Censorship Rating...

I was trying to follow the whole issue of rating system and the Bombay High Court directive to all cable/satellite channels. Difficult with the on-an-off info in newspapers and TV. My interest in this woke up with an article in the Times of India and some follow-up in the innumerable news channels where one is subjected to the same information with different accents repeatedly.

Interest was renewed when messages started scrolling on the bottom of my TV screen stating that changes were made to the program schedules based on the High Court ruling. This was followed by discussions in various media around the A and U/A ratings and how it would increase piracy and so on. Personally, if someone wants to watch adult rated content, they can always find numerous options to do so and imposing bans and such will only increase the "means" and possibly the enthusiasm of people to find alternate options.

One of the "educated suggestions" as part of these discussions in the media was to take aleaf out of the western rating systems. So when I came across this article in the New York Times about a documentary/movie called "Some material may be inappropriate or mystifying, and the rating may be as well", I spent some time reading the review.

The movie (as per the review) is all about the Motion Picture Association of America and its rating system. Words and phrases like "the association often seems more arbitrary and less transparent in its workings than any federal agency this side of the CIA" and "The record of its recent decisions suggests a special squeamishness about depictions of female sexual pleasure and a picayune fastidiousness about certain body parts" make for an interesting read.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/movies/01rate.html?8mu&emc=mu

By the way, this blog is part of my own rating system which is intended to appease my own sense of morality and any comments which are eligible to be rated as "U" (Unacceptable) will be removed.