Earlier this year in May at the Cannes Film Festival, the movie “Blue Is the Warmest Color” started to be in the spot light after the chairman of the jury, Steven Spielberg, awarded the Palme d’Or to the French director, Abdellatif Kechiche, and his two leading ladies. It seems like that reputation always comes with controversies. The topic of lesbian love along with explicit sex scene has received a lot of attention. The movie is unsurprisingly rated NC-17 by Motion Picture Association of America.
The story focuses on the growth of the fifteen-year-old heroine Adèle, played by Adèle Exarchopoulos; and her affair with Emma, a worldly art student played by Léa Seydoux. Like most other girls, Adèle chats about boys with girls. After she breaks up with her ex-boyfriend, she encounters Emma, the girl with blue hair and foxed eyes. Soon, they fall in love in a lesbian bar. Emma exists as a mentor and guider for Adèle into her young adulthood and allows her to find desire.
The movie is opening in New York and Los Angeles on October 25 with an NC-17 rating. According to the websites of Motion Picture Association of America, NY-17 means “most parents would consider patently too adult for their children 17 and under.” The film contains roughly fifteen minutes of unabashed sex between its lead actresses.
However, the rating is technically a recommendation rather than an enforced law with contractual force. While most cinemas will not accept teenagers under 17, the IFC center in Greenwich Village ignores the NC-17 rating and chooses to allow some inquisitive youngsters to attend the movie. John Vanco, senior vice president and general manager of the center, believes that “this is not a movie for young children, but it is our judgment that it is not inappropriate for mature, inquiring teenagers who are looking ahead to the emotional challenges and opportunities that adulthood holds.”
The French title of the movie is “The Life of Adèle-Chapter 1 & 2,” which alludes that the movie would examine Adèle’s stories of exploring herself as a teenager in the “first two chapter of her life.” “Chapter 1” represents Adèle’s first love with her ex-boyfriend. “Chapter 2” witnesses her groeth and her transition to young adulthood, both physically and emotionally. Adèle seeks herself, loses herself, and finds herself.
Too much attention has been paid to the movie’s sex scenes. The movie, after all, is a coming-of-age story about a high school girl meeting with various issues, ranging from peer pressure, first love, homework, postgraduates plans to her self-identification, which are all associated with adolescence. If we watch the three-hour-long movie, more time has been devoted to the classroom rather than to the bedroom. The movie is not just about sex.
Since the movie demonstrates a transition between adolescence and adulthood, it should be better appreciated by viewers under the NC-17 line and might seem more exotic and foreign to the older generation. The sex scene can not stand for the whole movie. In France, the movie has a rating of “12,” which means that anyone over that age is permitted to attend. Clearly, there is a dictinction between the way U.S. and France use to rate a movie. Maybe our criteria should be re-evaluated. Instead of solely focusing on some explicit graphic or verbal content, we should also take the subject of a film into our accounts and pose a question: which group of the audience would get the most out of the film?
Should teenagers be allowed to watch rated R or NC-17 movies? What do you think of the rating system of Motion Picture Association of America?
Work Cited:
Scott, Anthony Oliver. “Theater Will Ignore NC-17 Rating for ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color.'” The New York Times. 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/theater-will-ignore-nc-17-rating-for-blue-is-the-warmest-color/
This is an interesting subject. Movie ratings, much like alcohol and cigarettes have a minimum required age. There is something to waiting until a certain age for these “privileges”. Then again, it is art we are talking about here. How do teenagers react to a nude painting or sculpture? Think about that. There is a certain maturity level that comes into play when appreciating these types of things.
I think it really depends on what the movie is about, if it has a R or NC-17 rating. If the movie is extremely gory with a lot of vulgar language, an R rating is probably appropriate. You brought up a good point about how the movie is more than just nudity and has a story behind it. Maybe the reason why it has a NC-17 rating in the US is because many Americans may not be mature enough to watch it. Once we grow older, we’re hopefully more mature and are able to see beyond the nudity and see the story underneath. I’m kind of neutral on whether or not teenagers should be allowed to watch movies with those ratings. I guess it depends on each individual and how much they can handle.
I think the rating system of Motion Picture Association of America is fair. I understand that it is to protect the young audience, but there are many flaws. Children are exposed to many mature themes nowadays. They may already be aware of mature topics or are going to. So the rating system may actually hinder the children’s growth. Additionally, there are also many loopholes. Movie theaters are not the only source for movie viewing. Like the situation of video games, many children get their hands on M rated games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto somehow. Whatever the case I think the rating system is doing a fair job.
I honestly do not think that any rating system is able to prevent “younger” people from watching a movie. The Internet has become such a wide place for people to watch, basically anything. Even if people under 17 cannot watch rated R movies in theatres, the movies will most likely be leaked online where anyone could have access to. Moreover, all the rating systems generalize one age as a group. For example, all 17 year olds in the nation are not the same. There are obviously different levels of maturity depending on how they were raised. I think that the French system of ratings is better in that younger people will not be encouraged to sneak into movies.
The MPAA has an interesting history. Before the mid-20th century, there was no MPAA. There were no ratings on movies, and there were various films with what the MPAA today would term “vulgar content”. They’re kind of like your overprotective aunt or uncle. You’re not obligated to listen to them, but they can be a little hovery and will appeal to your parents, who will likely listen.
As to the question of the ratings system in America, Europe is, when you compare their ratings system to ours, less “prudish”. Maybe we SHOULD lighten up a little. The IFC Center in Greenwich Village’s decision to allow young people to see the movie despite the NC-17 rating is a good one–the idea of restricting access to a certain piece of media seems repressive. Perhaps parents don’t want their children to see certain films or to be exposed to certain subjects, but the thing is that it’s probably going to happen anyway.
I was pretty surprised to learn that the movie ratings are only guidelines not enforceable by law. Which after thinking about it kind of makes sense. An age is just a number and really has nothing to do with maturity. 16 year olds can be, and oftentimes are more mature than 19 year olds. Even if you argue that it is the parents who should be deciding if their kid can see the movie, who is to say that what is acceptable in one parents eyes is unacceptable in every parent’s eyes?
I think it’s in American society to over-emphasize sexuality and nudity. Like you said, the movie is more than just the 15-minute sex scene. And in a coming-of-age plot line, the ideas of sexuality and nudity will be explored. Instead of limiting the movie to 17+ audiences, I think showing such ideas to younger audiences is necessarily for the growth of young adults. In a movie revolving around them, younger audiences would probably make a better connection to the ideas of the movie than older audiences, and would probably be able to appreciate it more. I think especially by putting such a “ban” on sexuality and nudity from younger audiences, that the maturity level of younger kids will never raise.