Pod Insights Stuff You Should Know SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How the MPAA Works About this episode You may be surprised to learn those ubiquitous ratings, from G to NC-17, put on movies in America are actually handed down by anonymous employees of a secretive organization that serves as a lobbying firm for Hollywood's six biggest studios.
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0:00 Speaker 00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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1:10 Speaker 02 Hey, everybody. Chuck here for another summer movie playlist feed drop.
1:16 Speaker 02 Today, we're going to be covering how the MPAA works, and this is from June 2014. And it delves into the ins and outs of the MPAA and how they decide on rating movies because it's sort of a dark art as far as we're concerned. So check it out.
1:31 Speaker 03 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com.
1:41 Josh Clark? Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W., Chuck Bryant and Jerry.
1:46 Speaker 02 But where's Waldo?
1:48 Josh Clark? I, right over there, apparently.
1:51 Speaker 02 Man, I wish people could hear the in-between stuff.
1:54 Josh Clark? I think Jerry was recording that last one.
1:57 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah?
1:57 Josh Clark? I think so.
1:58 Speaker 02 She used to give us neat little outtakes, but she doesn't do that anymore.
2:02 Josh Clark? Yeah.
2:03 Speaker 02 Those days are long gone. They exist in the vault, though. How you doing?
2:08 Josh Clark? Not good.
2:08 Speaker 02 No?
2:09 Josh Clark? No. I don't know what's wrong with me. I am off today.
2:13 Speaker 02 Out of your game?
2:14 Josh Clark? Yeah, it's weird.
2:15 Speaker 02 Well, I think this is the perfect podcast to set you straight.
2:18 Josh Clark? Why?
2:19 Speaker 02 Because it's something that we both have some passion about against.
2:25 Josh Clark? Yeah? I think anybody who's seen the documentary, this film is not yet rated.
2:30 Speaker 02 Yeah.
2:31 Josh Clark? That would be very difficult to not be persuaded to feel strongly about the MPAA and its practices.
2:41 Speaker 02 Yeah, and at least how they do things.
2:44 Josh Clark? But we're gonna try to be objective.
2:46 Speaker 02 Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say upfront, I have no problem with rating a film's content so parents can decide whether or not it's appropriate. I think it's valuable, but I think there are ways to do it that I don't think the MPAA does.
3:01 Josh Clark? Yes.
3:01 Speaker 02 So I just wanted to float that early on.
3:05 Josh Clark? Okay, I think that was probably smart.
3:07 Speaker 02 Okay.
3:07 Josh Clark? Okay. I don't have kids, so I don't really, whatever. But I mean, I can understand the value of that kind of thing.
3:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, but it gives you an idea. Like, I like having an idea what I'm about to see, too.
3:20 Josh Clark? I feel like I can tell just from watching a trailer, preview, seeing a movie poster. I'm pretty, um, I'm pretty intuitive when it comes to the, the marketing techniques of movies.
3:34 Speaker 02 Yeah, but I think, like, being a film nerd, it's like, is the new, uh, is the new Avengers movie gonna be rated R? That really tells you something.
3:44 Josh Clark? Right.
3:45 Speaker 02 Of course, it won't be.
3:45 Josh Clark? No, it never would be.
3:46 Speaker 02 Because PG-13 is the, the, uh, that's the strike zone these days.
3:50 Josh Clark? It really is. Apparently PG-13 movies pull in more money than all other ratings combined.
3:56 Speaker 02 Yeah.
3:57 Josh Clark? And it's a relatively new phenomenon. You wanna talk about its origin?
4:02 Speaker 02 Yeah, let's do it.
4:03 Josh Clark? So back in 1984, a man named Steven Spielberg.
4:09 Josh Clark? Uh, had two movies out.
4:10 Speaker 02 Who?
4:11 Josh Clark? Steven Spielberg.
4:12 Speaker 02 Right.
4:13 Josh Clark? Uh, he directed one, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
4:16 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
4:16 Josh Clark? And he produced another, Gremlins.
4:18 Speaker 02 Yeah.
4:19 Josh Clark? And both of them caught, he caught a lot of heat from both of them.
4:24 Speaker 02 Sure, Indiana Jones for the heart removal scene specifically.
4:27 Josh Clark? Yeah, but also the snake, the live snake at the feast thing.
4:32 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah.
4:32 Josh Clark? All the snake babies, the eyeballs, all that stuff.
4:35 Speaker 02 Yeah.
4:35 Josh Clark? Uh, and then with Gremlins, it was just downright terrifying in a lot of different places. Especially if you're a kid. And the reason he caught heat was because both of those movies were rated PG.
4:47 Speaker 02 Yeah.
4:47 Josh Clark? And so, uh, Spielberg went to the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America, and said, oh, let's do something about this, because these clearly aren't R movies.
4:59 Speaker 02 Yeah.
4:59 Josh Clark? But they apparently aren't PG movies either, so maybe we should come up with something in between. And PG thirteen was born.
5:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, and this was before he had all the sway in the world. He was influential, but it wasn't like Spielberg today who could have just waved his wand and made it happen.
5:18 Josh Clark? Yeah, but I think, uh, even at the time.
5:20 Speaker 02 He was important.
5:21 Josh Clark? He, yeah, there were very few directors at that time.
5:24 Speaker 02 Yeah.
5:25 Josh Clark? Who could have gotten something like that done.
5:27 Speaker 02 Yeah.
5:27 Josh Clark? Too. But, um, so that's where PG thirteen came from and, uh, that, like you said, that's the strike zone now. And the reason why is because that is the kind of movie that caters to, um, young teenage boys.
5:41 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
5:42 Josh Clark? Who apparently are the most successful at getting girls to go to movies with them.
5:48 Speaker 02 Right, yeah.
5:49 Josh Clark? So if you can get a, a movie rated PG thirteen.
5:54 Speaker 02 Yeah.
5:54 Josh Clark? You're going to make a bunch of money.
5:56 Speaker 02 Yeah, plus it makes sense. It's right there in the middle.
5:58 Josh Clark? Yeah.
5:59 Speaker 02 You know?
5:59 Josh Clark? But the problem is, is it's become a means of almost advertising that rating. Rather than cautioning parents, it's a way of attracting the audience.
6:10 Speaker 02 Yeah, true.
6:11 Josh Clark? It's like, this isn't some kid's PG movie. This is as close to an R movie as you can get in.
6:17 Speaker 02 Yeah, and I think filmmakers try to achieve that rating by either scaling back their R-rated movie or juicing up their PG movie.
6:25 Josh Clark? Or adding more violence.
6:27 Speaker 02 Yeah.
6:27 Josh Clark? Apparently PG-13 movies are, um, have tripled in violence over the last, like, few decades.
6:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
6:36 Josh Clark? And, um, they now have, according to one study, more violence than their R-rated counterparts.
6:42 Speaker 02 Yeah, and different kinds of violence that you didn't used to see.
6:46 Josh Clark? Yeah.
6:47 Speaker 02 You know? Um, all right, I guess we should go back in time a little bit.
6:51 Josh Clark? Let's.
6:51 Speaker 02 Is it Wayback Machine?
6:52 Josh Clark? Sure, let's go, let's go way back in time in Hollywood.
7:02 Speaker 02 All right, it's 1922, Hollywood and Vine is a viable intersection in Hollywood at the time, unlike now, although people are gonna say, no, they built that area back up.
7:14 Josh Clark? Yeah.
7:15 Speaker 02 Uh, and that is when the NPA was born, in the early 1920s.
7:19 Josh Clark? Yeah.
7:19 Speaker 02 And at the time, it was up to local authorities, or your state, or your municipality, to either stamp something as, uh, moral or immoral. Um, there were no ratings on movies, and thanks to a guy named, uh, Will Hayes, who was the first president of the NPA, he installed the Hayes Code and said, um, "You're either gonna pass or fail, it's either gonna be stamped immoral or moral."
7:45 Josh Clark? Right, and the reason Will Hayes, who was the NPA president, came up with the Hayes Code, which was really extensive.
7:54 Speaker 02 Yeah.
7:54 Josh Clark? It was like, if you, uh, if you talk about the government, it always has to be good, uh, sexuality has to be, like, repressed, and just basically-
8:03 Speaker 02 And hetero.
8:04 Josh Clark? How you think about all movies from like, the 30s and 40s.
8:07 Speaker 02 Yeah.
8:08 Josh Clark? Squeaky clean, basically.
8:09 Speaker 02 Sure.
8:10 Josh Clark? Like, the, the division between good and evil is very clearly defined, and the good guy always wins, uh, and if you didn't fall into that Hayes Code, like you said, your movie would be stamped immoral. But the whole reason he came up with this code was because local municipalities could-
8:27 Josh Clark? Pass their own obscenity laws and that could be bad for business, so.
8:32 Speaker 02 As in not even get your film exhibited.
8:34 Josh Clark? Right, um, so remember in the ACLU episode where we're talking about that one, um, that one movie that New York, just the Catholics said, no, you can't show that here? And the ACLU went to work getting, uh, getting the Catholics beaten in court?
8:49 Speaker 02 Right, even though it was just a bad movie. Had nothing to do with, well, I mean, it did, but it shouldn't have been shown because it was so terrible.
8:57 Josh Clark? Was it bad? I don't remember.
8:58 Speaker 02 Yeah, I mean, it was supposed to be not very good.
9:00 Josh Clark? Okay, um, but it happened, like that kind of thing happened a lot, like local, local town said, no, we're not going to show that movie. So Hayes figured out if Hollywood policed itself, then they could control what, you know, what movies came out and therefore everybody could make a bunch of money.
9:17 Speaker 02 That's right.
9:18 Josh Clark? And that's the point of the MPAA, they're the lobbying arm of six major Hollywood studios.
9:24 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:25 Josh Clark? They're, they're.
9:26 Speaker 02 They work for them.
9:27 Josh Clark? Yeah.
9:27 Speaker 02 Well, yeah, that's one way to say it.
9:29 Josh Clark? But they, and it's just those six too, isn't it?
9:32 Speaker 02 Uh, well, yeah, I mean, you, there's definitely an argument these days that independent filmmakers have a much rougher time with the MPAA.
9:40 Josh Clark? Yeah.
9:41 Speaker 02 Um, but most of the indies too are eventually distributed by the majors anyway.
9:45 Josh Clark? I got you.
9:46 Speaker 02 You know what I'm saying?
9:46 Josh Clark? Okay.
9:47 Speaker 02 Uh, so flash forward a bit in our wayback machine to the 1950s, things changed a little bit after World War II.
9:54 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
9:55 Speaker 02 And people, I guess the easiest way to say it is people loosened up a little bit and didn't mind certain elements in their entertainment any longer.
10:04 Josh Clark? Yes.
10:05 Speaker 02 A big example this article uses, Frank Sinatra, uh, got an Oscar nomination for playing a heroin addict in The Man With The Golden Arm and that couldn't have happened in the 1940s.
10:16 Josh Clark? No, millions of people hadn't died in World War II yet.
10:19 Speaker 02 That's right.
10:20 Josh Clark? I imagine that kind of loosens you up as far as. Seeing curse words and stuff in movies goes.
10:27 Speaker 02 Yeah, like that's not a big deal, like World War II was a big deal.
10:30 Josh Clark? Right.
10:30 Speaker 02 Get your haunches down.
10:31 Josh Clark? Exactly.
10:32 Speaker 02 Yeah.
10:33 Josh Clark? That was the, that was the big one, the big first crack to the Hays Code.
10:37 Speaker 02 Yeah.
10:38 Josh Clark? And then there were, I think that, you said he won an Oscar, right?
10:42 Speaker 02 Yeah, it was a really good movie.
10:43 Josh Clark? That kind of opened the floodgate so that by the end of the 50s, you got some like it hot. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are dressed like women hitting on Marilyn Monroe.
10:51 Speaker 02 Yeah.
10:52 Josh Clark? And at that point, it was pretty obvious the Hays Code was dead.
10:56 Speaker 02 Yeah, I mean, they weren't passing the code, but they were still getting released. So, once something is subverted like that, it's, it's dead in the water.
11:03 Josh Clark? Right. So, there was a, that was fine for a little while. I think the Hays Code just kind of fell to the wayside and people were releasing movies without any kind of moral or immoral stamp. But the rating system, as we understand it today, hadn't come about yet.
11:18 Speaker 02 Yeah.
11:19 Josh Clark? So, it was kind of a limbo period until 1968. And a store owner in New York with the last name of Ginsburg got busted for selling nudie mags to 16-year-old boys. And he took it all the way to the Supreme Court.
11:35 Speaker 02 Yeah.
11:36 Josh Clark? Saying, "You can't, you can't say anything about this. There's federal laws about obscenity, not local laws." And the Supreme Court said, "You know what? We really think it's up to local municipalities to decide what they want their minors exposed to or not."
11:50 Speaker 02 Yeah.
11:51 Josh Clark? That got Hollywood's attention because all of a sudden, local municipalities could decide whether or not they wanted to show movies to minors or not. So, the, what was old became new again. And Jack Valenti, who was in charge of the MPAA, said, "We need another system of self, another self-policing system." And he came up with the rating system that, that we have today.
12:13 Speaker 02 Yeah, and he, I mean, Jack Valenti was the head of the MPAA for close to 40 years. And he, initially, the intention was to stop censorship because he feared that the movies were going to start being censored locally. And so, I think the origins of the MPAA's rating system were, were. Art-centered.
12:35 Josh Clark? Art-centered, but also money-centered. Because again, if you have, if you have Town A showing the movie, but Towns B through L deciding that the movie is obscene and not showing it, then you're losing that money in B through L. So what Valenti came up with was this idea that, let us tell you what is appropriate for minors or not, what movie is, and we'll just make a simple rating system.
13:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:02 Josh Clark? G, PG, R, or X.
13:06 Speaker 02 The old X.
13:07 Josh Clark? Yeah.
13:07 Speaker 02 And triple X, which wasn't even formerly a rating. It was just a...
13:12 Josh Clark? Marketing tool?
13:13 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:13 Josh Clark? Yeah.
13:14 Speaker 02 Because three X's, that's like, whoa.
13:16 Josh Clark? I wonder if anybody ever came out with one with four X's?
13:18 Speaker 02 Yeah, or double X even.
13:20 Josh Clark? Yeah.
13:20 Speaker 02 Like, eh, we cut out that one part, so we're gonna take away X.
13:25 Speaker 02 Yeah, Christian, our colleague here, wrote a great blog post about the, the former X-rated movie.
13:30 Josh Clark? Is that right?
13:31 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:32 Josh Clark? I'll have to check that out.
13:32 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's good.
13:33 Josh Clark? For, on Brain Stuff or Stuff of Genius?
13:35 Speaker 02 Uh, on the Brain Stuff blog earlier this year, and you actually recommended it, uh, on your blog.
13:41 Josh Clark? The X rating?
13:43 Speaker 02 Yeah, the, the best stuff you've read this week.
13:45 Josh Clark? Yeah, I remember recommending one of his things. I just don't remember that one.
13:48 Speaker 02 It was good. I thought about asking him in here, but then I thought, nah, we got it. Um, so yeah, back then it was G through X. And, um, well, we'll talk about, you know, how that changed. Maybe after this message break?
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17:22 Speaker 02 All right, so no longer do we have X-rated movies. Now we have something. I guess we should just go through what these ratings mean today in 2014.
17:30 Josh Clark? Okay.
17:32 Speaker 02 So you've got your G.
17:33 Josh Clark? G's always been G. General audience.
17:35 Speaker 02 Anyone can see it.
17:37 Josh Clark? Yes.
17:37 Speaker 02 And that's your, your family cartoon that kids love and parents are forced to go to.
17:43 Josh Clark? Right.
17:44 Speaker 02 Then you've got PG. That means no drug use, maybe a little violence, because as we'll learn, the MPAA has less problems with violence and more problems with language and sex.
17:56 Josh Clark? Huge criticism.
17:57 Speaker 02 Huge criticism. PG 13, which we've, you know, kind of been through.
18:03 Speaker 02 Then you've got your R, and that is no one under seven. This is a suggestion that no one over 17 be admitted without a parent. And these aren't laws, though. That's one thing that's important to point out. Those are suggestions, and then theaters have policies.
18:17 Josh Clark? Yes, it's, and let's kind of dig into that. So none of this is legally binding.
18:23 Speaker 02 No.
18:23 Josh Clark? None of them are anything more than recommendations. They're basically saying that this movie has X amount of profanity, or
18:32 Speaker 02 Yeah.
18:33 Josh Clark? X amount of nudity, or lacks any drug use, or something like that.
18:37 Speaker 02 Sure.
18:38 Josh Clark? And so for what the MPAA thinks, the average moral compass of the average American thinks about these different things, like sex, drugs, nudity, all that stuff, this movie falls into this rating.
18:51 Speaker 02 Right.
18:52 Josh Clark? And again, it's not enforceable. You don't even need to have a rating to release a movie. But if you want to get your movie in theaters, there's basically no theater chain out there right now, no major theater chain out there right now, that will show an unrated movie.
19:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's a completely voluntary system
19:10 Josh Clark? Uh huh.
19:10 Speaker 02 to submit your film to the MPAA ratings board.
19:13 Josh Clark? But it's de facto.
19:15 Speaker 02 But you have to do it.
19:17 Josh Clark? Yeah.
19:17 Speaker 02 That's the rub.
19:19 Josh Clark? Yeah.
19:19 Speaker 02 Is that they say it's voluntary, but you actually have to pay a fee to submit your movie if you ever want to have it shown in theaters.
19:25 Josh Clark? Right, and the fee is anywhere from like $25,000 for a big budget movie to $750 for a short.
19:31 Speaker 02 Yeah.
19:32 Josh Clark? And so you submit your movie. Well, we'll get into it in a second. Let's talk some more about the rest of the ratings.
19:39 Speaker 02 Yeah, well, there's only one more, and that's NC-17, which replaced X. And that means, this is in 1990. And that basically means that it's for adults only, and you should not come in if you're under 18.
19:51 Josh Clark? Right. And also means these days that it's foreign, or about lesbian or gays, basically.
19:59 Speaker 02 Yeah, not fully, but sure.
20:00 Josh Clark? It's pretty close.
20:01 Speaker 02 Yeah.
20:02 Josh Clark? And NC-17, the first movie to come out with that was Henry in June.
20:07 Speaker 02 Yeah.
20:07 Josh Clark? Not to be confused with Benny in June.
20:09 Speaker 02 No.
20:10 Josh Clark? And it basically sunk that movie, because everybody was like, oh, this is X now.
20:16 Speaker 02 Right.
20:16 Josh Clark? NC-17, if you jumble it all together, it looks like X. And the whole reason they came out with NC-17 was to replace X, because X was associated exclusively with pornography in the minds of moviegoers.
20:28 Speaker 02 Yeah, exactly.
20:29 Josh Clark? Yeah.
20:32 Speaker 02 All right, so let's get into this. The actual ratings board, there's the MPAA, and then working for the MPAA is the Classification and Ratings Administration, CARA. And CARA doesn't say whether your movie stinks or not. CARA is eight to 13 people, and they are called raiders, and they are overseen by a senior raider, and they sit down and watch these movies and take copious notes on what they think, based on their standards, is, I don't want to say offensive, but just noteworthy.
21:07 Josh Clark? Right.
21:07 Speaker 02 Like, maybe they're not offended, but they think the average mom in Sheboygan might be offended.
21:13 Josh Clark? Right.
21:13 Speaker 02 Supposedly.
21:14 Josh Clark? Which is a kind of a thing, because the whole rating system, as you just kind of pointed out, is subjective.
21:21 Speaker 02 Totally subjective. They supposedly, here's the other rub, is it's all secret.
21:28 Josh Clark? Right.
21:28 Speaker 02 You can find out a federal judge's name and address, but you can't find out who a raider is for your films. It's all conducted in private. None of this stuff is released.
21:38 Josh Clark? Yeah.
21:39 Speaker 02 And that's one of the big rubs in that documentary, and with filmmakers in general, is it's all, you know, done behind closed doors. There's never any explanations provided. These people are supposed to have kids between ages of five and 17, but many of them do not.
21:54 Josh Clark? Right.
21:55 Speaker 02 Either have kids at all, or have kids that are older than 18.
21:57 Josh Clark? Yeah.
22:00 Speaker 02 It basically frees them up from any accountability.
22:04 Josh Clark? Yeah.
22:04 Speaker 02 To do this all in private and in secrecy.
22:06 Josh Clark? And until that movie by Kirby, what is Kirby's last name?
22:11 Speaker 02 Henry and June?
22:12 Josh Clark? No.
22:13 Speaker 02 No.
22:13 Josh Clark? The documentary.
22:15 Speaker 02 Oh, oh, yeah. This film is not yet rated?
22:16 Josh Clark? Yeah, until Kirby Dick's This Film Is Not Yet Rated came out. Like, all of this stuff was just conjecture and Hollywood legend.
22:28 Speaker 02 Yeah.
22:29 Josh Clark? He was the first one to really, basically, he tailed these people, tailed them to lunch.
22:33 Speaker 02 Yeah.
22:34 Josh Clark? To find out who they were and eavesdrop on them.
22:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
22:37 Josh Clark? And like, did some digging and found like, these anonymous people did not fall into the requirements that the MPAA said they did. And so not only was it in secret, it was fraudulent, basically. This rating system. So, according to the standards, you submit your film, this group of people, this anonymous group of people watch it. They rate it, then they come together and vote on a rating, and then they pass their vote along to a senior raider.
23:10 Speaker 02 Yeah.
23:11 Josh Clark? Who talks to the movie's distributor, director, producer. Says, here's the rating, here's why we rated it like this. And then, you're faced with a choice. You can accept the rating. You can edit your film as per the CARA's recommendations.
23:29 Speaker 02 Take out these bad words, cut the sex scene a little early.
23:32 Josh Clark? Right.
23:32 Speaker 02 Leave all the violence.
23:34 Josh Clark? Yeah.
23:36 Josh Clark? Or, you can reject the rating and just release your movie as unrated.
23:40 Speaker 02 Yeah, which, well, you can try to release it, but since no one will show it, it's really sort of a misnomer.
23:48 Josh Clark? Right, but it's becoming increasingly a thing. Again, you need the rating to get your movie shown in movie theaters.
23:55 Speaker 02 Yeah.
23:56 Josh Clark? But what happens if you don't care if your movie comes out in theaters?
23:59 Speaker 02 Video on demand?
24:00 Josh Clark? Yeah, or just releasing it to the internet?
24:03 Speaker 02 No, I'm curious about that, how that's gonna change the landscape.
24:05 Josh Clark? Well, right now, it's a huge threat to the MPAA.
24:09 Speaker 02 Of course.
24:09 Josh Clark? Because all of the power they wield is found in this rating system. And if-
24:14 Speaker 02 For theaters.
24:15 Josh Clark? Yes.
24:15 Speaker 02 And if no one's going to theaters.
24:17 Josh Clark? Then the MPAA loses all of that power, which is a big deal, especially now because the MPAA is needed more than ever as a lobbying group because of online piracy, which we'll talk about some more. So it's a very precarious time for the MPAA right now.
24:32 Speaker 02 Yeah.
24:32 Josh Clark? And it's a terrible time for them to be under as much scrutiny and public attack and critique as they are.
24:39 Speaker 02 Yeah.
24:39 Josh Clark? So it's, I mean, they got spears sticking out every which way. And their trunk is flailing and they're honking.
24:47 Speaker 02 That is true. Uh, one thing I should point out, as I said, is that there's no accountability. That's what the MPAA says is the good thing about the secrecy. Is that it frees them up, that anonymity does, it frees them up from accountability. I just don't agree.
25:02 Josh Clark? Right.
25:03 Speaker 02 Okay.
25:03 Josh Clark? So the, uh, if you want to appeal, there is apparently a change made in response to Kirby Dick's movie.
25:12 Speaker 02 Yeah.
25:12 Josh Clark? The documentary. Before, if you were appealing your rating. Which is very difficult, um, it almost never was done.
25:22 Speaker 02 Well, you never won, that's for sure.
25:24 Josh Clark? Right. And when you were appealing, you couldn't reference any other film. It was totally done in a vacuum, which is pretty preposterous.
25:33 Speaker 02 Yeah, like, that's the only way to be able to tell. It's like, wait a minute, if you said this about this, then why not this for my movie?
25:40 Josh Clark? Right. Which meant that there was no real standard.
25:43 Speaker 02 Yeah.
25:43 Josh Clark? That you could point to. Or there were standards you could point to, they just wouldn't be considered.
25:49 Speaker 02 Yeah, or at the very least, if they do have written standards, they don't release them, so you don't even know what they are.
25:54 Josh Clark? Right. So, um, the MPAA is, uh, they've got their rating system. They've got the appeals process.
26:04 Speaker 02 Which was also in secret, unless that's changed, right?
26:07 Josh Clark? Uh, I think.
26:09 Speaker 02 I think the appeals board, not only was the appeals board in secret, but they weren't even just raiders. They were people from the industry.
26:17 Josh Clark? Right. And the Theater Owners Association.
26:20 Speaker 02 Exactly.
26:20 Josh Clark? Whereas the people who are raiders are supposedly unaffiliated with the movie industry and are just like average, ordinary parents.
26:29 Speaker 02 Representing Europe, Middle America, we'll just call it. Even though I think that's insulting.
26:35 Josh Clark? The thing is, though, is a lot of people criticize the MPAA and say these raiders are really representing the six major studios who rake in ninety-five percent of the ten point nine billion dollars made in the United States.
26:49 Speaker 02 Yeah.
26:50 Josh Clark? In theaters alone, just ticket sales, not DVD or anything like that.
26:54 Speaker 02 Yeah.
26:56 Josh Clark? And that's what the MPAA does in addition to raiding. They are, like we said, the lobby arm for these six studios.
27:05 Speaker 02 That's right, and they, I guess we should talk about piracy now, huh? That's one of their other big, besides from raiding movies. They are heavy in the lobby against, well, especially now with online piracy because the digital distribution network is, seems like the way forward as far as distribution goes.
27:25 Josh Clark? Right.
27:26 Speaker 02 Like, it's the fu- it's not the future, it's the present and the future.
27:28 Josh Clark? And the MPAA has a, they're accused of basically trying to quell new technology.
27:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:37 Josh Clark? By just saying like, well, let's just keep people from peer-to-peer file sharing. In total.
27:43 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:43 Josh Clark? So that they can't steal movies in part. And if you go back to the early eighties, Jack Valenti was known to have railed and lobbied against the legality of VCRs.
27:55 Speaker 02 Yeah. People are just gonna be recording things and handing them out to their friends.
27:59 Josh Clark? Exactly.
28:00 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:00 Josh Clark? So there was a, the MPAA has a long history of basically like just doing anything it can to stifle innovation.
28:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:06 Josh Clark? In order to protect the profits of these big movie studios. The other problem with them lobbying.
28:14 Josh Clark? In favor of these six movie studios is that they inherently have a conflict of interest against the studios that are not part of these six that they represent.
28:24 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:25 Josh Clark? But whose movies they still rate.
28:27 Speaker 02 Right.
28:28 Josh Clark? So they've been accused of more scrupulously or scrutinously rating the movies of rival studios or foreign studios.
28:38 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:38 Josh Clark? When assigning a rating.
28:40 Speaker 02 Well, and that's why filmmakers call consistently for transparency. It's, I don't think there are many filmmakers out there saying there should be no rating. We should just maybe some, like Lars von Trier, you know, or Werner Herzog.
28:54 Josh Clark? Right.
28:55 Speaker 02 They're probably like, no ratings at all.
28:56 Josh Clark? Yeah.
28:57 Speaker 02 But I think they just want transparency, like, open it up and let everyone know how this is all done.
29:02 Josh Clark? Right.
29:03 Speaker 02 Who these people are and give us an idea on what in the world we're submitting to.
29:07 Josh Clark? Right.
29:08 Speaker 02 Voluntarily, quote unquote.
29:10 Josh Clark? Pretty interesting.
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30:16 Josh Clark? You know, eating is a huge part of our lives. It fuels us, it brings us together, and it's one of life's great pleasures. But once a meal's over, we don't think much about what happens next unless something starts to feel off, because what we eat and how our bodies respond to it is complicated.
30:32 Speaker 02 That's right. From the very first bite, food kicks off a chain reaction. Signals moving between the gut, the brain, and the immune system. The constant back and forth we can't see and often don't fully understand. So we want to introduce to you Eating Interrupted, a new podcast from iHeart Ruby Studio. It's hosted by longtime journalist and Crohn's patient Cynthia McFadden. Eating Interrupted explores everything from food allergies and intolerance, and why they seem to be on the rise, to how digestion changes as we age, and what it's really like to live with a chronic GI condition.
31:00 Josh Clark? Through personal stories and expert insight, listen in to unpack what it means when your body doesn't always respond to food the way you expect, and what science is now revealing about why. Listen to Eating Interrupted on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
31:19 Speaker 04 First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?
31:22 Josh Clark? Hey, this is Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know.
31:25 Speaker 02 That's Alan Goya, planning engineer at AT&T, and he's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, redefining the fan's experience, and Alan's master plan made it all possible.
31:41 Speaker 04 It was going to rival anything that was already built, and that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page.
31:49 Josh Clark? That includes Field Services Manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day.
31:55 Speaker 05 Through what Alan's whole crew designed, we connected the event visitors to the world.
32:01 Speaker 02 And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night.
32:04 Speaker 05 To actually see the whole stadium light up and data's flowing is a beautiful thing.
32:08 Speaker 04 What the fans experience is incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.
32:12 Josh Clark? AT&T, connecting fans to what they love.
32:15 Speaker 03 Connecting changes everything. AT&T.
32:19 Josh Clark? So you were talking about online piracy. And with digital distribution being a big deal now.
32:26 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:26 Josh Clark? The NPAs need it more than ever because they have to lobby Congress to fight online piracy.
32:32 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:32 Josh Clark? At a time when more and more people are distributing online and going around the MPAA. So it's losing its power.
32:39 Speaker 02 Right.
32:39 Josh Clark? But it needs its power more than ever. So like we said, it's a precarious time for the MPAA.
32:44 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:45 Josh Clark? And they tried a few things. They were successful with the, um, uh, what was the first one in 2000? The digital.
32:54 Speaker 02 SOPA?
32:54 Josh Clark? No, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
32:57 Speaker 02 Oh, right.
32:57 Josh Clark? Which basically, that, up until then, it wasn't a federal crime to share movies on peer-to-peer networks.
33:06 Speaker 02 Right.
33:06 Josh Clark? That one did it. And they got that passed. The MPAA lobbied and got that passed.
33:11 Speaker 02 Yeah, they've cracked down on camcorder, uh, recording.
33:14 Josh Clark? Yeah.
33:14 Speaker 02 Like when you're in New York City and someone has that brand-new copy of Godzilla on a video cassette for you.
33:21 Josh Clark? Yeah.
33:21 Speaker 02 That's because, if you've seen Seinfeld, someone went and sat in that theater with a camera recorder and just made a stupid, awful-quality pirated version.
33:30 Josh Clark? Yeah, and it says that those are the most common. I guess I kind of believe that. They're also the worst quality. Like, sometimes people will, like, get up and move in front of the camera, like, to go to the bathroom or something.
33:41 Speaker 02 Yeah.
33:41 Josh Clark? It's, uh.
33:42 Speaker 02 I've never seen one, but I think.
33:43 Josh Clark? They're terrible.
33:44 Speaker 02 Yeah.
33:46 Josh Clark? Much, I don't want to say more common, but probably more common these days are, like, copies of screeners.
33:52 Speaker 02 Yeah.
33:52 Josh Clark? Like, they send out DVDs to everybody who's members of the Academy.
33:56 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah.
33:56 Josh Clark? To vote on movies.
33:57 Speaker 02 Yeah.
33:58 Josh Clark? And so around Oscar time, or before Oscar time, it seems like the internet gets flooded with way more high-quality copies of these major movies that are up for awards.
34:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think now they have, um, thanks to the NPA, have, uh, something coded to your name now on your copy.
34:15 Josh Clark? So like, they'll know who leaked it or whatever?
34:17 Speaker 02 I think so.
34:18 Josh Clark? Yeah.
34:18 Speaker 02 If I'm not mistaken.
34:19 Josh Clark? I'm not surprised by that. Apparently, if you want to show, uh, Frozen at your church.
34:28 Speaker 02 Yeah.
34:28 Josh Clark? You better have a public performance license. Because it is illegal to show a movie outside of your home.
34:35 Speaker 02 Yeah, that surprised me, but there are a lot of, uh, especially in the summertime, a lot of community screenings.
34:41 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
34:42 Speaker 02 Like, every city now has, uh. You know, Atlanta shows them in, I think at Oakland Cemetery. Some other places in New York, they have them all over the place.
34:51 Josh Clark? Sure.
34:51 Speaker 02 And technically, yeah, they're supposed to have a license to do so. I'm sure they do, the big ones.
34:55 Josh Clark? Yeah, the big ones, I'm sure do.
34:56 Speaker 02 But like, it's your community pool, and you want to show E.T. And, uh.
35:01 Josh Clark? The feds could come, kick the, kick the gate down around the pool.
35:05 Speaker 02 I bet.
35:05 Josh Clark? Arrest everybody.
35:06 Speaker 02 I bet they don't love HBO these days. Cause you know HBO Go?
35:10 Josh Clark? Yeah.
35:12 Speaker 02 People steal that. They're just like, hey dude, what's your login?
35:15 Josh Clark? Oh, right, yeah.
35:16 Speaker 02 And HBO came out and they're like, who cares?
35:18 Josh Clark? Yeah, people are watching it.
35:19 Speaker 02 Yeah, like, go watch True Detective, maybe you'll sign up for HBO.
35:23 Josh Clark? Yeah.
35:23 Speaker 02 Cause you liked it. Or maybe you'll just support the show, period, on social media.
35:28 Josh Clark? Yeah.
35:28 Speaker 02 Even though you're getting it for free. Like, we're making enough money, basically.
35:32 Josh Clark? Yes, and that's something that a lot of people say, you know, film industry, we don't really feel that bad for you.
35:38 Speaker 02 Yeah.
35:39 Josh Clark? Sean Austin, sit down. Because you guys made 10.9 billion dollars in America, in ticket sales alone, in 2013.
35:51 Josh Clark? We don't feel that bad about this whole conundrum that the MPAA is facing.
35:55 Speaker 02 What's Sean Astin's deal? Is he one of the voices?
35:58 Josh Clark? Yeah, yeah.
35:59 Speaker 02 Oh, okay.
36:00 Josh Clark? Yeah.
36:00 Speaker 02 I don't think I knew that.
36:02 Josh Clark? Yeah, he, he was, uh, I can't remember the, there was like a, a whole, um, kind of push, an anti-piracy push a few years back.
36:10 Speaker 02 And he was the face of it?
36:11 Josh Clark? Part of it, yeah. Yeah, and he looked really mad about things, too.
36:14 Speaker 02 Rudy.
36:15 Josh Clark? But, um, speaking of piracy, I remember there was a, a story that came out recently. It was, if you think about it, at first it's like wah wah, but then if, if you really kind of lend, lend it some thought, it's really disturbing.
36:28 Speaker 02 Yeah.
36:29 Josh Clark? There were, there was a report of prisoners at a prison being shown pirated movies.
36:37 Josh Clark? And some of the prisoners were there for pirating movies.
36:41 Speaker 02 Oh, wow.
36:41 Josh Clark? And it, like, really think about the injustice behind that.
36:45 Speaker 02 Yeah.
36:46 Josh Clark? Like, that's just crazy town. Imagine if you've been, like, selling counterfeit furs. And you go to prison and all of the, all of the guards are wearing counterfeit fur coats.
36:58 Speaker 02 Pretty swing in prison.
36:59 Josh Clark? It'd be weird, but it would also be unjust.
37:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:03 Josh Clark? Yeah.
37:03 Speaker 02 True.
37:04 Josh Clark? But i- in relation to this, it's just more and more widespread. Every day, it feels like. It's, it's a losing battle, I think, that the MPAA is fighting right now.
37:12 Speaker 02 Well, I think I read somewhere today that they, I think they might release a few of the Raiders' names per film. Not all, like, thirteen.
37:22 Josh Clark? Right.
37:22 Speaker 02 But I, I need to look up that, uh, look that up again, cause that, I don't know, I don't see the, uh, why releasing a three out of thirteen names does anybody any good.
37:30 Josh Clark? It does zero good.
37:31 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:32 Josh Clark? Uh, and speaking of doing zero good, um, the, th- this, there's kind of a new attachment to the rating system that they have now. It's called check the box.
37:44 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:45 Josh Clark? And, um, it's, it's basically a brief description of why a movie is like PG thirteen.
37:50 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:50 Josh Clark? So it'll say, like, intense sci-fi action or something like that, or-
37:54 Speaker 02 Some drug use.
37:55 Josh Clark? Yeah, that kind of thing. Um, and some critics of the MPAA say, it's just basically like shooting a laser beam into like a fifteen-year-old boy's brain.
38:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:07 Josh Clark? Like, brief nudity, come see it.
38:09 Speaker 02 Right.
38:10 Josh Clark? PG thirteen, check it out, kid.
38:12 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:12 Josh Clark? Um, and I think a lot of people are looking at it like it's, it's just kind of a disingenuous advertisement.
38:19 Speaker 02 Right.
38:20 Josh Clark? Cynical advertisement, because the, uh, the MPAA is accused of n- not regulating or even potentially directly marketing to kids under the age of the movies that are being advertised.
38:35 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:36 Josh Clark? So like, you're seeing a lot of ads for like R-rated movies on websites that are like very popular among like the seventeen and under crowd.
38:43 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:43 Josh Clark? Um, there's a lot of tie-ins for PG thirteen movies with like kids' toys.
38:49 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:49 Josh Clark? For kids who are under P, who are under thirteen. Um, and so there's like this idea that there's, the MPAA is supposedly serving America's mor- moral compasses.
39:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
39:03 Josh Clark? But really, at the same time, they're undermining that morality that they're supposedly defending.
39:10 Speaker 02 Yeah.
39:10 Josh Clark? By marketing and exploiting kids.
39:14 Speaker 02 Yeah. That'd be like a cigarette company, having a cartoon animal as their mascot.
39:19 Josh Clark? Can you imagine?
39:20 Speaker 02 Be weird. Uh, well, one thing about the, um, the subjectivity of it and the fact that it is a closed book and they, filmmakers don't even know, you know, what, how to tailor their movie to achieve a certain rating. I mean, to within a certain degree, but they've learned how to manipulate it because there is no set standard by, if you watch that film is not yet rated, and you've heard plenty of stories over the years about filmmakers intentionally putting in things that they never intend to be in the final movie.
39:49 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah.
39:50 Speaker 02 Just to sort of distract from some of the other things. So they'll shoot something kind of really outrageous, uh, to get the MPAA, uh, Raiders haunches up and what they, they were never going to keep that part anyway.
40:02 Josh Clark? Right.
40:03 Speaker 02 So they're subverting the system because there is no set standard.
40:05 Josh Clark? Yeah. And they're just, uh, the, the stuff they want to keep in is comparatively.
40:10 Speaker 02 Exactly.
40:11 Josh Clark? More palatable.
40:12 Speaker 02 And if you don't have the set standard where you can go and, I wonder what those sheets look like on the interior, you know? I mean, that's the great mystery.
40:21 Josh Clark? Yeah.
40:21 Speaker 02 Surely they have their own interior standards. They're not just like, oh, watch it and see what you think.
40:26 Josh Clark? Well, they have group discussions too.
40:29 Speaker 02 Man, I'd love to sit down on those.
40:30 Josh Clark? So the, uh, I read, uh, another criticism of MPAA is that the difference between PG thirteen movies and our movies these days is the profanity and the sexuality. Um, that they're similar in violence, if not more violent in PG thirteen movies. And that this is kind of messed up, that the MPAA has very little problem with violence.
40:53 Speaker 02 Yeah.
40:54 Josh Clark? But when it comes to bad words or sexuality of almost any nature, except for women being objectified and men being gratified.
41:05 Speaker 02 Yeah.
41:05 Josh Clark? Um, then the MPAA suddenly puckers up.
41:11 Speaker 02 Well, yeah, in any, a woman achieving, receiving sexual gratification or a homosexual couple.
41:18 Josh Clark? NC seventeen.
41:19 Speaker 02 Yeah.
41:19 Josh Clark? Virtually like guaranteed, or depending on how they do it, are, if it's coming out of like one of the major studios.
41:27 Speaker 02 So in, in other words, a, a man can receive pleasure from a woman.
41:33 Speaker 02 And of course, it's scrutinized somewhat because any kind of sex is more heavily scrutinized than violence.
41:38 Josh Clark? Right.
41:38 Speaker 02 But if a woman does, like you said, or if it's a gay couple, it's all over. So homophobic, misogynistic, you decide.
41:47 Josh Clark? Right, and fetishistic of violence, you know?
41:53 Speaker 02 Yeah, like, here's one example. There's a great article called "Don't Expect Any Major Changes To The MPA Rating System In 2014."
41:59 Josh Clark? Yeah.
42:00 Speaker 02 And it's basically Chris Dodd, who's the new head and the gang, digging in and saying, "You know what? Uh, we talked to your average parents and we polled them, and this is what they want."
42:14 Josh Clark? But they haven't released-
42:15 Speaker 02 No, none of those studies are released.
42:17 Josh Clark? Yeah.
42:17 Speaker 02 None of those conversations are released. Um, a movie like Philomena, which you saw, was rated R. Yeah, it was about a lady looking for a long-lost son.
42:27 Josh Clark? It was so far from an R movie, it was ridiculous.
42:29 Speaker 02 Yeah, but it had a couple of F-bombs in it, um, so they cut those out and they bring it to a PG-13. You might think, "Who cares? Cut up the F-bombs, make it PG-13." But there's something bigger going on here, you know?
42:43 Josh Clark? Yeah, there's a great AV Club article about, um, how just totally out of step a lot of the ratings are. And they, they have fifteen movies listed and basically talk about their ratings. Like, the first one, they talk about Once.
43:00 Speaker 02 Yeah.
43:01 Josh Clark? That romantic, um, it wasn't like a romantic comedy, was it?
43:06 Speaker 02 No, I would say it was a-
43:07 Josh Clark? Bittersweet.
43:08 Speaker 02 Just a modern-day romance told through music.
43:11 Josh Clark? Right.
43:11 Speaker 02 It wasn't a musical, but there were a lot of musical numbers.
43:13 Josh Clark? Highly inoffensive.
43:15 Speaker 02 Love story.
43:16 Josh Clark? Yeah.
43:16 Speaker 02 Very sweet movie.
43:18 Josh Clark? It had the same rating as Hostel 2, which is basically torture porn. They, they both got the same rating.
43:27 Speaker 02 Yeah, should, well, we should read this first line-
43:29 Josh Clark? Okay.
43:29 Speaker 02 -from the AV Club. "In early summer of 2007, two films were released with R ratings. One featured a scene where a naked woman is suspended from a ceiling, while another naked woman slashes her with a scythe and bays in her blood. The other featured two Dublin musicians singing songs together, falling in love, and opting not to act on it." Like, there was never any sex scene. They didn't even get together, really.
43:53 Josh Clark? No.
43:54 Speaker 02 They're both rated R.
43:55 Josh Clark? Both rated R, because of profanity.
43:58 Speaker 02 Rushmore rated R for the, uh-
44:02 Speaker 02 Seen at the end, where Max is putting on the play, the Vietnam play.
44:06 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
44:07 Speaker 02 And there is a shot of a couple of little kids looking at, on the set, there's some Playboy centerfolds up in the locker.
44:13 Josh Clark? Yep.
44:14 Speaker 02 Like, on the Vietnam set. And it shows these little kids, like, looking at those, like a 12-year-old would probably do.
44:20 Josh Clark? And it got an R for that.
44:21 Speaker 02 Got an R for that.
44:22 Josh Clark? Happiness, Todd Solins, one of my favorite movies of all time.
44:27 Speaker 02 Yeah.
44:27 Josh Clark? Uh, they tried to give it an NC-17 rating, and he said, "You know what? I'm not cutting anything. You can just go take a long walk off a short pier," is what I think he famously said to them.
44:41 Speaker 02 Yeah.
44:41 Josh Clark? And he released his movie as unrated.
44:44 Speaker 02 Oh, really?
44:45 Josh Clark? Yep.
44:45 Speaker 02 I don't think I knew that.
44:46 Josh Clark? Way to go, Todd Solins.
44:48 Speaker 02 Uh, or, if you're looking at some serious homophobia, the great 1989 movie, A Long Time Companion, features no real sex acts at all, nothing explicit. Um, in fact, the AV Club says it could show on network TV today with just a few alterations. Um, but it was about a gay couple, and, uh, so it got an NC-17.
45:13 Josh Clark? Yeah, there was something called Afternoon Delight, which was a, um, a movie about a woman who hires a gigolo.
45:23 Speaker 02 Yeah.
45:24 Josh Clark? And it apparently is heavy on the, um, the woman receiving sexual gratification. It got an R rating.
45:32 Speaker 02 Yeah.
45:33 Josh Clark? Despite, and it got an R rating after apparently the director cut a lot of stuff out. And the director said, "What the hey?" After Wolf of Wall Street came out.
45:45 Speaker 02 Like, "Have you seen this movie?"
45:46 Josh Clark? With, like, some very graphic, apparent sex scenes between a man and a woman.
45:50 Speaker 02 Yeah.
45:51 Josh Clark? But Leonardo DiCaprio is the one enjoying it the most, so it's fine. It's an R.
45:56 Speaker 02 Right.
45:57 Josh Clark? Blue is the warmest color.
45:59 Speaker 02 Yeah, last year, that, uh, Teenage Lesbian Love Story.
46:02 Josh Clark? NC-17.
46:03 Speaker 02 Yep, got a lot of attention. And there were some theaters that allowed, uh, high school-age kids to go see that anyway.
46:11 Josh Clark? Because, again, this isn't law. It's not binding. It's up to the theaters.
46:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's just so strange that such a small group of people have such influence on such a... Large industry.
46:22 Josh Clark? And yeah.
46:22 Speaker 02 In secret.
46:23 Josh Clark? The more you dig into it, the more conflicts of interest arise and the more arbitrary the standards become, the more blood boiling it is. I highly recommend you go read some stuff like Rated R for Ridiculous by Kirby Dick, his little
46:37 Speaker 02 Yeah.
46:38 Josh Clark? His little op ed about the MPAA. That one US News and World Report article you wrote or suggested was good.
46:47 Speaker 02 I wish I wrote it.
46:49 Josh Clark? Had you been, there would have been used correctly.
46:53 Speaker 02 Oh, did they misuse it?
46:54 Josh Clark? What? Yeah, I know.
46:56 Speaker 02 That's terrible. So the MPAA will defend themselves and they say that there's no such bias and that we, all these objectionable scenes are rated on the graphic quality and how graphic it is. But if you just look at the, you'd have to be a dummy not to see these correlations.
47:14 Josh Clark? Right.
47:15 Speaker 02 And the fact that they don't seem to care that much about violence in this age where, I don't know, does it influence people to go shoot up a school? Who knows?
47:26 Josh Clark? Did you see that John Oliver quote that's going around?
47:29 Speaker 02 Uh, yes, but what was it?
47:32 Josh Clark? It's like, uh, somebody unsuccessfully tries to carry a bomb onto a plane in their shoe. We all take our shoes off.
47:38 Speaker 02 Oh, right.
47:39 Josh Clark? There's like thirty something school shootings after Columbine and absolutely nothing's changed.
47:45 Speaker 02 Yeah. Or the Onion article that's going around too now is, uh,
47:50 Speaker 02 this is something that can't be prevented, says the only country where this kind of thing happens all the time, something like that.
47:56 Josh Clark? Huh.
47:57 Speaker 02 I'm paraphrasing.
47:58 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah. It's the Onion.
48:01 Speaker 02 Yeah, good stuff, MPAA. Keep, keep doing the, fighting the good fight.
48:04 Josh Clark? Yeah, go check out, like, just go start reading up on it. It's funny how much we just take this stuff for granted, but when, just start digging just slightly beneath the surface.
48:14 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:14 Josh Clark? At the very least, see this film is not yet rated, it's really good.
48:17 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:18 Josh Clark? Really engrossing. And you know, for every hundred documentaries that come out, what, five of them are like really great.
48:25 Speaker 02 Sure.
48:26 Josh Clark? Most of them are pretty good, some are terrible. So any really good one is worth seeing just in and of itself.
48:32 Speaker 02 Agreed.
48:33 Josh Clark? Uh, if you want to learn more about the MPAA, type those letters into the search bar at HowStuffWorks.com.
48:38 Speaker 02 I said search bar, so it's time for listener mail.
48:42 Speaker 02 Uh, I'm gonna call this Wild Parrots.
48:47 Speaker 02 Josh mentioned in the tattoo podcast that he had heard parrots like to hang together when free. And I wanted to burst in the podcast booth and tell you about the wild parrots of San Francisco. I'm not gonna get into it, except to say that over the course of my life, the parrots in San Francisco were a sort of living legend that one would occasionally get the privilege of spotting now and then. However, about three years ago, I moved in with my aunt in the little San Francisco suburb of Brisbane. And apparently, the famous flocks of parrots were also making their home there, since it was warmer and less windy. Uh, these parrots were often hanging, uh, right outside my bedroom window, which is pretty amazing. Or no, she says amusing. I say it's amazing. But also somewhat annoying, uh, especially since my first son was just a little guy then and a very light sleeper.
49:32 Speaker 02 And these suckers are loud. That is true, they are very loud. Also, guys, I'm sending you the link to watch the preview of the 2003 documentary, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. So I didn't know that was a documentary.
49:43 Josh Clark? I've heard that. I've heard of that before. I never, uh, knew what it was about.
49:46 Speaker 02 Amy, I will check that out.
49:48 Josh Clark? Thank you.
49:49 Speaker 02 Thank you for writing it.
49:50 Josh Clark? Yeah, thanks a lot, Amy. Uh, if you have a documentary recommendation, we are always interested in those.
49:56 Speaker 02 Heck, yeah.
49:56 Josh Clark? Uh, you can tweet them to us at S Y S K podcast. You can, uh, post them on facebook.com/stuffyoushouldknow. Uh, and you can send us an email to [email protected] . And as always, join us at our home on the web, the beautiful stuffyoushouldknow.com.
50:19 Speaker 00 For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com.
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51:13 Josh Clark? these perspectives highlight that life is more than a moment, a condition, or a tough day. Living with a rare disease can be challenging, but it does not define the Voices of Vivart. In these episodes, they share their stories, from diagnosis to working with their care team on their treatment plan. Listen to Voices of Vivart on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Previous SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Josh and Chuck's List of Horror Movies that Changed the Genre Next SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Steadicams Work Page updated November 3, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated