I want to take this time to discuss an intriguing topic that this film made me think about - the dichotomy between the MPA & the way movies ratings work vs the way the age range for books is settled. This Is Not a Test is based on a YA novel with the expectation that the film too would be YA and thus be rated PG-13, as that is what the YA label is meant to equate to in the literary scene. However, PG-13 movies cannot get away with showing eyes being gouged out. They cannot show skulls being smashed, or people shooting themselves on-screen, or people being eaten alive. But a YA novel can, and This Is Not a Test does. Obviously, the film is rated R, being somewhat tame for its rating but still having plenty of content to earn it. Ironically, however, the film adaptation of the book is a lot more tame than the source material and in fact, it cuts out a couple of moments of swearing and violence throughout.
This is because the YA age rating of books has quite literally no content restrictions aside from the fact that the main characters are expected to be high schoolers or college students. But why? It’s fascinating to me that if a YA novel gets adapted to a movie, it is most likely going to be rated R as the things that can fly in a YA book would in no way get past the censors. Maybe this is a sign that the MPA needs to be more lenient (shocker, I know, nobody’s ever said that before) but especially for this movie, I firmly believe that it would have gotten so much more recognition had it been released as a PG-13 film without cutting down any of the content- young teens can handle more than the sensors think. Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Also who tries to kill themselves with a box cutter? Girl use a fucking razor ffs
I want to take this time to discuss an intriguing topic that this film made me think about - the dichotomy between the MPA & the way movies ratings work vs the way the age range for books is settled. This Is Not a Test is based on a YA novel with the expectation that the film too would be YA and thus be rated PG-13, as that is what the YA label is meant to equate to in the literary scene. However, PG-13 movies cannot get away with showing eyes being gouged out. They cannot show skulls being smashed, or people shooting themselves on-screen, or people being eaten alive. But a YA novel can, and This Is Not a Test does. Obviously, the film is rated R, being somewhat tame for its rating but still having plenty of content to earn it. Ironically, however, the film adaptation of the book is a lot more tame than the source material and in fact, it cuts out a couple of moments of swearing and violence throughout.
This is because the YA age rating of books has quite literally no content restrictions aside from the fact that the main characters are expected to be high schoolers or college students. But why? It’s fascinating to me that if a YA novel gets adapted to a movie, it is most likely going to be rated R as the things that can fly in a YA book would in no way get past the censors. Maybe this is a sign that the MPA needs to be more lenient (shocker, I know, nobody’s ever said that before) but especially for this movie, I firmly believe that it would have gotten so much more recognition had it been released as a PG-13 film without cutting down any of the content- young teens can handle more than the sensors think. Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Also who tries to kill themselves with a box cutter? Girl use a fucking razor ffs
