Discord on harmony

Confab sez world ratings standard won't fly

By DON GROVES

'Monster's Ball,' starring Halle Berry, received very different ratings world wide.

SYDNEY -- Hollywood would be the only winner if film classifications were harmonized around the world -- and that's not going to happen.

That was the conclusion from a three-day international ratings conference held in Sydney, which wrapped Wednesday.

"Harmonization would remove the barriers that prevent Hollywood rolling everything out from a single matrix generated in Los Angeles and make it more dominant than ever before," British Board of Film Classification director Robin Duval told the confab.

"Our different national industries would be squeezed even further. Would they survive?" Duval asked.

He quoted a European Commission report that found there was no support for ratings harmonization among local audiences or film industries.

He described a wide variation in the mores of regulators, describing the Germans and Scandinavians as tough on violence; the Spaniards as taking the hardest line on sexual violence; the Brits frowning on strong language in kids' films; and the French, Italians and Scandis relaxed about sex.

He cited "Monster's Ball" (rated R in the U.S. after a sex scene was trimmed) that got an age 15 tag sans cuts in the U.K., was deemed suitable for 11-year-olds in Sweden and Denmark, 12-year-olds in France and for adults only in Spain and Oz.

Staged by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification, event drew 130 attendees repping 13 countries.

New South Wales attorney general Bob Debus told the confab he will propose that Oz guidelines be amended so films such as "Ken Park" could be screened at fests even if refused classification for general release.

Craig Anderson, professor of psychology at Iowa State U., criticized the U.S. media and fellow researchers for failing to convey the message that "media violence contributes to a more violent society."

Anderson said his studies show the U.S. media has been "progressively softer on this issue" since 1975.

Claiming industry self-regulation is not working in the U.S., he said the Federal Trade Commission had found 70% of mature-rated games are marketed to kids under 17.

Duval implied there was no winner in this academic battleground, noting that for every piece of research linking watching films and TV with violent behavior, another showed the opposite.