Pubdate: Fri, 25 Dec 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Brooks Barnes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

NEW FILM IGNITES DEBATE ON RATINGS POLICY

LOS ANGELES - The romantic comedy "It's Complicated" arrived at the
multiplex on Friday complete with an R rating, ranking it in the same
category as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Basic Instinct" in the
eyes of the Motion Picture Association of America.

But there is no violence in "It's Complicated," and the bedroom scenes
are decidedly tame by contemporary standards. Instead, the R rating -
which experts say could limit the box-office potential of the
Universal Pictures film - comes largely from a sequence in which Steve
Martin and Meryl Streep smoke marijuana.

Giggles ensue.

The rating has kicked up dust in Hollywood, with movie bloggers
starting blistering attacks on the M.P.A.A. for being out of touch.
The marijuana lobby is equally miffed. "This is an absurd ruling
rooted in old cultural thinking," said Allen St. Pierre, executive
director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws. Universal and Mr. Martin unsuccessfully appealed, seeking a
PG-13 rating.

Conservative groups, meanwhile, find themselves in the rare position
of cheering the ratings system instead of condemning it. Dan Isett,
director of public policy for the Parents Television Council, which
also monitors movies, said "It's Complicated" was a "rare instance" of
the board getting a rating correct.

"The last I checked, smoking pot was still illegal, illicit behavior,"
he said. "Too often material gets rated lower than it should be."

Figuring prominently in the brouhaha are other depictions of marijuana
in cinema, particularly the scene in the 1980 comedy "9 to 5" showing
Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin getting high and raiding the
refrigerator. Its rating was PG.

"This demonstrates a real hilarity and inconsistency, especially given
how far the medical marijuana movement has come," said Martin Kaplan,
the director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of entertainment
and society at the University of Southern California.

The rumpus comes amid informal discussion about tweaking the ratings
formula, particularly where R is involved. The M.P.A.A., a trade
organization financed by the major studios, has ruminated about
dividing the R rating into new categories. Already, the industry
refers informally to movies that are "soft R" or "hard R."

Nancy Meyers, who directed the film, declined to comment, as did
Universal and the film's producers.

But financial forces are at work against any changes. If the
difference between a PG-13 and an R rating can be tens of millions of
dollars at the box office, the last thing studios want is to slice the
pie thinner. "In general, the more child-friendly the rating is - even
for movies that might not be aimed at teenagers - the more tickets you
sell," said S. Abraham Ravid, a business professor at Rutgers
University who has published many studies on movie economics.

Joan Graves, the chairwoman of the film industry's Classification and
Rating Administration, declined to comment on "It's Complicated,"
citing internal policy barring the public discussion of a specific
picture. But she dismissed criticism of her board members.

"They react the way that most people react," she said. "America is not
just two coasts."

Some in the industry see something deeper at work, arguing that the
trade organization is on its best behavior because it has a lame-duck
leader in Dan Glickman (who is to step down as chief executive in
September) and because Congressional elections will take place next
year. The Federal Trade Commission harshly criticized the movie
industry this month for inappropriately advertising movies with PG-13
and R ratings to children.

It was not specifically the actual drug use that got "It's
Complicated," about a divorced woman who has an affair with her
remarried ex-husband, into this pickle, according to people with
knowledge of how the decision was reached. Instead, the ratings board
was concerned about what the movie did not have: a negative
consequence for the behavior. (Ms. Graves said that "no scrutiny or
outside influence impacts the rating of any film - period.")

The board, according to these people, thought the scene was
uproariously funny and could leave children with a strong message that
smoking marijuana is fun. The opposite, of course, could be argued:

One way to make young people think that marijuana is uncool is to show
the white-haired Mr. Martin, 64, smoking it.

This emphasis on consequences has long been part of how Hollywood has
navigated taboo subjects, dating back to the Hays Code era, said
Robert Sklar, an emeritus professor of cinema studies at New York
University and the author of "Movie-Made America." "If somebody
transgressed - infidelity, alcoholism - they had to pay for it," he
said.

The M.P.A.A. is often accused by conservative groups of "ratings
creep," a loosening of standards as the years go on, and of pandering
to the studios, which resist R ratings because it could limit the
audience. But "It's Complicated" may be an example of the reverse.

Ms. Graves said the board has grown more strict about drug use over
the last two decades. "In the '60s and '70s, drugs were considered fun
and recreational, but then parents started to wise up and standards
shifted the other way," she said.

In other words, "9 to 5" was born of a different cultural
time.

It is hard to argue, however, that cannabis has become anything but
more routine over the years. There are now about 1,000 medical
marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area alone, according to
city estimates; as a point of reference, there are fewer than 300
Starbucks outposts. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D