While the MPAA’s Classification and Ratings Administration – or CARA – has generally expanded the freedoms of filmmakers since its 1968 inception, the economic failure of the NC-17 rating has led to substantial inconsistencies in the rating system. Because of the CARA model, filmmakers have been able to probe the extremes of violence under the R rating while they have been unable to do the same for screen sexuality. Through the NC-17 rating, CARA has been able to repress non-pornographic sexual portrayals by rating a given film NC-17, thus forcing contractually obligated directors to make edits that are sometimes inconsistent and arbitrary. Though cinema used to have significant thematic and visual freedoms over television, NC-17 level paid cable programming has surpassed what is allowed under CARA’s R-rating, allowing for more complex and mature viewpoints on sexuality than is currently allowed to regularly reach film audiences.

The United States film industry is controlled by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its six signatories--the major productions studios (Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal, Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, Time Warner), and through this joint-partnership they have monopolized prime production, distribution, exhibition and classification of the U.S film market. The objective of this project is to shed light on biases present in the MPAA rating system's treatment of sex and violence under the X/NC-17 rating in order to demonstrate the lack of viability of the system in today's world.