Media Classifications: Difference between revisions
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{{
[[File:Mpaa-movie-rating-poster-709x1024.jpg|thumb|400px|Oh, you naughty bunny, you!]]
{{quote|''"I could have easily cut you to ribbons."''
''"Not with a TV-Y7 rating, you couldn't!"''|'''''[[Duck Dodgers]]'''''}}
Ratings put in place by the local [[Media Watchdog]] to give consumers an idea of the content of a specific media product, often times encouraged by the producers of said media in order to avoid the alternative of a [[Censorship Bureau]]. The specific criteria for assigning are usually fairly secret, although the two biggies (sex and violence) are given different emphasis in different parts of the world, so one critique of the system is that sometimes the difference between two assignments is a single addition of a cuss word. Occasionally the rating system is so seemingly arbitrary that it's possible to wonder why one film got a '15' when another, more violent and with more sex and swearing, managed to be rated '12'.
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In some parts of the world the ratings are enforced, while in others they are merely suggestions. For example a British retailer can be fined for selling a DVD rated '18' to a 15 year-old, while in the United States it's up to each retailer or theatre to choose whether or not to maintain the age restrictions, with the exception of selling or showing porn to minors. (Of course, any retailer or theatre that significantly broke these guidelines would immediately suffer huge backlash from the public, assuming they weren't some rinky-dink shop in a back lot too small to be noticed.) Canada is a special case: provincial ratings are enforced by their respective governments, while the pan-Canadian rating is only for home video, consist of the average of all the provincial ratings and is not enforced. Some US states have attempted to introduce ratings backed with the force of law, most recently California banning sale of M-rated video games to minors; as of June 27, 2011 this has been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, so industry-run voluntary systems it is.
The most prominent and well-known ratings system for video games is administered by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (or ESRB). The ESRB is a volunteer organization that was created in the mid-90s after ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' and ''[[Night Trap]]'' raised concerns about the content of violent or "mature" video games. The ESRB must review ''everything''
Not to be confused with [[All The Tropes:Media Categories FAQ|the Media Categories FAQ]], which covers how trope pages are divided up by medium on [[This Very Wiki]].
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Pretty much every country in the world has variations on the following classifications for film, TV or both:
(In most places (with exceptions; see below), things like exercise and instructional videos go under this.)
* UK: E or Exempt (not an official mark and not always used).
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* In the United States, ratings systems are voluntary. Theaters generally enforce the movie ratings and most networks go along with the TV ratings, but retail-only videos are routinely sold unrated with no problems. In fact, some theatrically-released movies have [[Unrated Edition|"unrated" video editions]] to imply that they are raunchier or more violent, when it may only mean a minute of footage was added and the producers didn't pay to get the new version rated.
* UK: Uc (i.e. '''U'''niversal: particularly suitable for '''c'''hildren) – this rating was used for home video only and was discontinued in 2009.
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* Germany: FSK0.
* UK: U (i.e. Universal).
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* Netherlands: AL.
* UK: PG (i.e. Parental Guidance).
** When the British ratings system was changed in the early 1980s, a lot of older stuff got chucked into this category, despite possibly not being suitable. Take, for example, ''[[The Spy Who Came in
* US: PG and PG-13 (film); TV-PG (television).
* Japan: PG-12.
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* Netherlands: 6 and 9.
* UK: 12A (12 Accompanied/Advisory, that is under-12s allowed in only if accompanied by an adult) – introduced in 2002 after a two-year trial period in Norwich, with ''[[The Bourne Identity]]'' the first to receive this rating. Still-playing '12' films already in cinemas at that point, such as ''[[Spider
* US: R (film; 17 years of age); TV-14 (television).
* Canada: 14A.
** Quebec: 13+.
* Japan: R15.
* Hong Kong: Category IIb (first used with [[John Woo]]'s ''[[
* Australia: MA15+.
* Ireland: 12A, 15A.
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(certain movies require that people be over a particular age (usually 15) or with an adult (17 or 18 years old). Often overlaps with the above.):
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* Germany: FSK12 (over 6, under 12)
* US: NC-17 (film), TV-MA (television).
** The MPAA once used the X rating, but this quickly became associated with porn (especially since it wasn't trademarked). It was changed to NC-17 because serious movies labeled X would not sell. Since the box office failures of ''[[Showgirls]]'' and ''[[
* UK: 12, 15 and 18.
** The '12' certificate is now academic as it is used only on home media, whereas '12A' (see above) is used in the cinema. In practice, 12 and 15 are loosely enforced. There is little equivalent stigma to the NC-17 situation above attached to the 18 rating, though directors may well still make cuts to seek a 15 certificate and so a broader potential audience.
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* Canada: R and A.
** Quebec: 16+ and 18+.
* Ireland: 16 and 18.
** (The "16" rating was introduced after some parents thought ''[[Bad Santa (
* Germany FSK16 and FSK18.
* New Zealand: R13, R15, R16 and R18.
* Netherlands: 16.
** (This and the 18+ PEGI rating are ones that can be enforced by law, the rest are "suggestions")
* UK: R18 – applies to material that can only be shown at licensed adult cinemas or sold at licensed sex shops.
* Germany: Indexed products – applies to games, books and magazines; can be ordered by special adult delivery.
* UK: R (Rejected).
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One episode of ''[[Freakazoid
{{quote|''"Now, if a family wants to see a movie and it's rated G, then everyone can go: Mom and Dad and Buffy and Jody and Grandma and Grandpa and even Sergeant Scruffy. If it's PG, then there might be something unsuitable for young or sensitive viewers, in which case Buffy will just have to stay home. Along with Grandma, who didn't wanna go to the movies anyway. Now if a movie's rated PG-13, it might have some material in there that Mommy and Daddy might not like some of the young kids to see, so Jody might just have to stay home. Now if the movie's rated R, then it's gonna contain some adult material. In which case Dad, who's got a lazy tummy, will probably wanna stay home. But if the movie's rated NC-17, that means that kids can't get in, only adults can get in. Mom doesn't wanna see adult movies, but Grandpa was in the army, and he's not bothered very much and so he decides to stay, along with Seargent Scruffy, who's just a dumb dog anyway."''|Jack Valenti on the MPAA's rating system, ''Freakazoid!'' }}
You can find more about the American ratings process in the documentary ''[[
These are similar and yet slightly different:
* Ages 3+ -- eC (Early Childhood)
* Ages 6+ -- E (Everyone); originally known as KA (Kids-Adults) until 1998
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Also co-existing for a short time in the aftermath of the senate hearings that prompted the creation of the ESRB was RSAC. Whereas ESRB was essentially console based, being headed up by Sega and Nintendo, RSAC was a system developed by primarily PC developers. For various reasons, RSAC never took off. It rated games according to thermometers - a thermometer for violence, sex, etc along with qualifiers.
* Ages 3+ (4+ in Portugal)
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* Ages 18+
Add to this one or more icons indicating what gave it such a rating: language, discrimination, drugs, gambling, [[Nightmare Fuel|horror]], sex and violence. However, those ratings are seemingly as random as those in the United States, as ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' got 12+ for "violence". There's also the problem that it doesn't list what kind of violence is 12+ as opposed to 16+ violence. Perhaps it's due to a NICAM (the Dutch rating board that decides on these PEGI ratings) policy that also never seems to disclose why a movie is suitable for all ages despite it being about incest.
And as for [[Visual Novel|visual novels]], the PEGI doesn't consider them true games and as such will only rate their ''interactive'' parts; while this doesn't affect novels on the most interactive side of the spectrum such as ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', this effectively skewers kinetic novels (visual novels completely devoid of interaction), leading to such hilarity as the official French release of the ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* Without age restrictions
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The USK (Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle) is the video game classification board of Germany, and it is legally enforceable. Games that are refused classification are placed on the "Index" and can only been bought on request to over 18s and cannot be advertised. Due to its strict censorship policies, many German gamers have had to import video games from Austria (due to the fact that it is another German-speaking country) due to the fact it uses PEGI.
* U
* PG
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* R18
It's seemingly random as to which games go before the British Board of Film Classification, with most titles carrying a PEGI rating. The difference with the ESRB and PEGI systems is that the BBFC has the law to back it up. If a retailer makes a sale against BBFC guidelines, he is in trouble. This is the same rating system as used in films, with the same classification
* FSK 0
* FSK 6
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Much like BBFC it is enforced by the law. Some people in Germany have problems with the last two 18 and Spio/JK as the controls are much too strict and often lead to Wallbangers such as [[Starship Troopers]] getting a Spio/JK rating because it is accused of glorifying war. Spio/JK rated films are rare and can only be sold at the check-out, which leads to most people thinking FSK 18 films are the uncensored versions. Most publishers just give out censored lower rated versions, leading some people to think that this is all German politicians' plan to cleanse the country from violent media. In truth they just don´t care.
* A (All Ages)
* B (Ages 12+)
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Since there was a gap between 15+ and 18+, the rating system was redesigned in 2006.
Some alternative systems also exist, such as [http://kids-in-mind.com Kids in Mind] which rates movies using sliding scales from 1 to 10 of; sex/nudity, violence/gore and language, there is also [http://commonsensemedia.org Common Sense Media] which uses a 'recommended age' system.
Thanks to the [[Animation Age Ghetto]], many English versions of [[Manga]] have ratings on the back, although nobody really pays attention to them at all. The ratings usually go as follows:
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* T: 13 and up. Innuendo and blood.
* OT: Older Teens, 16 and up. Stuffed with [[Fan Service]] or [[Gorn]]. Some books may be shrinkwrapped at this rating.
* M: Mature, either really gory or [[Hentai]], [[Gorn|both]] ([[Squick|let's not think about that]]), other types of disturbing / heavy content, or [[Boys Love Genre|gay]] [[Yuri Genre|relationships]]. Shrinkwrapped and usually not in bookstores anyway, but [[Ripped from the Headlines|the papers are]] [[New Media Are Evil|all too eager to inform you]] that some ten-year-old could pick it up in the library. (Which isn't too far from the truth. If a younger reader tries to check out ''[[Ghost in
===
is also rated, often using "X" labels. ("X" was originally an official MPAA film rating, but was since replaced by NC-17 because of the pornography markets.<ref>Long story short: When the MPAA instituted the original ratings back in 1968, they put all of the ratings under trademark, meaning that only the MPAA could legally administer them, ''except'' the X rating. The rationale was that producers of edgy content could self-apply the mark if they so chose. The only thing is that the MPAA was thinking of "edgy" being more ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'' (to this day, the only X-rated film to win an Oscar) and less ''[[Debbie Does Dallas]]''. The situation was so bad by the '70s that when ''[[Dawn of the Dead (Film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' was produced, George A. Romero was told he'd have to cut it severely to gain an R rating, otherwise his only rating option would be "X", and it would just be a matter of the MPAA or himself applying it. Unwilling to cut the film, and not wanting it to be viewed as porn, he [[Take a Third Option|released the film without a rating, instead running all advertising with a disclaimer that said that the film had no sexual content whatsoever, but that due to the nature of the horror scenes, nobody under 17 would be seated.]] To rectify this, the MPAA, in the early '90s, replaced the by now completely discredited "X" rating with "NC-17", which '''was''' trademarked, ensuring that only the MPAA could administer it.</ref> [[Failure Is the Only Option|Not that it did any good.]])▼
* X: Softcore.▼
* XX: Hardcore.▼
* XXX: Extreme.▼
* XXXX: [[But You Screw One Goat!|You don't]] [[Parental Incest|want to know]].▼
Mexico legally has only four alphabetical ratings, but most theaters make up for it with a couple of unofficial classifications:
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* B15: Unofficial, usually means older teenagers, 15+.
* C: Adults only. Theaters start asking here for voting cards (the official ID in Mexico).
* D: Contains highly graphic material. Usually means some softcore or a lot of [[Gorn]]. ''[[Hostel]]'' was one of the few films to receive [[Rated "M" for Money|this profitable honor]].
In Australia, films and video games have six main levels of ratings:
* E -- Exempt from classification (documentary, sport, news)
* G -- for all ages
*
* M -- for Mature Audiences
* MA (Restricted 15+) -- for Mature Audiences (Rating skipped for video games in South Australia; thank Mr Rau, attorney general)
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Aussie TV uses a similar system, designed by Free TV Australia:
* G -- for All ages
*
* M -- for Mature Audiences ([[Watershed]] 20:30)
* MA15+ -- for Mature Audiences ([[Watershed]] 21:00)
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<!-- %% http://www.freetv.com.au/media/Code_of_Practice/PG_Time_Zones_Fact_Sheet.pdf -->
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has its own ratings system for films ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110806090342/http://www.usccb.org/movies/criteria.shtml detailed here]). These are not binding on Catholics, and are widely unknown or ignored. The classifications are:
* A-I -- general patronage
* A-
* A-
* L<ref>formerly known as A-IV (adults, with reservations) -- "films that, while not morally offensive in themselves, require caution"</ref>
* O -- morally offensive
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131009212333/http://www.fictionratings.com/ The FictionRatings system] is a self-imposed voluntary system used by [[Web Original|online publishers]], most notably [[Fanfiction.net]] and Fictionpress, who switched from the MPAA ratings when the MPAA objected. Very rarely used by other fanfiction sites since they're copyrighted to Fanfiction.net and because of the ubiquity and simplicity of the MPAA and BBFC systems.
* B -- ages
* K -- ages 5+, no violence, swearing or adult themes. Similar to G.
* K+ -- ages 9+, mild violence or swearing and no adult themes. Similar to PG.
* T -- ages 13+, violence, mild language or mild adult themes. Similar to PG-13.
* M -- ages 16+, strong adult themes, language or violence. Similar to R. Filtered by default on Fanfiction.net searches.
*
* General Audiences - "This content is suitable for anyone: kids, teenagers, sensitive people."
* Adult -- R▼
* Teen And Up Audiences - "The content may be inappropriate for audiences under 13."
* Adult+ -- NC-17▼
* Mature - "This is for content with adult themes (sex, violence, etc.) that isn't as graphic as explicit-rated content."
* Adult++ -- porn▼
* Explicit - "This is for porn, graphic violence, etc."
* Not Rated - "For searching, screening, and other Archive functions, this may get treated the same way as explicit-rated content.
This system is also supplemented by a tag system that enforce a general set of [https://archiveofourown.org/tos_faq#tags standarized warnings for content] that is not usually covered by other rating systems, so people in the site can see if the "Mature" rate in the fanwork comes from violence, sex, controversial themes, or all of the above.
=== The Netherlands ===
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131106020436/http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/index.php?id=31 Kijkwijzer] is the Netherlands' rating system for everything except video games, which are covered by PEGI. As noted above, the ratings are age-based and mostly self-explanatory. As with PEGI, Kijkwijzer uses pictograms to describe the reasons for content ratings: violence, [[Nightmare Fuel|fear]], sex, discrimination, drugs and/or alcohol abuse, and coarse language.▼
== Porn ==
▲
▲* X: Softcore.
▲* XX: Hardcore.
▲* XXX: Extreme.
▲* XXXX: [[But You Screw One Goat!|You don't]] [[Parental Incest|want to know]].
AdultFanFiction.net, an archive set up when Fanfiction.net banned MA (mature and sexually explicit) stories, has its own system:
▲[http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/index.php?id=31 Kijkwijzer] is the Netherlands' rating system for everything except video games, which are covered by PEGI. As noted above, the ratings are age-based and mostly self-explanatory. As with PEGI, Kijkwijzer uses pictograms to describe the reasons for content ratings: violence, [[Nightmare Fuel|fear]], sex, discrimination, drugs and/or alcohol abuse, and coarse language.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Politics Tropes]]
[[Category:Rated I for Index]]
[[Category:
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