Not sure if anybody knows who Jack Valenti was. He was the biggest Hollywood lobbyist and head of the MPAA. He was the one responsible for our current movie rating system. Basically he was an all around dickhead that has been ruining the movie industry. My friend Lou wrote a good email on this guy and why the rating system is so important to the under 17 crowd, which are the main movie goers today. The question started out why is the NC-17 rating so bad.
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Of course the majority are under 17. Just like the majority of back seat car sex is done by the young. Sure, you'd just get a hotel room or use your house/apt. bedroom instead. So there is no real market for grown adults to care about making out in the back seats of cars and thus most cars have shitty if not nonexistent backseats. Note that the new boxy car/truck/van utility vehicles that GM is marketing directly to 1st time buyer kids have large "cargo area" back ends. And didn't all the cool custom fullsize vans in the 70's have waterbeds in the back? Why? To address a market demand that was not being serviced. Likewise, we have this modern idea of investing in a high end stereo in the car. Its become second nature to us because west coast'ers spend shitloads of hours in traffic jams where they can do nothing but listen to music. Eventually you say fuck it, I've got a better component system in the house that I'd rather listen to. The stereo in the car was mostly because the kid is in the car with his girl because he has no true space of his own outside of parental supervision. So we sell the kids on the dream of sex; a car with a big back make out space. a quality auto stereo to attract, impress and entertain the babes, and a movie to drive them to as a socially accepted excuse to be alone in the dark with them for a while. One that causes them to be in the car at least twice that evening yielding multiple chances to advance the cause.
So, the adult looks at the back seat and says, why? I gotta real room and could rent a more specialized one too. An adult looks at the car stereo and goes nice, but I got massive surround sound high end unit in the house with a comfy recliner and kitchen full of food to go with it. The adult then looks at the movie and goes big screen, maybe if its a special event but at home I got THX audio on that kick ass hi fi I just mentioned, all the food I want for cheep, my own wide screen with a better view and no interruptions & no shushing if I wanna talk during the show, stop action control so I don't miss a scene when I gotta go pee, and that bedroom in case my girl wants to conveniently make out afterward (plus that kitchen may get her to cook for me beforehand too). Shit man, when you have all that at home why do you need the cheap ass theater anymore? Its not like you're taking her to The Fox for a live show in a real showpalace for the novelty of the experience.
Meanwhile the under 18 yr. old is practically guaranteed to live at home with parents, have no party / mating space of their own, lacks the audio/video gear for the presentation, lacks the bedroom access without risking major penalties and lastly is courting a female who's sex drive won't match his until she hits 31 and thus needs the social rituals and diversions of the theater dating experience to be drawn into potential sex like a pawn in a chess game because of it. He's a captive market and doesn't even know it. Her too.
The R rating was bad enough, Valenti (the bastard) by sticking this NC-17 rating out there now causes you to loose up to 50% of your theater audience base just because someone says shit three times instead of two times. What great metrics these butt-munches abuse. So now you're film storyline is compromised to retain market share. This also can explain why the DVD may be a different, earlier edit that is harsher than the theater one cause nobody gives a shit what a film is rated when you're buying or renting it on disc. In fact, thats an added sales point. The oow factor expressed with either a more mature rating sticker on the disc or by having "bonus" material or alternate versions available on board. All compensating for this prick's "smart move".