes that it might be homophobia, namely for the simple fact that if this were John Lithgow and say Meryl Streep, it would more than likely have secured a PG-13. However, my more rational side looks at this and thinks that it's just more ridiculous judgment calls from a board that has proven itself time and time again to be woefully behind the times.

Films such as The Hunger Games have featured abhorrent violence perpetrated on children by other children, yet secured a PG-13 rating. The Social Network includes three uses of the word "fuck," even though the unwritten rules of the MPAA typically dictate that a film is allowed no more than two to secure a PG-13. South Park co-creator Matt Stone also tells a great story in the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated where every time they submitted a new cut of the South Park movie to excise some of the bad language the MPAA objected to, they would add in more violence to compensate for the loss. The ratings board never took notice of how much more violent the film was becoming. 

Whether intentional or not, it is indicative of the MPAA's attitude toward subject matter they deem "inappropriate for children." I'm not sure that this film necessarily appeals to teenagers anyway, and those to whom it does appeal likely don't mind going to the movies with their parents (as I did for most of my teens). It is, however, a scathing indictment of the horribly outdated and obsolete MPAA, which is, whether we like it or not, sadly not going anywhere any time soon. 

Via Gay Star News