How does the USA movie rating system work?

In the US, there are 5 ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17. 'G' stands for 'General Audience': that is, it's reccomended for all viewers. Next is 'PG', for 'Parental Guidance'. Movies of this type might have mild language or crude humor. Next comes PG-13, where kids under 13 usually need a parent watching with them. They might have some pretty harsh language and sexual scenes. Continuing on, there's 'R'. If you're under 17, I think, you need a parent to accompany you into the theater. Lastly, no one under 17 may view an 'NC-17' film.

For R you need to be 17 or older

All the other ratings are just there as guide lines, no law stop a 2 year from seeing a PG-13 moives, however you need ID for R, and then there is NC-17 which has already been covered

G - General Audiances, All ages admitted
PG - Not a bad movie, but they suggest parental guidance.
PG-13- Those under 13 without a parent are not let in, those 13 and above can get in without a parent.
R - No one under 17 can get in without a parent, but those 17 and above can.
NC-17 - no one 17 or under are admitted. Must be 18 or above..

http://www.filmratings.com/

G - General Audiences - All Ages Permitted

PG - Parental Guidance Suggested - Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children

PG-13 - Parents Strongly Cautioned - Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13

R - Restricted - Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent Or Adult Guardian

NC-17 - No One 17 And Under Admitted

trainguy77 said:

I wish the Canadian in USAs system could be mixed. I like having 14A but we don't have pg-13. So many of your R movies turn in 14A movies here which means teens, like myself can see them. However some of go to 18A. I feel sorry for teens down in the US because I have seen many good movies that are 14A for violence yet they are R in the US.

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Don't feel sorry for us. The last thing we need is more sex and violence...

How does the system work for you guys?

Why do you bother with letters in the US? The game-rating system is even worse, though. Here, 12s are for people over 12 (or those with parents, or anyone in fact - people really don't give a monkey's), 15s are for people over 15 and 18s are for people over 18. What's all this "NC-17" crap. What does NC even stand for? People in Carolina came up with it?

greatdevourer said:

What's all this "NC-17" crap. What does NC even stand for? People in Carolina came up with it?

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NC-17 = No Children under 17.

Here is the rating system and the reality of what the ratings are:

G - General Audience. Everyone can see this movie, only little kid movies get this rating
PG - Parental Guidance Suggested for little kids, usually has no swearing and little violence.
PG-13 - Parental Guidance for everyone under 13. These movies are usually ok for kids, and very rarely are there innapropriate movies rated PG-13.
R - Restricted unless your 17, but you can get in without a parent, a parent just has to buy you tickets.
NC-17 - No children under 17. This rating is very rare, and in very few theaters. No children are allowed to even buy tickets.

G through R have so little restrictions and basically it's up to the parent wether or not they want their kids to see R-rated movies.

And the video game ratings are similar:

EC (Early Childhood) are games for very little kids, such as three year olds.
E (Everyone) is comparable to G
E-10 (Everyone 10 and above) is comparable to PG
T (Teen) is comparable to PG-13
M (Mature) is comparable to R
AO (Adults Only) is comparable to NC-17.

And just a side note: NC-17 movies are sometimes referred to as rated X movies. And, just like the ESRB is getting pressure from people for only making games with sex in them AO, so is the movie rating people for only making movies with a lot of sex NC-17.

Here:

P - suitable for pre-school children.
C - suitable for children.
Those are only really used on TV.
G - General Audience
PG - Parental Guidance recommended
M - suitable (but not restricted to) a mature audience ie. 15+
MA - restricted to 15+
R - not too sure if we have R ratings anymore but it's basically 18+

greatdevourer said:

Why do you bother with letters in the US?

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Same reason we ended up with a Pentium chip instead of an 80586. Apparently in the US it is easier to Trademark a word or letters than it is to trademark numbers. The movie ratings are trademarked to the MPAA, which assigns the ratings.

Note that the NC-17 in particular was created to repace X which became synonymous with pornography in the 70s. The X rating was not trademarked so it could be used for films that weren't rated by the MPAA.

B

I don't get it either. Why not just use numbers?

It reminds me of the PC makers who label their screens WXSGUA+ instead of just writing 1440x900 resolution.

The Norwegian system:

Everyone
7
11
15
18

An adult guardian "adds" three years to a kid's age, except for the 18 year limit which is absolute.

zap2 said:

For R you need to be 17 or older

All the other ratings are just there as guide lines, no law stop a 2 year from seeing a PG-13 moives, however you need ID for R, and then there is NC-17 which has already been covered

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I thought they were all guidelines that the MPAA adopted so the gov't wouldn't do it for them.

EDIT: Nevermind. The US rating system is not law and is up to individual theaters to enforce.

gekko513 said:

I don't get it either. Why not just use numbers?

It reminds me of the PC makers who label their screens WXSGUA+ instead of just writing 1440x900 resolution.

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Well, 5 codes are easier to remember than a crapload (and that's not even all of them.

All you ever wanted to know

MPAA Film Rating System (USA)

Other film rating systems