Around the world American movies are making huge impacts on people and showing our freedom of expression. From the early movies and were based on to how they have evolved today is significant. Along with the changes in the content and the way moves are made so has the movie ratings have changed over the last 30 years. The standards on what children are allowed to see have been relaxed a PG twenty years ago and a PG today are different. The culture of our country has changed and so has the standards in which the movies and rating viewed. In the early 1900s, filmmakers had to tailor their movie to the requirements of more than 40 local, city and state censorship boards across the country. The formation, in 1922, of what is now the Motion Picture Association of America, MPAA, helped by taking the first steps towards self regulation. It required it members to submit movies for approval prior to distribution. This process was governed by the Hays Code; which was named after MPAA’s first president, Will Hays. It imposed a detailed and extensive list of rules to filmmakers. It included that only “correct standards of life” could be presented. No depictions of childbirth, criticisms of religion, “lustful” kissing or “suggestive” dancing was allow. Under the Hays code, films were either deemed as moral or immoral and were approved or disapproved, but times were changing and so were the standards. The 1960’s were times of change in America and so again came change to the movie industry. Televisions were becoming color and people loved to go the drive-in picture show. Jack Valenti, the MPAA’s third president, decided in 1966 to replace the hays Code with a new set of guidelines. The MPAA created the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) in November 1968. CARA designated films with one of four types of ratings: G for general audiences, M for mature audiences, R for movies that children under 16 years old should not be admitted into without a parent or guardian, and X for movies that children under 17 should not be admitted into at all. (Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)) M rated movies were soon changed to PG-13, which meant that parental guidance was suggested for children less than 13 years of age. The motion picture industry was not forced to follow these guidelines but nearly all did. In 1990, because of many complaints from film makers, the MPAA changed its X rating to NC-17 for no children under the age of 17 admitted. This was in response to critics, who claimed that movies contained adult themes were being unfairly classified with more graphic films. Debates about content will surly go on; the whole system of movie ratings is a judgment call. Furthermore, many film makers want their movie to be at least PG-13 just to get the older audience to view their films. The MPAA stayed the same from 1990 to 2007. In 2007 the MPAA announced that they would be making several changes to their rating and appeal systems. Among the changes revealed were that directors would be more active in the appeals process. They would be permitted to cite similar objectionable scenes in past movies when trying to overturn an initial rating. They enforced a policy to ensure that raters with school-age children give a parent’s proper perspective on what might be inappropriate for kids. The MPAA always put information online about the association’s standards for rating movies, along with forms and instructions to filmmakers for submitting movies for ratings. They also provided a clearer definition of movie ratings and a sterner warning to parents about films that might contain materials inappropriate for younger children. (MPAA Ratings)

VI. Conclusion