X-rated, X certificate, X classification or similar terms are labels for movies implying strong adult content, typically pornography or violence. The precise meaning of the "X" and whether it is an official rating or an unofficial labelling varies from country to country. Jump to: navigation, search Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφία pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as porn or porno) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... Jump to: navigation, search Violence refers to acts —typically connotative with aggressive and criminal behaviour —which intend to cause or is causing of injury to persons, animals, or (in limited cases) property. ...

Australia

In Australia, X-rated is a legal term. The Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), a government institution, issues ratings for all movies and television shows sold or aired. Movies showing explicit, non-simulated sex are rated "X". "X" rated movies are not permitted to be sold in most States, but possession of such movies is legal and they are sold in the Australian Capital Territory; the constitution forbids restraint in goods and trade between the States, so they are available in all States by mail-order. An attempt to change the classification ratings such that some of the material in the "X" category would be banned and the remainder would be available under the new category "NVE" (an abbreviation for Non-Violent Erotica), failed in the Senate partly due to the belief of some Senators that the new categories were less restrictive than the old. Australia, like all countries, has rules that restrict or ban the production, sale, and distribution of some creative works, including books, magazines, movies, television, computer games, web site content, live theatre, music and other forms. ... Jump to: navigation, search Motto: Pro Rege, Lege et Grege (For the Queen, the Law and the People) Nickname: (none) Other Australian states and territories Capital Canberra Government Administrator Chief Minister Const. ...

France

Films may be shown in theaters in France only after classification by an administrative commission of the ministry of Culture. In 1975, the X classification (officially: "pornographic or violence-inciting movies") was created for pornographic movies, or movies with successions of scenes of graphic violence. The commission has some leeway in classification, it may for instance take into account the artistic qualities of a movie not to count it pornographic. Jump to: navigation, search 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

Movies with a X rating may only be shown in specific theaters (which hardly exist nowadays in France); they bear special taxes and tax rates, including a 33% tax on revenue.

In 2000, some conservative associations sued the government for granting the movie Baise-moi, which contained graphic, realistic scenes of sex and violence, a non-X classification. The Conseil d'État at litigation ruled that the movie should have been rated X. The decision was highly controversial and some suggested changing the law. Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the year 2000. ... The cover of the UK edition of the film shows that the film used its notoriety as a marketing ploy Baise-moi is a book first published in 1999 and authored by Virginie Despentes. ... In France, the Conseil dÉtat (English: Council of State and sometimes Counsel of State) is an organ of the French national government. ...

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the X certificate was issued between 1951 and 1982 by the British Board of Film Censors. It was introduced as a result of the Wheare Report on film censorship. From 1951 to 1970, it meant "Suitable for those aged 16 and over", and from 1970 to 1982 it was redefined as meaning "Suitable for those aged 18 and over". The X certificate was replaced in 1982 by the 18 certificate and the R18 certificate. See History of British Film Certificates. Jump to: navigation, search 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the organisation responsible for film classification (see Motion picture rating systems and History of British Film Certificates) within the United Kingdom. ... The 18 certificate is issued by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to state that, in its opinion, a film or video recording should not be seen or purchased by a person under 18 years old. ... Jump to: navigation, search The R18 certificate represents a film or video classification given by the British Board of Film Classification. ... The UKs film ratings are decided by the British Board of Film Classification and have been since 1913 (previously there were no ratings). ...

United States

In the United States, the X-rating originally referred to a non-trademarked rating that indicated a film contained content unsuitable for minors such as extreme violence or explicit sex and thus was for adults only. A trademark (Commonwealth English: trade mark)[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to set the business and its products or services apart from those of other businesses. ... In law, a person who is not yet a legal adult is known as a minor (known in some places as an infant or juvenile). ... Jump to: navigation, search Violence refers to acts —typically connotative with aggressive and criminal behaviour —which intend to cause or is causing of injury to persons, animals, or (in limited cases) property. ... Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Sex positions Francoeur, Robert T. (ed. ...

When the MPAA film rating system was instituted in 1968 in the U.S., the X-rating was given to a film by the MPAA if submitted to them or, due to its non-trademarked status, it could be self-applied to a film by a distributor who knew beforehand that their film contained content unsuitable for minors. In the late 1960s to mid 1980s, several mainstream films were released with an X-rating such as Midnight Cowboy, A Clockwork Orange, Scarface and Death Wish III. Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. ... Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film written by Waldo Salt based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, and directed by John Schlesinger. ... Jump to: navigation, search A Clockwork Orange book cover A Clockwork Orange is a science fiction 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess, and forms the basis for the 1971 film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick. ... Scarface is a 1983 motion picture about Tony Montana, a fictional Cuban refugee who comes to Florida in 1980 as a result of the Mariel Boatlift. ... Death Wish (comics) is also the title of a strip in the Tiger and Eagle comics. ...

Because the X-rating was not trademarked, anybody could apply it to their films, including pornographers, which many began to do in the 1970s. As pornography began to become chic and more legally tolerated, pornographers placed an X-rating on their films to emphasize the adult nature of them. Some even started using multiple X's (i.e. XX, XXX, etc.) to give the impression that their film contained more graphic sexual content than the simple X-rating. Nothing beyond the simple X-rating was ever officially recognized by the MPAA. Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφία pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as porn or porno) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... Uses of the TLA XXX include: Look up XXX in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The Roman numeral XXX; see 30 (number) An identifier for pornography, especially X-rated (or XXX) movies A top-level domain for sexually explicit material; see . ...

Because of the heavy use of the X-rating by pornographers, it became associated largely with pornographic films and thus non-pornographic films given a X-rating would have fewer theaters willing to book them and fewer avenues for advertising. This led to a number of films being released unrated sometimes with a warning that the film contained content for adults only. To try to rectify this problem, the MPAA eventually agreed to a new NC-17 rating that would be trademarked and thus could only be applied by the MPAA itself. The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ...

Significant/Important X-rated films

• Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. At the time the X-rating did not have the stigma it later took on. Midnight Cowboy has also been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Due to a degree of relaxation in attitudes regarding sex in film, the film has since been re-rated R.

• Because filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles had refused to submit his film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song to the MPAA, it received an automatic X rating. The film was released with the tagline "Rated X by an All White Jury" because of this fact. It was re-rated R in the mid-90s.

• Fritz the Cat, released in 1972, was the first animated film to receive an X rating in the United States, promoted with the tagline "He's X Rated and Animated!" The material in the film itself wasn't pornographic, and the film was later released with an "Unrated" mark on VHS and DVD.

• 1974's The Street Fighter, starring Sonny Chiba, was the first film to receive an X rating for violence in the United States.

Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film written by Waldo Salt based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, and directed by John Schlesinger. ... The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. ... Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film written by Waldo Salt based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, and directed by John Schlesinger. ... The word culture comes from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). ... Library of Congress, Jefferson building The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ... The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Jump to: navigation, search Melvin Van Peebles (born August 21, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and composer, and the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles. ... Jump to: navigation, search Movie poster Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song was a 1971 blaxploitation film. ... The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... Robert Crumbs Fritz the Cat Ralph Bakshis Fritz the Cat Fritz the Cat is a comic book character created by Robert Crumb during the height of the underground comics movement of the 1960s. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Animation refers to the process in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφια pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... Jump to: navigation, search Top view VHS cassette with US Quarter for scale Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed The Video Home System, first released in 1976, better known by its acronym VHS, is a recording and playing standard for video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by JVC... Jump to: navigation, search DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Street Fighter is a Japanese martial arts movie released in 1974 and produced by Toei Company Ltd. ... Sonny Chiba Sonny Chiba, real name Shinichi Chiba (千葉真一 Chiba Shinichi, born January 23, 1939 in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan) is a martial arts actor. ...

See also

• motion picture rating systems
• pornographic movie

Motion picture rating systems are issued to give moviegoers an idea of the suitability of a movie for children and/or adults in terms of issues such as sex, violence and bad language. ... Jump to: navigation, search Pornographic movies appeared shortly after the creation of the movie technology that made them possible. ...

External links

• Screen Online article about the X certificate
• Refused Classification Website covering in varying detail many films that have run foul of the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification, with separate sections for hardcore films and computer games