In his old act as a stand-up comedian, Woody Allen once had a joke that went something like this: A woman asked him if he thought sex was dirty; his response was, “Only if you’re doing it right”. Apparently, The Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA) – the organization that doles out the ratings to the movies – believes that sex is only dirty when one of the participants is a man … or at least, that’s what this latest article from The Chicago Tribune would have you believe.
The exact same sex act was done in two different movies: “Black Swan” and “Blue Valentine”; “Black Swan” was given an ‘R’ rating while “Blue Valentine” was assigned The Scarlet Letter(s) of ‘NC-17’, which almost guarantees a dreadful Box Office. What’s the difference between the two scenes? Well, in “Black Swan”, the act is performed by two women while in “Blue Valentine”, it’s a man and a woman. Make sense? Nope, it doesn’t to me, either. Click on the link below to read the full article from The Trib …
Two films, two sex scenes, two different ratings
One new movie generating Oscar buzz shows a woman engaged in a steamy sex act with another woman in a scene that lasts just over a minute without any nudity. Another new movie also piquing the attention of Academy Awards voters shows a man performing an identical act on a woman in a scene that lasts just over a minute without any nudity.
Filmgoers who watch both movies, especially those oral sex scenes, would be hard-pressed to describe how one is more explicit than the other.
Yet the first movie, "Black Swan," a supernatural drama from Fox Searchlight that opened this weekend, was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Assn. of America, which means it can play in nearly all theaters across the country. The second film, "Blue Valentine," which opens Dec. 31, was given a dreaded NC-17 because of what the Weinstein Co. studio says is that scene.