NC-17 rating
The NC-17 rating is a classification assigned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to films that contain explicit sexual content deemed inappropriate for viewers aged 17 and under. Introduced in 1990, the NC-17 rating emerged as a response to the stigma associated with the previous X rating, which had become synonymous with pornography. This change aimed to differentiate serious cinematic works with adult themes from adult films created purely for sexual gratification.
Despite its intention to signal content that many parents would consider unsuitable for minors, the NC-17 rating has struggled with public perception, often being viewed as carrying a similar stigma to that of the X rating. As a result, films rated NC-17 can face significant challenges in distribution, marketing, and audience reach, as theaters and advertisers may shy away from showcasing such films. Over the years, the number of films receiving this rating has declined significantly, with less than one percent of all films rated by the MPAA from 1992 to 1999 classified as NC-17. Notable films that have received this rating include *Henry and June*, *Showgirls*, and *Crash*, which were primarily noted for their explicit sexual content.
On this Page
Subject Terms
NC-17 rating
Certification mark prohibiting children seventeen years of age and younger from attending such films
Date Established September 26, 1990
Created to replace the original X rating, which had acquired the stigma of pornography, the NC-17 rating enjoyed a brief flurry of acceptability before falling into disfavor.
When the classification and rating system was first introduced in 1968 for motion pictures released in the United States, the letter X was reserved for films considered inappropriate—because of sex, violence, and/or aberrational behavior—for viewers seventeen years old and younger. Although the other ratings—initially G (general audiences), M (mature audiences), and R (restricted), and later PG (parental guidance suggested), which essentially replaced M, and PG-13 (parents strongly cautioned)—were trademarked by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the X rating was not, and soon it was appropriated by hard-core pornography, which proudly proclaimed itself XX, XXX, and higher. As a result, some newspapers and television stations would not allow advertisements for X-rated films, and some theaters refused to show such films. Serious motion pictures in danger of receiving the X rating were usually self-censored, with producers trimming footage deemed too graphic or offensive.
The issue came to a head in early 1990, when two serious art films— The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989; Great Britain) and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990; Spain)—were both rated X. At the same time, two lawsuits were filed that challenged the constitutionality of the X rating, and a petition to the MPAA was signed by major film directors, advocating a new rating that might signal the presence of themes or images unsuitable for minors, albeit without the X stigma.
Accordingly, on September 26, 1990, the MPAA replaced X with NC-17, intending that the rating be applied not to pornography, but only to films that many parents would not want their children to see. The first film so labeled was Henry and June (1990), a sexually explicit account of the affair between writers Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. Other notable films of the 1990’s rated NC-17 included Showgirls (1995), Crash (1996), and Two Girls and a Guy (1997)—all for explicit sexual content.
Impact
During its first two years, the NC-17 rating was given to 41 pictures, or roughly 3.5 percent of all films that were rated by the MPAA in 1990 and 1991. However, these numbers quickly declined. From 1992 through 1999, only 35 pictures were rated NC-17, representing less than one percent of the 5,292 films that were rated during these eight years. Because the NC-17 rating is usually applied to sexual, rather than violent, content, it carries much the same pornographic stigma as the former X. By eliminating a large part of a film’s potential audience (those seventeen and under), the NC-17 rating is rarely welcomed by filmmakers, theater owners, and viewers.
Bibliography
Sandler, Kevin S. “The Naked Truth: Showgirls and the Fate of the X/NC-17 Rating.” Cinema Journal 40, no. 3 (Spring, 2001): 69-93.
Vaughn, Stephen. Freedom and Entertainment: Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.