Most Memorable MPAA Content Descriptors

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

In addition to assigning age ratings to movies (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) also assigns brief explanations as to why a movie was rated higher than G. These explanations are called "content descriptors". The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has a standardized list of a few dozen content descriptors, but not the MPAA. The MPAA makes up their content descriptors on the fly.

Many of them are mundane, but many MPAA content descriptors stand out for the following reasons:
1. They sound more confusing than informative.
2. They make you laugh.
3. They sound like marketing blurbs.
4. They reveal information that should be obvious from the movie's marketing campaign.

Here are just a few that stick out in my mind, with explanations as to why they stick out in my mind.

"Monkey Trouble" (1994)-Rated PG for a moment of menace.

Where exactly is that moment of menace? Timestamp it and I can turn it into a G-rated movie. Easily.

"Grumpier Old Men" (1995)-Rated PG-13 for salty language and innuendos

Do any movies have sugary language? Or tangy language? Or spicy language?

"Twister" (1996)-Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of very bad weather.

Very bad weather? I never would have guessed that from the posters, trailers, and TV commercials. Thank you, MPAA!

"F6: Twister" (2012)-Rated PG for disaster images and brief language.

When they say "brief language", are they saying that the movie has a small number of bad words, or are they saying that the movie's characters are discussing Hanes underwear or some other kind of underwear?

"Batman Returns: (1992)-Rated PG-13 for brooding, dark violence.

If the violence in this movie was "light violence", would it get rated PG?

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005)-Rated PG for quirky situations, action and mild language.

What exactly are "quirky situations" in the eyes of the MPAA?

"Camp Nowhere" (1994)-Rated PG for some mild adolescent language and sensuality.

Does that mean that every movie in which an adolescent character says a single word must be rated PG? If so, the MPAA should have given "The Princess Diaries" and "High School Musical" PG ratings just to be consistent, because both those movies have words spoken by adolescent characters.

"Little Women" (1994)-Rated PG for two uses of mild language.

Why don't all MPAA content descriptors give us an exact count of the number of bad words in the movie?

"The Client" (1994)-Rated PG-13 for a child in jeopardy and brief language.

Instead of "a child in jeopardy", I would have used the phrase "endangering a child", to avoid disappointing anyone hoping to see a child on the "Jeopardy" game show.

"Schindler's List" (1993)-Rated R for language, some sexuality and actuality violence.

Instead of "actuality violence", I would use the phrase "actual footage of actual violence".

"Three Colors: Red" (1994)-Rated R for a brief but strong sex scene.

What exactly makes a sex scene "strong"? Are they implying that sex scenes in PG-13 movies are weak by comparison?

"Demolition Man" (1993)-Rated R for non-stop action violence, and for strong language.

Those who saw this movie because of this descriptor may have been thinking, "If the action violence stops, I'm done with this movie, and I'm never trusting the MPAA again."

Those are just the examples I have found. But I am sure that you can find many more, as thousands of movies have been rated by the MPAA over the years. Feel free to share. Have a nice day and a great weekend.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Here are some more:

"And The Band Played On" (1993)-Rated PG-13 for subject matter.

If you're not going to say what the subject matter is, you might as well just leave the field for the content descriptor blank.

"Dennis The Menace" (1993)-Rated PG for comedic mischief.

I wonder if this inspired the ESRB to create their "Comic Mischief" content descriptor.

"Germinal" (1993)-Rated R for intense depiction of suffering and class conflict.

How intense does suffering and class conflict have to be to earn an R rating?

"Haunted Castle" (2001)-Rated PG for some frightening sensations and horror images.

If it had been "frightening moments" or "frightening images" or "frightening sounds", I would have ignored this one. But "frightening sensations" makes it sound like the movie will deliver something beyond sight and sound. Will the seat vibrate or tilt? Will air get blasted into my face? Will I smell scary smells or taste scary tastes? As a whole, "frightening sensations" sounds like something you can only get in a theater and not at home. I wonder if the MPAA would have given the 1974 movie "Earthquake" a PG rating with the content descriptor of "frightening sensations" for using Sensurround to make the seats vibrate.

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

Godzilla vs Biollante

rated PG for “traditional Godzilla violence”

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

rated PG for “a smoking caterpillar”

The Skateboard Kid 2

rated PG for “an adolescent punch to the nose”

Father and Scout

rated PG for “mild fisticuffs”

Bushwhacked

rated PG for “a mild birds and bees discussion”

Jefferson in Paris

rated PG-13 for “a bawdy puppet show”

[Michael24]

Alien vs. Predator's "...and slime" will always be the most memorable to me.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by Michael24

Alive vs. Predator's "...and slime" will always be the most memorable to me.

I can see why. I don't know if the MPAA has ever mentioned slime in any of their other rating descriptors.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by ImBlu_DaBaDee

Godzilla vs Biollante

rated PG for “traditional Godzilla violence”

The MPAA has quite a lot of categories of violence, don't they?

[MWF6425]

Here's a funny one, from a film I personally found disturbing - 2004's "The Girl Next Door". It read like this: "Rated R for strong sexual content, language and some drug/alcohol use." Talk about painfully obvious - the main character's a porn actress on the run! How do you keep anything moderate in a film like that?

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

"Fly Away Home" (1996)-Rated PG for an opening accident scene and some mild language.

If you don't want your kids to see the opening accident scene, you can fast forward pass it and not miss much.

"Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" (2006)-Rated PG for some off-color elements.

Many movies have been cited by the MPAA for having thematic elements, but off-color elements is something new.

[RYJAPE21]

The Brady Bunch Movie - Rated PG-13 for “racy innuendos”

Wayne’s World 2 - Rated PG-13 for “ribald humor”

[The Debts]

The Revenant was rated R for "strong frontier combat and violence including gory images, a sexual assault, language and brief nudity". Can't say I've ever seen a movie with a descriptor as exact as "frontier combat".

[Zivouhr]

Some good descriptions there.

The Dark Crystal in 1982 which I saw as a small kid, MPA PG for Dark Themes and may require parental guidance seems reasonable. It covered death, dealing with loss, betrayal, deception, forced workers, using others to prolong one's youth, death and more loss. I could see them rating it in 2025 with PG13 but that didn't happen till Indy Temple of Doom.

[Leslie Dame]

The Indian In The Cupboard (1995) Rated PG for mild language and brief video images of violence and sexy dancing.

3 Ninjas Buckled Up (1995) Rated PG-13 for nonstop ninja action.

[MWF6425]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Some good descriptions there.

The Dark Crystal in 1982 which I saw as a small kid, MPA PG for Dark Themes and may require parental guidance seems reasonable. It covered death, dealing with loss, betrayal, deception, forced workers, using others to prolong one's youth, death and more loss. I could see them rating it in 2025 with PG13 but that didn't happen till Indy Temple of Doom.

Actually, the first two films given a PG-13 rating were "The Flamingo Kid" and "Red Dawn". The latter was the first released theatrically with it, though.

[Martoto]

Content descriptors are purely there as an indemnity against complaints from stupid, feckless parents who might get embarrassed from showing their kids something they can't explain or didn't anticipate. "Mom, why does the cartoon cow have eight nipples and you only have two?" "Uhmm, it's the devil.... sweetie. Don't look at them. (Just wait till Mr Disney hears from me about sneakily showing my child animals that I don't have the skill or curiosity to adequately describe to them.)"

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by MWF6425

Actually, the first two films given a PG-13 rating were "The Flamingo Kid" and "Red Dawn". The latter was the first released theatrically with it, though.

That's cool, thanks. So Red Dawn, which I only first saw on VHS as a rental back then, was PG13 before Indy Temple Doom.

Originally Posted by Leslie Dame

The Indian In The Cupboard (1995) Rated PG for mild language and brief video images of violence and sexy dancing.

3 Ninjas Buckled Up (1995) Rated PG-13 for nonstop ninja action.

Non-stop Ninja action gets PG13 is surprising. So the MPA would need to give the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series a PG13 too if it were made into a 2 hour movie. Animated vs live-action I guess being the difference in their rating.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by Martoto

Content descriptors are purely there as an indemnity against complaints from stupid, feckless parents who might get embarrassed from showing their kids something they can't explain or didn't anticipate. "Mom, why does the cartoon cow have eight nipples and you only have two?" "Uhmm, it's the devil.... sweetie. Don't look at them. (Just wait till Mr Disney hears from me about sneakily showing my child animals that I don't have the skill or curiosity to adequately describe to them.)"

I have mixed feelings about this response. On one hand, parents should do their research and not feel compelled to take their kids to see a movie on the first day it comes out in theaters. Here are some sites that parents can use for such research:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

https://www.pluggedin.com/

https://www.movieguide.org/

But what if the kid decides to go behind their parent's backs and see something they shouldn't see without asking first? And the parent finds out about it and it powerless to undo the damage? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, sometimes a whole lot more. It's easy to attack parents as being stupid or feckless until you become a parent yourself.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

But what if the kid decides to go behind their parent's backs and see something they shouldn't see without asking first?

I know I did.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

I have mixed feelings about this response. On one hand, parents should do their research and not feel compelled to take their kids to see a movie on the first day it comes out in theaters. Here are some sites that parents can use for such research:

I would be very surprised if even five percent of parents contemplate that kind of diligence above and beyond the rating and the subject matter. But mostly they are looking at the participants and trusting corporate responsibility i.e. it's the company's responsibility if I am dissatisfied. AKA the customer is always right. They shouldn't have to do research.

[MWF6425]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

That's cool, thanks. So Red Dawn, which I only first saw on VHS as a rental back then, was PG13 before Indy Temple Doom.

"Temple of Doom" has always been PG since its first release, in May of 1984. The PG-13 rating wasn't established until that July.

[dr. wai]

Redemption: Kickboxer 5 (1995) - Rated R for continuous violent action

American Kickboxer 2 (1993) - Rated R for continuous violence, and for some sexuality and language.

American Kickboxer (1990) - Rated R for language and kickboxing violence.

TC 2000 (1993) - Rated R for continuous violence, and for some language.

Knights (1993) - Rated R for futuristic violence.

Alive (1992) - Rated R for crash scenes too intense for unaccompanied children.

All American Murder (1992) - Rated R for strong areas of sensuality, and for language and violence.

Army of Darkness (1993) - Rated R for violence and horror.