What Matters in Movie Ratings? Cross-country Differences in how Content Influences Mature Movie Ratings

Abstract

We examine the weight that the USA and other countries place on different types of movie content when assigning movies a mature rating. We use data on the international movie ratings for over 1,000 movies reviewed by either Screen It or Kids in Mind, two companies that provide measures of different types of movie content. Among English-speaking countries, the United States is unique in that, it places the most weight on profanity but the least weight on violence. Across all countries, the USA and Asian countries place the largest weight on sex, while Scandinavian countries place the least weight on sex but the largest weight on violence. The approach the USA takes toward assigning mature ratings is puzzling since, of the three types of content, violence has the strongest body of evidence to document harm to children.

Keywords::

• movies
• ratings
• content
• sex
• violence
• profanity

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Price

Joseph Price is an Associate Professor of economics at Brigham Young University and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. E-mail: [email protected]

Craig Palsson

Craig Palsson is a PhD candidate in economics at Yale University. E-mail: [email protected]

Doug Gentile

Douglas Gentile is an Associate Professor of psychology and runs the Media Research Lab at Iowa State University. E-mail: [email protected]