What does 'UR' and 'NR' really means?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by bluesbro, Aug 29, 2006.

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  1. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame Thread Starter

    Location:
    DC
    Excuse my ignorance, I know that 'UR' = Unrated and 'NR' = Not rated. But, what do these really mean? Does it mean that nobody took the time to rate them? That none of the ratings apply? I see some DVD that boast that this the 'unrated' version of the film, like it is a good thing.

    I plan to rent some DVD's to see with the family and I dont understand what 'NR' and 'UR' really mean. I dont want to see some frontal nudity or hear some bad cursing at my family gathering.

    HELP!!:help:
     
  2. seriousfun

    seriousfun Forum Resident

    It means that the film hasn't been submitted to the MPAA for a rating.

    There's no law that says a film has to have a rating. Some theaters will not show unrated films, and some media won't accept advertisements for unrated films, so marketing opportunities can be limited.

    I don't think there is any official designation or distinction between UR and NR.

    There is a documentary soon-to-be-released called This Film is Not Yet Rated, which looks like it will be a great explaination of the film rating program.
     
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  3. duse

    duse Senior Member

    Location:
    SC
    Most of the movies that are separately released as unrated or not rated are a gimmick. Maybe a couple of scenes of explicit nudity or even more explicit gore. Hostel was released as R Rated in the theaters, because having it as Unrated or "X" rated would have killed theatrical sales. It was also released separately as R and UR on DVD, but the unrated has a bit more "eye goo" as a "bonus.

    That being said, most of the movies that have the potential to be released as unrated or not rated would probably not be the best bet to watch as a "family movie." (Ala the previously mentioned Hostel or American Pie, for example.) Not trying to thread crap, but when "Cars" is released as a DVD, there will be only "one" rated version, as another example.
     
  4. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame Thread Starter

    Location:
    DC
    Well, that sucks!!!!

    In other words, I have to refrain from renting a NR movie, because I dont know what I will be getting.
     
  5. duse

    duse Senior Member

    Location:
    SC
    As a whole, yes, if you're looking for a family movie. Try www.netflix.com. You will be able to read reviews for pretty much every single dvd that has been made. People generally mention family quality, language, etc., but if you want a true family movie experience, I would PG-13 would be as high as you would go, w/o full frontal nudity and very harsh language.
     
  6. seriousfun

    seriousfun Forum Resident

    I'd say you're right, on a DVD release, if you are avoiding nudity, sexual situations, or language. At this point, "Unrated" is a marketing tool, and yes it probably means more adult content.
     
  7. Joe Koz

    Joe Koz Prodigal Bone Brotherâ„¢ In Memoriam

    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Most unrated films I see, were made before the rating system. Not a big deal, IMO.
     
  8. lilangus

    lilangus New Member

    Here's the real difference.
    I've seen enough of each to know.
    The highest mainstream rating you can have is R. They rated Orgazmo as NC-17, which is a minor step below...only because of sexual content, nudity and cursing, but it was in a joking context, so was dropped slightly, because it wasn't in a serious like context. Not sure why that matters...
    Anyway, They release NR (not rated) versions of these R movies. Basically, there are scenes that the mainstream theaters won't show so they cut them out. The NR versions will have them added in. A lot of times, it's nothing too much worse, but it's stuff that can be enough to turn away mainstream media and theaters.
    UR (Un-rated) is essentially the same thing as NR, but they reserve UR for a step above NR.....i.e. The Brown Bunny, All About Anna, Battle In Heaven...these movies show actual penetration, but not enough to label it XXX (porn)...i.e. you may get a 2 minute scene of his 'peen' in her mouth or a 30 second scene of his hand in her 'hoo ha'. Things like this. The movie has a story, and in some nations, is legal for mainstream media and theaters, but in nations like the USA, it is illegal to show penetration in mainstream theaters. And, they can't fully advertise them on daily TV. So...it's not porn, but not rated R...so, they called it UR. They also will use NR in cases where they can't really judge because of differences in opinions of what is ok for kids and what isn't ok. Each parent views this differently. My parents let us watch blood and gore, and slight nudity, but nothing that leaned closer to porn. Some parents don't even want their kids to see pot smoking lol.

    Summary:
    G = basically Disney/Pixar
    PG = not much violence and not much cursing...no graphic killing, blood, gore, etc.
    PG-13 = hardcore for kids lol...closer to a teens audience...shows some violence and occasional light cursing
    NC-17 = a lighter version of R
    R = the set standard for where teens/kid should not be able to watch, depending on what is considered unfit for that nation. (according to society)
    ....blood, gore, killing, drugs, cursing, sex (no penetration...that goes under UR)....etc
    NR (Not Rated) is for movies with added scenes that theaters won't allow.
    UR (Un-rated) is for movies with added scenes that theaters won't allow, that also contain penetration.
    XXX (porn)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 29, 2014
  9. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    NC-17 isn't a lighter version of R, it's harder. It replaced the X rating. An R movie can be seen by a kid with an adult accompanying him/her, an NC-17 movie can't be seen by a kid, period. And it won't be advertised.
    You seem pretty misinformed. R really doesn't even have to be hard. Heck, you can have what would otherwise be a kid flick with one too many F words and it'd become R. And X doesn't exist anymore, officially. It was never copyrighted by the MPAA (or something like that), which is what allowed people to exploit it and use XXX to connote porn. X didn't even originally connote porn, it was more like the current R.
     
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  10. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Where are you getting this? I'm not aware of any law anywhere in the U.S. that classifies types of theaters and sets restrictions by type.

    MPAA is a trade association, not something created or regulated by statute. The ratings system is pretty well explained in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Association_of_America_film_rating_system
     
  11. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    I'm not one to speculate about members, but I find it interesting that he apparently signed up yesterday, searched for a topic on the ratings system, bumped an 8 year old thread, then left.
     
  12. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Ha, I hadn't even noticed that. Interesting.

    In any event, the question I posted above got me thinking, and I started looking around online, wondering if any state had ever set up a licensing requirement that might classify theaters as adult or otherwise. I'd be surprised if any had done that -- seriously, what state would want to have a department of compliance for adult movie theaters? Then again, you know what they say about the censors . . . I did find some interesting information. In Michigan, for example, there's really very little regulation of movie theaters as such -- they must be licensed as a food establishment to serve popcorn, and they have to have a sales tax license to sell soda pop, but there's no state license required to be a projectionist or to show films: http://www.michigan.gov/statelicensesearch/0,4671,7-180-24786_24819-81439--,00.html
    I do think some localities require licenses to operate a movie theater -- Pittsburgh, PA, supposedly does -- but I don't think those licenses are specific to content shown. There is also of course a license required from a copyright holder to publicly display a film, but that's a different kind of license (and doesn't have anything to do with whether you're inside or outside a theater).
     
  13. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Many, many movies get played in theatres (especially in large cities with thriving independent/art-house cinemas) as NR, "not rated." These can range from an Egyptian-made documentary about how chocolate bunnies are made to......you name it! Often (not always) these are pretty obscure things, sometimes films that are made for TV broadcast overseas but shown in art-house theatres here. (That's just one example. Basically, anything that is making the "festival venue circuit" and is not commercial/mainstream in nature.) Additionally, when I go to, say, a Film Noir festival, some of the films will be rated as "NR," only because they have never been submitted to the MPAA since the ratings system went into effect. (They pre-date the ratings system we know today, and have not been newly-submitted for a major re-issue or major video release.)

    There are many routes to a film being "NR" theatrically, but many of them -- certainly not all, so use caution -- are harmless in terms of content.

    BROADLY speaking, "Unrated version" means that there was a rated-R (or sometimes PG-13) version of a film, USUALLY with some degree of "raunch" content, i.e., suggested nudity, suggested sex, freewheeling language, etc., but it was kept under control somewhat so the production company could procure the desired rating theatrically to pick up the desired audience associated with that rating. It is COMMON for the MPAA to, for instance, rate a film NC-17, which is a commercial CURSE, but advise the producers that "if you cut this and this and this, we will drop the rating to an "R." Those producers want that R for theatrical release! (Many theatres strongly resist NC-17 bookings.) Producers nearly always capitulate. The same is true for films that get an "R" rating, but he producers want a PG-13 so they can get 15-or-16-year-old boys in the door without parents. (Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if parents ever saw a BOOBIE???) Cuts get made.

    The required cuts are often so miniscule as to make your head spin, i.e., cut out "this shot" or cut out "this word," and we'll drop the rating.

    That's typically for theatrical release.

    Now, if a producer is looking at the video market for, say, a "ranchy comedy" that was rated R in the theatres, what better than to make people (17-year-old boys) think that there's an expanded, even RAUNCHIER version, one that's SO RAUNCHY that it's "unrated?????????" It's marketing gold!

    In modern parlance, NR typically applies to the first examples I listed, and "unrated" applies to something that HAS BEEN RELEASED as PG-13 or R, and is now being released in a (oh-la-la) version SO DARING that it hasn't been submitted for a rating. (That's the marketing spin that they want you to think, at least. Often times, the changes are very minimal, and they typically don't go to showing actual penetration, referring to earlier comments in this thread.)

    Much of the confusion here stems from the fact that the MPAA copyrighted (or trademarked, I forget which) the terms G, GP, PG, PG-13, and R many years ago, meaning ONLY the MPAA could assign these ratings. "X" went untrademarked/uncopyrighted by the MPAA. That being the case, ANYBODY (including the MPAA) could advertise or "rate" a film as being "X-rated." What's worse than X? XX. Worse than XX? XXX! "Wow! This movie isn't just X-rated, it's TRIPLE-X rated!" The MPAA completely lost any control over this sort of "official" x-rating, and did they lose it to film companies who were just filling their films with, say, racism or language or some other objectionable content? No, they lost it to the pornography market, and lost it to the point that the public at-large quickly began to associate "X" with porno. That's not what X originally meant. It simply meant that the film contained content that that, in the view of the MPAA, was not appropriate for kids. There was no sexual expectation, per se, but that quickly emerged in the public's eyes. In later years, as producers pushed the "R" rating further and further in terms of many things, including pervasive language, pervasive sexuality (nude or otherwise), etc., the MPAA felt that they needed an alternative to pushing a film into the kiss-of-commercial-death "X" category, so they created -- and copyrighted -- the NC-17 category, which -- for any of a number of reasons -- does not allow children into the theatre, period, but does not necessarily imply hard-core pornography. "Intent to Kill," for instance, was rated NC-17 for violence, not sexuality.
     
  14. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    Jeez Matt...are your fingers cramping up now ? :laugh:
     
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  15. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    DC= Directors Cut-can also mean stuff the Director may have removed! I always though the opposite...
     
  16. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Matt! this is an awesome post!
     
  17. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Thank you!
    :tiphat:
     
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  18. Murphy13

    Murphy13 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland
    You are correct. I have heard that many directors/studios make sure they get the PG-13 or R rating depending on the type of movie they are producing. Nothing will kill a horror movie quicker than a PG-13 or lower rating.
     
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  19. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I always look for the unrated or "NR" movie because I will usually get the version that was originally intended by the director, and not cleaned-up for children or sensitive types.

    The whole ratings system adopted by the MPAA in the late 60s was always a sham. There was always a political element to the ratings system. That's all I can say without getting into politics and religion.

    And, in the last few years, i've seen lots of PG-13 movies with lots of explicit language, sexual situations, and nudity. The rating system means nothing but a way to manipulate theatres and potential viewers. In other words, if you are a parent who is trying to monitor what your kids see, do not trust the ratings.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2014
  20. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    Don't forget the filmmakers that have a rather specific vision, and have to invent even more insane things to put in, so that those get the focus from the MPAA, and by the time the really sick **** is gone, the stuff they wanted included in the first place is still there. :D
     
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