Moving Ratings

You see it while at home on the couch, or at the movies anticipating a new premiere. It is usually with a green background or black with white lettering with a single letter, or an abbreviation with two, or even with a number depending on your age, or more say, accessibility to viewing the film. It is the rating that determines what film is deemed appropriate for a viewer. In small font underneath (which is barely legible) there will be the rating descriptor. This varies depending on each individual film and with only a few words, gives the audience reasoning for why that movie is rated either G, PG, R, or NC-17.  This is in addition to the generic definition which is stated above. This clip before the movie might be only for a thirty second duration of less- but it is there, and it holds great influence and power of the movie industry and production process.
Movie ratings have its pros and cons. For your "average" parent they help oversee what their children are exposed. They are a reference key to those who seek additional information and with a rating it determines what film is picked for family night.
For your typical, rebellious teenager movie ratings are just a minor vexation; a bump in the road. Teenagers, speaking on personal behalf, pay no attention to them. They hold little value because if we really want to watch a movie we will. There is little regulation to see a motion picture at the cinema besides a check of an ID. But just as anywhere else, there are ways to get around the system and the majority of the time the ticket vendor could care less about the legitimate age. In other words, if you look old enough, you are old enough.
From the movie producer perspective, movie ratings are the gateway to how successful the film will be in box office and how many viewers it will get. It can be hurtful or harmful as seen in This Film Is Not Yet Rated, and an R- rated movie from an NC-17 movie makes the biggest difference in terms of its revenue. However, for producers who want to have an impact and depict the story to the fullest extent, ratings are another word for censureship. They restrict what is placed on camera and can take away the true natue of how the story transpires.
In my opinion, a movie rating for a mature audiences should not exist. If you go to the MPAA website and look up the meaning of what NC-17 you will find it reads "most parents would consider too adult for their children 17 and under. But what is "too adult"? It means something different for anyone and any age group asked. There is not a defintion for this phrase because it is open to interpretation. Maturity rather than age shoudld govern what a movie goer can be able to enjoy. The MPAA is an antiquited system that needs to change  along the dynamic of our pop culture is evolving. We all want the hassle-free right to see a film. Why should that be harder to do than say?