How does the American rating system work for movies? Like, what  makes something rated pg-13 or R or Nc-17?
916226
The movie rating system is a voluntary system sponsored by the Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theatre Owners to provide parents with advance information on films, enabling parents to make judgments on movies they want or do not want their children to see. \n\nG - General Audience. All ages admitted. This signifies that the film rated contains nothing most parents will consider offensive for even their youngest children to see or hear. Nudity, sex scenes, and scenes of drug use are absent; violence is minimal; snippets of dialogue may go beyond polite conversation but do not go beyond common everyday expressions. \n\nPG -  Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. This signifies that the film rated may contain some material parents might not like to expose to their young children - material that will clearly need to be examined or inquired about before children are allowed to attend the film. Explicit sex scenes and scenes of drug use are absent; nudity, if present, is seen only briefly, horror and violence do not exceed moderate levels.\n\nPG 13 - Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. This signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; one use of the harsher sexually derived words may be heard.\n\nR-  Restricted-Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian (age varies in some locations). This signifies that the rating board has concluded that the film rated contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their children to see it. An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a film's use of language, theme, violence, sex or its portrayal of drug use.\n\nNC -17 No One 17 and Under Admitted. This signifies that the rating board believes that most American parents would feel that the film is patently adult and that children age 17 and under should not be admitted to it. The film may contain explicit sex scenes, an accumulation of sexually-oriented language, or scenes of excessive violence. The NC-17 designation does not, however, signify that the rated film is obscene or pornographic.
1075306
Probably violence, maybe some foul language--I think the rule is if the f-bomb or s-word is dropped once in a movie, it automatically ups the rating.
802936
PG means Parental Guidance.  Here are the other ratings:\n\nhttp://www.filmratings.com/guide.htm
1066339
There is no gore.  I am not sure why it is rated R.  Why was Titanic given a PG-13 rating and yet, the main actress was topless, posing nude as Leonardo DiCaprio sketched her image on paper?  There is a scene where a guy gets beheaded and a cat gets sliced up, but all you see is their shadows on a wall.  You see the shadow of the cat and the man getting cut up.  There is no blood splattering.  I don't remember the cuss words.  It is Chinese and there are English subtitles at the bottom. \n\nIf you like these kind of movies, check out Iron Monkey.  It is Chinese and it has action and humor, but no gory violence.
710273
They do allow "mature" content, requiring users to log in and attest that they're over 18 (by the mere click of a button) to view the movie, but nothing outright pornographic (nor even something like a topless female)--the mature content I've seen amounts to some lascivious dancing.\n\nAs for justification--well, they're a private company, and they get to set the rules as to what they will and won't run.
896891
its now rated thus\nMPAA: Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language. (edited for re-rating; originally R)
1078228
The Ring 2 and Dark Water unrated have some more graphic scenes in the scary parts.  There is no nudity in either movie, but the more graphic scary parts would really just make either film an R rating, instead of the PG-13 they were.  Unrated really only means that the film has not been reviewed for a rating.  It is the original version that would have gotten them an R rating, so they edited a little to get the PG-13, so teens could see the movie.
102668
Generally speaking it means that there is quite a fit of cursing, and at times, nudity. American Pie Band Camp was unrated. It had numerous curse words, and quite a few topless girls. It's not rated X because it's not a porn film, you don't see any intercourse, and it's not rated R because there is nudity. Not all unrated movies have nudity, however.
663503
something called the "Nielsen ratings" or something to that effect. what they do is choose families with different backgrounds and family sizes, they connect their t.v. to a box that tells the big wigs what people are watching.  they figure with a large enough sample size they can figure out with in reason what percentage of Americans are watching what.
149075
this are called ratings and r denoted by (*****) it is a type of grade
1051139
Because they see ten time as many movies as the average viewer, which means they are more likely to see an incredible movie that they are really impressed by and that the average view will never see.  So, when they see these really great movies that many others never see it tend to make other movies pale in comparison.  Thus they give out lower ratings on the average movie.
504375
I'd say RV, I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's funny.  It's supposed to even be funny for teens, and your son would be nearing that age.  It's also supposed to be family friendly, I think it's only rated PG.
857214
Lie and tell them that you have to watch an "R" rated  documentary movie for English class and do an essay on why films today are not for younger children, if they do their homework they will se that it is a documentary and they might fall for it!....hey, it always worked for me ;)
1066456
Dunno. I do know that before they had R ratings, they had M (for Mature) ratings. So the first R rated movie was sometime in the early 70's when they changed the rating system.\n\nI believe the first mainsteam X-Rated film was "Midnight Cowboy".
1049526
Pros:\nYou can see rated R movies on your own.\nLast chance at being a teenager and a kid.\n\nCons:\nYou're about to become an adult.\nYou are still charged as an adult under federal law.
636281
By giving consumers options they increase the number of people that will come in - plus they get repeat business.\n\nExample:  \n\nTheatre A is just showing Mission Impossible III - while a lot of people want to see it - there are quite a few who don't - or people that would like to take their kids to a movie but not a PG-13 one.  Plus if you see it the first week it's in theatre you're probably not going to go back to see it again so you won't be back til the theatre shows a new film.\n\nTheatre B is showing MI III and RV, a kiddie movie, a horror film and a few others.  There's something for everyone :)  If you're a huge movie fan you can go every weekend and see something different thus giving more money to the theatre.\n\n**On an unrelated note I just saw MI-III and it's really good.  Finally a Mission Impossible Movie that you can follow!
790877
i dont know, i guess that want what is considered a REAL adult or something since you have to be 21 to drink why not apply the same thing to a stupid R movie, i know it makes no sense