COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : Between ‘R’ and ‘X’ Lies a Remedy for Rating Adult Movies

Richard D. Heffner makes an important point in his July 2 Counterpunch commentary (“Guidance to Parents, Not Profits, Governs Movie Rating System”): It will not work to have two ratings symbols that signify “adults only.”

How could Heffner’s Code and Ratings Administration presume to decide that some “adults only” material is art and some porno? This would only create nightmarish legal problems.

But it is disingenuous of Heffner to imply that the addition of a new exclusionary “adults only” symbol between R and X is the only alternative to the present arrangement. A friend who is a staff lawyer at a major Hollywood studio has drafted this interesting proposal:

Why not add a new advisory (rather than exclusionary) R-21 rating that would bear the same relationship to the current R as PG-13 does to PG--and which would therefore be no more problematic legally? Thinking of the new rating this way, rather than as “an additional adults-only category,” eliminates the artificial complications Heffner has cooked up.

An R-21 rating would not be a perfect solution to the ratings mess. Some newspapers and theaters and video stores might still try to make hay by banning R-21 pictures. And some films (basically those with hard-core sexual content) could still suffer the box-office stigma of the X. But at least this approach would be legally unassailable.

DAVID CHUTE

Los Angeles