Editing X rating

{{Short description|Film rating denoting content suitable only for adults}}
{{Redirect|Rated X}}
{{Redirect|X Rated|the album|X Rated (album)}}
{{Refimprove|date=October 2010}}

An '''X rating''' is a [[film rating]] that indicates that the film contains content that is considered to be suitable only for adults. Films with an X rating may have scenes of [[graphic violence]] or explicit sexual acts that may be disturbing or offensive to some viewers. The X rating is used in different ways by different countries, and it may have legal or commercial implications for the distribution and exhibition of such films. For example, some countries may ban or restrict the sale or rental of X-rated films, while others may allow them only in specific theaters or with special taxes. Some countries may also have different criteria or definitions for what constitutes an X-rated film, and some may consider the artistic merit of the film as a factor in classification. The X rating has been replaced or renamed by other ratings in some countries over time.

==Australia==
The [[Australian Classification Board]] (ACB, formerly known as the OFLC), a government institution, issues ratings for all movies and television shows exhibited, televised, sold, or hired in Australia. Material showing explicit, non-simulated sex that is pornographic in nature is rated '''X18+'''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are the ratings? |url=https://www.classification.gov.au/classification-ratings/what-are-ratings#X18+ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921102544/https://www.classification.gov.au/classification-ratings/what-are-ratings#X18+ |archive-date=21 September 2024 |access-date=24 September 2024 |website=Australian Classification}}</ref>

People under 18 may not buy, rent, exhibit, or view these films in cinemas. The exhibition or sale of these films to people under the age of 18 years is a criminal offence carrying a maximum fine of $5,500. Films classified as X18+ are forbidden from being sold or rented anywhere in the six [[States and territories of Australia#States|states of Australia]]. They are legally available to be sold or hired in the [[Australian Capital Territory]] and the [[Northern Territory]]. Importing X18+ material from these territories to any of the Australian states is legal, as the [[Constitution of Australia|constitution]] forbids any restrictions on trade between the states and territories.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

==France==
Films may be shown in theaters in France only after classification by an administrative commission of the [[Ministry of Culture (France)|Ministry of Culture]]. In 1975, the '''X classification''' (officially: "pornographic or violence-inciting movies", ''<span dir="ltr" lang="fr">films pornographiques ou d'incitation à la violence</span>'') 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 to not count it as "pornographic". Movies with an X rating may only be shown in specific theaters; they bear higher tax rates and cannot receive any aid from the ''[[Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée]]'', whether for the movies themselves or for the theaters screening these movies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Film classification {{!}} CNC |url=https://www.cnc.fr/web/en/about/regulatory-function/film-classification |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=www.cnc.fr |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Adam P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4yWr9LzBeAC&dq=%22violence-inciting%22+movies+france&pg=PA211 |title=The Film Finance Handbook: How to Fund Your Film |last2=Wistreich |first2=Nicol |date=2007 |publisher=Netribution |isbn=978-0-9550143-2-1 |pages=211 |language=en}}</ref> Some of these taxes were repealed in 2020 because they weren't rentable enough.<ref>{{Cite web |last=darkness-fanzine.over-blog.com |title=Le Parlement abroge les dispositions fiscales votées en 1975 pour les films à caractère pornographique ou d'incitation à la violence |url=http://darkness-fanzine.over-blog.com/2020/12/le-parlement-abroge-les-dispositions-fiscales-votees-en-1975-pour-les-films-a-caractere-pornographique-ou-d-incitation-a-la-violence |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=CENSURE & CINEMA |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Le Roy |first=Marc |date=December 18, 2020 |title=Majorité et opposition en plein consensus pour supprimer une partie de la fiscalité confiscatoire appliquée à la pornographie. |url=https://www.droitducinema.fr/taxe.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=www.droitducinema.fr}}</ref>

1100 movies were X-rated in France, with the last classification occurring in 1996, as pornography went from theaters to video, which doesn't undergo as much control as cinema. The last [[adult movie theater]] in Paris, the [[:fr:Beverley_(cinéma)|Beverley]] in [[Paris]], closed down in 2019 only leaving the Vox in [[Grenoble]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-02-21 |title=Le Beverley, le dernier cinéma pornographique de Paris, baisse le rideau |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/cinema/2019/02/21/03002-20190221ARTFIG00189--le-beverley-le-dernier-cinema-pornographique-de-paris-baisse-le-rideau.php |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Le Figaro |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The last porn cinema in Paris, Le Beverley, comes to an end |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/language/french/en/article/the-last-porn-cinema-in-paris-le-beverley-comes-to-an-end/tsk3lcyq6 |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=SBS Language |language=en-au}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=darkness-fanzine.over-blog.com |title=Le dernier cinéma porno de France fermera ses portes le 31 décembre 2017. Est-ce la fin du classement pornographique au cinéma ? |url=http://darkness-fanzine.over-blog.com/2017/12/le-dernier-cinema-porno-de-france-fermera-le-31-decembre-2017.la-fin-du-classement-pornographique-au-cinema.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=CENSURE & CINEMA |language=fr}}</ref>

Only ten movies were X-rated for violence: [[Open Season (1974 film)|''Open Season'']] by [[Peter Collinson (film director)|Collinson]], [[Lola (1974 film)|''Lola'']] by [[José María Forqué]], ''<span dir="ltr" lang="fr">Pique Nique</span>'' ([[short film]]) by Gérard Bienfait, ''[[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]]'' by [[Tobe Hooper]], [[Hitch-Hike (film)|''Hitch-Hike'']] by [[Pasquale Festa Campanile]], ''[[Return of the 38 Gang]]'' by [[Giuseppe Vari]], [[The Warriors (film)|''The Warriors'']] by [[Walter Hill]], ''<span dir="ltr" lang="de">Frauengefängnis 3</span>'' by [[Jesús Franco]], [[Mad Max (film)|Mad Max]] by [[George Miller (filmmaker)|George Miller]] and ''[[Dawn of the Dead (1978 film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' by [[George A. Romero]]; most of these subsequently received lower ratings. For example, ''The Warriors'' and ''Mad Max'' are now rated '12'.

In 2000, some conservative associations sued the government for granting the movie ''[[Baise-moi]]'' (''Fuck me''), which contained graphic, realistic scenes of sex and violence, a non-X classification. The [[Council of State (France)|Council of State]] ruled that the movie should have been rated X as it was then the only rating which banned this films to minors. The decision was highly controversial, and the '18' rating was reestablished for movies not pornographic or violence-inciting; ''Baise-moi'' became the first movie to have been awarded the newly reestablished '18' rating, which had been replaced by '16' in 1990.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sharkey |first=Alix |date=2002-04-14 |title=Scandale! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/apr/14/filmcensorship.features |access-date=2024-12-05 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2000-07-05 |title=French judges overrule censors |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jul/05/news1 |access-date=2024-12-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2000-07-02 |title=« Baise-moi », le film de Virginie Despentes et Coralie Trinh Thi classé X par le Conseil d'Etat |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2000/07/02/baise-moi-le-film-de-virginie-despentes-et-coralie-trinh-thi-classe-x-par-le-conseil-d-etat_3710583_1819218.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2000-07-05 |title="Baise-moi" : la mobilisation s'amplifie |url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/culture/20000705.OBS5835/baise-moi-la-mobilisation-s-amplifie.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Le Nouvel Obs |language=fr}}</ref>

In 2009, ''Histoires de sexe(s)'' by [[Ovidie]] and Jack Tyler was ordered by the Classification Board to be X-rated; the directors then withdrew their demand for a cinema certificate and released their movie [[direct-to-video]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-04-18 |title=Le cinéma menacé par l'autocensure des réalisateurs |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2010/04/18/le-cinema-menace-par-l-autocensure-des-realisateurs_1335212_3246.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Histoires de Sexe(s) d'Ovidie et Jack Tyler ixifié pour pornographie ! |url=https://albertmontagne.blogspot.com/2009/11/histoires-de-sexes-dovidie-et-jack_10.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |language=fr}}</ref>

==United Kingdom==
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 | footer = Two "X" symbols used by the [[British Board of Film Classification]] (1951–1970 and 1970–1982, respectively)
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{{main|History of British film certificates}}
The original '''X certificate''', replacing the [[H certificate]], was issued between 1951 and 1982 by the [[British Board of Film Censors]] in the [[United Kingdom]]. It was introduced as a result of the [[Kenneth Wheare|Wheare]] Report on film censorship.<ref name=screen>{{cite web|website=Screenonline|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592670/index.html|title=Wheare Report, The (1950)|access-date=12 November 2022}}</ref> From 1951 to 1970, it meant "For exhibition when no child under 16 is present" and from 1970 to 1982 it was redefined as meaning "Suitable for those aged 18 and over". The X certificate was replaced in November 1982 by the [[18 (British Board of Film Classification)|18 certificate]]. 

Sometimes the rating of a film has changed significantly over time. For example, the French film  ''[[Jules and Jim]]'' received an X rating in 1962 that was reduced to a PG (Parental Guidance) rating in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jules and Jim |publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]] |url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/search/releases/Jules%2Band%2BJim |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924134207/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/search/releases/Jules+and+Jim |archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> In some cases, films with extreme political content received an X rating. ''[[Battleship Potemkin]]'' was refused a certificate for "inflammatory subtitles and [[Bolshevist|Bolshevik]] propaganda" in 1926, passed X in 1954, and finally rated PG in 1987.<ref>[http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Battleship_Potemkin Case Study:Battleship Potemkin] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301233439/http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/CaseStudies/Battleship_Potemkin |date=March 1, 2012 }}</ref>

==United States==
{{refimprove section|date=February 2018}}
[[File:MPAA X RATING.svg|thumb|right|upright|Until 1990, the X rating was used by the Motion Picture Association of America for films deemed only suitable for adults.]]
In the [[United States]], the '''X rating''' was applied to a film that contained content judged unsuitable for [[children]], such as extreme violence, strongly implied sex, and graphic language. When the [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system|MPAA film rating system]] began in North America on November 1, 1968, the X rating was given to a film by the Motion Picture Association of America (now the [[Motion Picture Association]]) if submitted to it, or due to its non-trademarked status, it could be self-applied to a film by a distributor that knew beforehand that its film contained content unsuitable for minors. From the [[New Hollywood|late 1960s]] to about the [[1980s in film|mid-1980s]], many mainstream films were released with an X rating, such as ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'', ''[[Medium Cool]]'', ''[[The Girl on a Motorcycle]]'', ''[[Last Summer (1969 film)|Last Summer]]'', ''[[Last of the Mobile Hot Shots]]'', ''[[Beyond the Valley of the Dolls]]'', ''[[The Street Fighter]]'', ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', ''[[Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song]]'', ''[[Fritz the Cat (film)|Fritz the Cat]]'', ''[[Flesh Gordon]]'', ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1976 film)|Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy]]'', ''[[Last Tango in Paris]]'' and ''[[The Evil Dead (1981 film)|The Evil Dead]]''. Films that achieved critical and commercial success were later re-rated R after minor cuts, including ''Midnight Cowboy'' and ''A Clockwork Orange.'' The threat of an X rating also encouraged filmmakers to [[Re-edited film|re-edit]] their films to achieve an R rating; one notable example of this was the 1987 action film ''[[RoboCop]]'', which had to be edited eleven times before it could attain an R rating.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBkjTxD1a0 |title=Backstory RoboCop AMC |publisher=YouTube |access-date=July 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718170224/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBkjTxD1a0 |archive-date=July 18, 2013 }}</ref>

Because the X rating was not trademarked, anybody could apply it to their films, including pornographers, as many began to do in the 1970s. As [[pornography]] began to become more popular and more legally and commercially tolerated, pornographers placed an X rating on their films to emphasize the adult content. 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. In some cases, the X ratings were applied by reviewers or film scholars, e.g. [[William Rotsler]], who wrote "The XXX-rating is for [[Hardcore pornography|hardcore]], the XX-rating is for [[Softcore pornography|softcore]], and an X-rating is for comparatively cool films."<ref>Rotslter, William. ''Contemporary Erotic Cinema''. New York: [[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]/[[Ballantine Books]], 1973. page 251.</ref> Nothing beyond the simple X rating has ever been officially recognized by the MPAA. Because of the heavy use of the X rating by pornographers, it became associated largely with pornographic films, so that non-pornographic films given an X rating would have fewer theaters willing to book them and fewer venues for advertising. Many newspapers refused to advertise X-rated films. This led to a number of films being released unrated sometimes with a warning that the film contained content for adults only. In response, the MPAA eventually agreed in 1990 to a new [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system#X replaced by NC-17|NC-17]] rating that would be trademarked, and could only be applied by the MPAA itself. By [[trademark]]ing the rating, the MPAA committed to defending an NC-17 film charged with violating [[obscenity laws]].

==See also==
* [[List of NC-17 rated films]]
* [[List of AO-rated video games]]
* [[.xxx]], top-level Internet domain

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/591679/index.html ''Screen Online'' article about the X certificate]
* [http://www.refused-classification.com/ 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 video games
* [http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-adelphia2feb02,0,7840216.story?coll=la-home-headlines Explanation of X-ratings in the US]
* [http://www.comstockfilms.com/blog/tony/2007/08/07/how-x-rated-came-to-mean-porn-and-the-death-of-movies-for-grown-ups/ How "X-rated" Came to Mean "Porn" and the Death of Movies for Grown-ups A brief history of the social and legal forces that drove adult themes out of the legitimate cinema, by film director Tony Comstock]
* [http://www.news.com.au/technology/gaming/ban-lifted-it-only-took-10-years-but-government-gives-r18-video-games-the-go-ahead/story-e6frfrt9-1226271652456 Australian government says yes to R18+ video games bill]
{{Pornography}}

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[[Category:Motion picture rating systems]]
[[Category:British Board of Film Classification]]
[[Category:Motion Picture Association]]
[[Category:Self-censorship]]