30th September 2003

Questions Answered about the MPAA Rating Board

posted in `Roids |

Recently Troma fan, Phil Knittel, asked Lloyd these questions about the MPAA Rating Board for a paper on film censorship:

1. Do you feel that the MPAA makes decisions based on taste?

2. You have two daughters. Do you, as a parent, feel that somebody else should rate films
so that parents can decide what is appropriate for their children?

3. How has leaving your films unrated affected your distribution in theaters and on home video?

4. Do you have any suggestions for a better system of film rating?
Or do you feel the system should be eliminated altogether?


Lloyd Kaufman’s opinions:

1. The MPAA is controlled by the giant media conglomerates. There is a double standard regarding how movies are rated which hurts the independent movies economic chances. Eg: Disney’s Scary Movie gets an R rating with a penis going through someone’s head and with male ejaculant spewing gobs on a female,but Troma is forced to cut out a shot of me dressed in a suit and tie eating a Taco in Terror Firmer….

2. The MPAA ratings do not work…due to the double standard…parents get mislead and therefore,following the MPAA ratings, disastrously bring ten year old kiddies to truly violent movies with PG-13 or R ratings..Parents should start a class action lawsuit against the MPAA for deliberately misleading them and causing their kids to be traumatized…


A reenactment of the MPAA Rating Board
picking apart a film of an independent company

3. It is irrelevant…Troma is economically blacklisted no matter what we present to the cartel that controls the world of art and commerce. Troma could release a G-rated StarWars or Gone With the Wind and the main stream movie critics and the Blockbusters (owned by cartel member Viacom) would still economically blacklist us..Just ask GE/NBC’s Gene Shallit or DISNEY/ABC’s Joel Siegal; their policy is not to review any Troma movie no matter what it is…Ebert (also owned by Disney) does the same..but our fans love us for taking risks and providing movies with some substance. So Troma continues into its 29th year!!!!!!

4. Eliminate the MPAA rating system as it currently stands…it is useless,misleading,economically abusive of smaller companies (we have to pay to have our movies rated) and is one of the main reasons many indies are bankrupt…HBO seems to agree with me that the rating of MPAA are corrupt and misleading. HBO, for example supplies their own info and they are part of one of the devil worshiping conglomerates who control the MPAA…Kill it….Malcom McClaren said you must destroy in order to create…He was right on!

There are currently 3 responses to “Questions Answered about the MPAA Rating Board”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment! Your opinion is as valid as anyone elses, so come on... let us know what you think.

  1. 1 On April 22nd, 2007, Nathaniel said:

    Lloyd, I agree with everything you say. The MPAA is a puritanical system that is inneed of some major reforms. The MPAA seems to think violence is okay,but if you see three seconds of Maria Bello’s pubic hair (in The Cooler) then the ratings board forces that to be cut out because the believe it’s harmful. I would much rather see a tender sex scene than see someone being eviscerated by a chainsaw.

  2. 2 On April 28th, 2007, Chris Buchhop said:

    Dear Lloyd,
    I have just finished reading your commentary on the MPAA Rating Board and I would just like to say bravo!!
    I also think it is a failed system in need of major reform. As it stands right now, the MPAA{whom I like to call “THE
    MOVIE NAZIES”}, is controlled by an even greater evil, the greedy, money and power hungry multi-media
    conglomerates who use the system to monopolize the film industry and infringe on the smaller, independant
    companies 1st amendment rights to freedom of speech and artistic creativity. Thank you Lloyd for telling it like it is
    fighting the good fight for truely independant and artisticly creative films.

    Faithfully Submiited,
    Christopher S. Buchhop

  3. 3 On July 20th, 2007, Chris Grundel said:

    The Mpaa ratings board is just another example of growing American facism, the brain child of rich conglomerates, and a puritanical American Taliban that seeks to control the american peoples minds, bodies and also souls. Good, thought provoking, and creative movies produced outside of the studio system are squashed with R or even the dreaded NC-17 while mindless, violent crap is allowed through. Hell, sometimes even the studio movies are squashed. Remember the uproar over Eyes Wide Shut? A lot of hoopla over some lame ass sex scenes if you ask me.

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