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1[[quoteright:308:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated_9162.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:308:Even the DVD cover had to be [[{{Bowdlerise}} bowdlerized]].]]
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4->''"We don't give out that information."''
5-->-- '''Joan Graves''', Senior Vice President of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Chair of its Classification and Ratings Administration.
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7''This Film is Not Yet Rated'', a 2006 {{documentary}} film directed by Kirby Dick, explores the film rating policies in the US in exhaustive detail -- and [[ExecutiveMeddling how those policies affect a film's distribution and overall content before its release]].[[note]]For the record; a ratings board managed by the Motion Picture Association of America, which is a private industry group not officially sanctioned by any government, handles the US film ratings system.[[/note]]
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9The film contains interviews with numerous filmmakers who believe the ratings system amounts to censorship -- as well as scenes from their films that ended up either removed or "adjusted" prior to said films' releases. The documentary exposes how the MPAA keeps the identities of its ratings board's members a closely-guarded secret, then documents the process of trying to discover (and reveal) their identities.
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11Also, here is the kicker: the filmmakers then submit that version of the documentary to the MPAA ratings board. Though it received an NC-17 rating, the final version of the film ended up released as (and will forever remain) unrated.[[note]]At least in America.[[/note]]
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13
14!! These Tropes Are Not Yet Rated:
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16* BlatantLies: The filmmakers managed to get two members of the MPAA appeals board who would speak on camera; one of them insisted on anonymity. The film intersplices the two interviews, which give completely contradictory explanations on how the process works.
17* CensorDecoy: Discussed, like many other CensorshipTropes. ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' is brought up as an example where the infamous "puppet sex" scene was originally far, ''far'' longer and more explicit than Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone actually wanted, giving them stuff they could cut away to satisfy the MPAA that they didn't want in the film anyway. . . leading to the "Unrated" home video release, which included the full "puppet sex" scene, going far past the point of being funny.
18* CensorshipBureau: Because the MPAA doesn't want to be perceived as this, they're often hesitant to explain exactly ''why'' they're giving a specific film a specific rating, leaving directors and editors to basically guess as to why a film got its rating, with the MPAA acting like an OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. This leaves movie-makers in the unenviable position of working out what to cut, and how much of it, for resubmission to reach a target rating. Flat-out asking the MPAA what the film would need to do in order to reach a target rating may or may not work. The only consistency is that asking is more likely to work if it's a studio-backed feature; independent films will likely be left on the lurch.
19* ContentWarnings: Part of the film's purpose is to examine which movies get which warnings, and why.
20* DoubleStandard: The film points out plenty of them -- how sex scenes are often edited more than scenes of violence (including rape scenes), how male nudity is censored compared to female nudity, and how homosexual love scenes can cause higher content ratings compared to heterosexual love scenes with otherwise similar content.
21* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The filmmakers didn't present the final released version of this documentary to the MPAA (it only has a second's worth of difference), which means the film never ended up rated by the MPAA. So ''This Film is Not Yet Rated'' is not yet rated. And it never will be.
22* ExecutiveMeddling: A majority of the film {{invoke|dTrope}}s documents filmmakers' gripes about the rating system all but telling them what they can and can't show in a film, especially if it's a film that's meant to be seen only by adults.
23* ExplicitContent: Discussed. Because the movie is about the MPAA censoring content, the film has to show and discuss the kinds of things that the MPAA considers "explicit" in order to prove its point.
24* GayPanic: In-universe. The film dedicates a brief section to how the MPAA often rates scenes with explicit homosexual content higher than scenes with explicit heterosexual content, even if the straight version is more explicit than the gay one (e.g. a lesbian masturbating through her bedclothes in ''Film/ButImACheerleader'' risks an NC-17, but Creator/KevinSpacey's character miserably masturbating in the shower in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' gets an R).
25* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Invoked; this is how How Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone's movies ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' and ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' managed to get away with what they did.
26* InsistentTerminology:
27** The MPAA ratings board wants you to know that they do ''not'' consider themselves censors.
28** Numerous clips of Jack Valenti show him asserting that the members of the board "are neither gods nor fools, just parents" and represent the "average family". Jamie Babbit, the director of ''Film/ButImACheerleader'', wonders if Valenti thought that meant gay and lesbian parents such as herself. [[ForegoneConclusion You can probably guess the answer.]] Of course, you can't really define the term "average family" in America because of all the different co-existing cultures. Unless the MPAA refers to "anything that we can't construe as mentally or physically abusive under US law", then their definition can't make sense given everything that they won't allow in an R-rated movie. As investigation showed, most of the censors were ''not'' an "average family" anyway.
29* JerkassHasAPoint: The MPAA is rather vilified by the documentary (and based on the specific incidents, not necessarily unfairly), but some of their decisions do make an amount of sense. For instance, not allowing citing of precedent (i.e. Film X had Scene Y and Rating Z; my film has Scene A which is like Scene Y but is getting Rating B), since practices and standards have changed over time. In particular, the creation of the PG-13 rating in 1984, in response to the too-intense-for-PG-but-not-intense-enough-for-R ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' and ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''. Many PG films released before the creation of the PG-13 rating border on R, with {{Precision F Strike}}s and even nudity (''Film/{{Airplane}}'' is an example, with prominent bare bouncing breasts right up in camera at one point, a shot impossible to include in a PG movie after 1984, and unlikely even in a PG-13).
30* KangarooCourt: According to Dick, he could not cite past MPAA decisions during the appeals process, even if they contradicted decisions that ultimately affected his film.
31* {{Media Watchdog}}s: The film puts a spotlight on them, but it takes the MPAA ratings board to task in particular.
32* MoralGuardians: The MPAA says it supposedly has no religious affiliation. However, Kirby Dick's account of his appeals process says a priest and a Presbyterian minister attended his appeals -- and he never really learned why.
33* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The film tries to show the MPAA as a RealLife example with an emphasis on vagueness (saying that it's more vague than the UsefulNotes/{{CIA}}). According to other sources, filmmakers can try to hazard a guess as to why their film received a particular rating and edit accordingly, but... well, to use a popular stereotype as an analogy, the MPAA is like a woman telling her boyfriend that if he doesn't ''know'' what he did to piss her off, [[YouKnowWhatYouDid he doesn't deserve to be told]]. Trey Parker says he received the "vagueness" treatment with his independently-financed comedy ''Film/{{Orgazmo}}'', but got an itemized list of things to tweak when he and Matt Stone submitted the studio-backed ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', which initially received an NC-17... and they later regretted only giving an R.
34* OneJudgeToRuleThemAll: According to many of the interviewed directors, MPAA president Jack Valenti had absolute veto power when it came to ratings decisions. He used it quite often as well.
35* RefugeInAudacity: During the process of submitting the film to the MPAA for a rating, the director flat-out asked the ratings board what they thought of the film itself. The ratings board evaded the question.
36* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: A section of the film talks about how independent films receive harsher treatment than studio-backed films (this includes Trey Parker recalling the hassles he went through with ''Orgazmo'', as mentioned above).
37* WellIntentionedExtremist: The film offers this up as one interpretation of the MPAA ratings board.

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