Sick of movies meant for toddlers? Tired of films that cater to teens? Interested in a film aimed at a more mature audience? Then you, my friend, are probably seeking an X rated movie!  (GASP!)  What began as a reasonable plan to tag films as meaning ‘For Adults Only’, quickly turned into a label with unintended and unfortunate stigma.

From 1968-1990, this un-trademarked and unregulated rating was used for both art films like A Clockwork Orange and the Oscar award winning Best Picture Midnight Cowboy (the only X rated movie to ever receive an Oscar), as well as for smut masterpieces like Deep Throat and Debbie Does Dallas, and for camp classics like Myra Breckinridge and Caligula. Many films, especially in the horror genre, like Friday the 13^th of Cannibal Holocaust, were originally given X ratings and then re-edited to get a more palpable and profitable ‘R’ rating. The bottom line was, except for peddlers of legitimate pornography, no one wanted to be saddled with a scarlet ‘X’.

This led to the MPAA creating the ‘NC-17’ rating in an attempt to remove the taboo and make room for a category meant for an adult population. Did it work? How was it regulated? Who was at fault for the failure of ‘X’?

Film clips will be shown ranging between PG-13 to NC-17; but sorry…nothing too graphic. We will discuss many things: art and pornographu, politics and perception, profitability and indie status, sex and violence, award winners and smut, and so much in between.