How many Americans actually know how the MPAA movie ratings systems work and how the ratings are decided? Well I know how the voting for the ratings work, and I seriously think a change is needed. When the committee views a movie, they express their opinion on what the rating should be and then vote on it, and the majority vote wins. The silent minority needs to be heard, too. If a movie receives eight votes for a PG-13 rating and seven votes for an R rating, all the public knows is that the movie will be rated PG-13, while nearly half of the committee thought the movie should have been rated R, which is very borderline.
Why can't the rating system announce how many votes each rating received? The whole system does work but on a limited basis. We, the public and moviegoers, need more specifics announced with each movie.
Jeremy Thorne
South Jordan