Guide Note:

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a non-profit trade association in the United States formed to advance the interests of movie studios. The association consists of the six largest Hollywood studios: the Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures Viacom, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Universal Studios. The MPAA produces the voluntary film rating system currently in use in the United States. The current ratings system gives films a rating of G, PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17. From 1996 to 2004, former special White House assistant to Lyndon Johnson Jack Valenti served as the President of the association and supervised over the crafting of the current ratings system.

The MPAA (and its preceding incarnation in the Motion Picture Distributors and Producers Association of America (MDPAA)) has been criticized since its creation in 1922. Formed partly to police the obscenity content of films in order to protect the major studios from public outcry, the MPAA has been criticized for attempting to shape societal norms through its controversial ratings system and, in some cases, by using its political muscle to prevent films from reaching wider audiences. The film This Film is Not Yet Rated explores many of the issues surrounding the MPAA ratings system, including the fact that mild sexual content usually results in a harsher rating than images of extreme violence.

Fast Facts

1. Founded in 1922 as Motion Picture Distributors Association of America
2. First President: Will H. Hays
3. The MPAA also fiercely defends its members from copyright infringment
4. Current Chairman and CEO: Dan Glickman
5. Phone: (818) 995-6600