Since Nov. 1, 1968, the MPAA Rating System has monitored films by setting a rating for them. The Ratings Board sets the rating of the film on a scale from G to NC-17 based on the content in the film including violence, language and other erroneous material. The system is there to dictate what people can and can’t see, but to me the system is flawed.

Take the Disney film “Finding Nemo.” It has a G rating, which fits because the film is a children’s film but compare it to another children’s film, “Shrek.”

“Shrek” is not rated G, but rather PG for mild language and some crude humor. There are a couple of crude jokes, but other than that, there isn’t anything else in the movie that is wrong or egregious. The movies are both supposed to be geared to children but because of a joke the movie is forced to be PG and I feel that this limits the audience who wants to see it.

Children’s movies aren’t the only genre that needs to be looked over again in the ratings department; comedies are another one. Most comedies that come out now are in the vain of “21 Jump Street” and “Baywatch” where they seem to have to be R rated. Movies such as “Mean Girls” are PG-13, and they didn’t have to use crude language and inappropriate humor to get people into the theatre.

The MPAA’s system says that after a certain amount of cursing is said the film is automatically rated R. This is where movies such as “Goodfellas” come in where one word that is not too nice is uttered 300 times in the film.  The movie shows that the system’s language can work but in the case of other movies, the limit can automatically doom films from being PG-13. I think that the MPAA needs to create a new system about language where the movie will not be hurt because the writers decided to be foul-mouthed.

Horror movies are another genre that the MPAA targets pretty hard.

The usual sight of Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger chopping someone in half will always get the attention of the MPAA. Some movies, though, are able to be PG-13 and still be great horror movies including “Insidious” and “The Ring.” The rating system always cracks down on blood and gore, but they sometimes target horror movies instead of action movies because of other inappropriate details. All films should be held to the same standard, but the MPAA sometimes picks and chooses what movies get a rating, and to me that is unfair.

As an employee at a movie theater, I get to see the effect the ratings have on people coming to the movies. A movie with a G rating will bring in a swath of children and parents while a movie with a PG-13 movie lets many people come in, but when 16-year-olds want to see an R rated movie, they are blocked. I know the ratings are set for a reason, but it limits who can see a movie, and to me that is wrong.

People come to the movies to experience events that can either be close to home or a millennium away, but if a rating stops them from seeing it, that to me is bad. Everyone should have a chance to see what they want to see and I feel that the MPAA Ratings are hurting the people who want to see movies.

As a film buff, I have mixed feelings towards the MPAA Rating system because of the guidelines that movies have to adhere to. Many times, movies that utter a word too much or have one too many gallons of blood in it are forced to be R when they shouldn’t be. Even though I have issues with it, the system can work and I hope that as movies keep evolving and changing that the MPAA can shape itself too.