09-24-2012, 02:25 PM
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Carpe Visio
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: New York
Posts: 43,069
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It worked for the movie industry.
Quote:
Around the world, American movies are synonymous with America's freedom of expression. But securing and safeguarding freedom of artistic, creative and political expression in film was not always a given in our society.
In the early 1900s, American cinema was subject to more than 40 local, city and state censorship boards across the country. Filmmakers had to tailor their movie to the requirements of each board or face being banned from that market.
With the formation of what is now the MPAA in 1922, the industry took its first step toward self-regulation. It required its members — the major motion picture studios, which then were responsible for virtually all U.S. filmmaking — to submit movies for approval prior to distribution.
The process was governed by the Hays Code, named for the first MPAA President, Will Hays. It imposed a detailed and extensive list of rules on filmmakers. Only "correct standards of life" could be presented. No depictions of childbirth. No criticisms of religion. Forget about "lustful" kissing or "suggestive" dancing. Under the Hays Code, films were simply approved or disapproved based on whether they were deemed "moral" or "immoral."
The contemporary rating system was the brainchild of former MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti. He abhorred the Hays code's strict limitations on artistic freedom, noting that "there was about this stern, forbidding catalogue of do's and don'ts the odious smell of censorship."
Valenti reached out to the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and other stakeholders. Out of this effort came the radically simple notion that continues to define the rating system today: Movies would no longer be "approved" or "disapproved." Instead, an independent ratings body, comprised of parents, would give advance cautionary warnings to parents, so that they can make informed decisions about which films their children see.
On November 1, 1968, the modern movie rating system was born. More than 40 years later, the rating system endures and evolves as a useful and valued tool for parents and an essential guardian of Americans' freedom of artistic, creative and political expression.
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http://mpaa.org
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