Team America Sample Paper
Is Team America an Incontestable R?
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave Trey Parker's puppet satire Team America (2004) the ‘R' rating after initially giving it the dreaded NC-17 stamp of disapproval. Dr. Kevin Sandler, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Arizona, associates the R rating with the motion picture industry's focus on producing ‘respectable' or ‘incontestable' films. Known as the “Incontestable R,” an R rating ensures audiences that the film's content cannot be confused with that of an NC-17 film. Parker's efforts to cut out portions of Team America's controversial puppet sex scene and its subsequent R rating, seem to have been fruitful. Team America generated little controversy with media critics in regard to its R rating.
The most frequently cited reason by critics for Team America's embodiment of an incontestable R rating has to do with the fact that the movie involves puppets and not real people. Bruce Westbrook points out in his review of the film for The Houston Chronicle that the “marionettes” have “no genitalia” and hence, make it difficult to depict sexual penetration—content characteristic of NC-17 rated films. Westbrook even makes fun of the MPAA for initially “slamming a[the] puppet show with an NC-17 rating” stating that “the film ratings board…just doesn't get it.” Furthermore, critics characterize the violence in the film as being awkward and unrealistic because of the fact that it involves puppets. Phil Villarreal from the Arizona Daily Star writes that “the fights, comical for their crass intentional sloppiness, consist of marionettes face to face, with the opponents jiggling appendages haphazardly flopping at one another”—hardly compara...
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...eing filled with shocking and witty humor . In general, critics of Team America think that the film's use of puppets, parody, comedic relief and it's inability to live up to South Park standards all support the film's rating as an “Incontestable R” and therefore, find no reason for the MPAA to have put the film through a ratings crisis in the first place.
Works Cited
LaSalle, Mick. “Team America: World Police.” San Francisco Chronicle, 15 October 2004.
Lowry, Brian. “Team America: World Police.” Variety, 9 October 2004.
Scott, A. O. “Moral Guidance From Class Clowns.” New York Times, 15 October 2004.
Thompson, Desson. “Puppet Masters.” Washington Post, 15 October 2004.
Villarreal, Phil. “ Team America Hangs Together.” Arizona Daily Star, 14 October 2004.
Westbrook, Bruce. “There's no South Park in Team America.” Houston Chronicle, 14 October 2004.
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Despite the fact that the ACB admits adults should be able to watch, play and read what they want, the sole criterion provided for RC classification is “content that is very high in impact and falls outside generally accepted community standards.” (Australian Classification Board, 19/5/2013).... ... middle of paper ... ...
According to imdb.com this film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on April 14, 2000. At the time it was called a future cult classic, which seems to be the case. The film had originally acquired an NC-17 rating according to wikipedia, but cut out 18 seconds in order to get the rating changed to R. Later, in 2005, the DVD was released in two forms, an unrated uncut edition, which was the film in reference to, and a cut R rated film. Primarily the difference is confined to the shortening of the sex scene and slight dialogue alterations. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed 34,000,000 dollars at a production cost of only 7,000,000 dollars. A UK publication entitled "The Guardian" both Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston has issues with how their music fit into the production. Huey Lewis refused to allow his music to appear in the soundtrack and Whitney Houston refused to let her song "The Greatest Love of All" be played in the film, even though it was directly referenced anyway. All of these problems were just a few of the issues surrounding the production of American Pyscho.
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