WI: No MPAA Ratings

What would happen to the American film industry as a whole had it not been for the adoption of the MPAA rating system in 1968?

Would the federal government start stomping on the film business?
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Then the Hays Code (or an updated version) continues in effect until a new rating system is developed by the MPAA.
 
Somewhere along the line, a film ratings system will come about, with or without Jack Valenti. While filmmakers were rebelling against the restrictions of the Production Code, outside Hollywood you had groups which demanded more censorship - the best example being Britain, where despite the largely private BBFC giving Ken Russell's The Devils an "X" certificate (no one under 18 admitted since ~1968, when a separate 14+ category, known as the "AA" certificate, was introduced) there was tons of controversy and was picked up especially by Mary Whitehouse and the Festival of Light. What was more, the de facto US rating system operated by the Legion of Decency was breaking down during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s as fewer people actually paid attention, particularly among their target audience of Catholics. In that sense, I could see the Government getting involved with the co-operation of the states - and in the name of consistency, I could see some co-ordination with the various Canadian provinces in terms of a motion picture rating system (since in Canada the provinces, not the federal government, handle film ratings and censorship).
 
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