Why Is ‘Blonde’ – Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe Biopic – Rated NC-17 Instead Of TV-MA?
The NC-17 rating has historically been a film certification that’s bad for business due to its adults-only label and pornographic stigma.
Yet Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe biopic, “Blonde,” will carry the rating – a first for the company. On Sept. 28, 2022, it will debut on its streaming platform, following a Venice Film Festival premiere.
Based on Joyce Carol Oates’s 2000 book and starring Ana de Armas, the film reportedly includes a graphic rape scene and a vaginal point-of-view shot in its treatment of the Hollywood icon’s life and career.
I study the rating system and am the author of “The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn’t Make X-Rated Movies.”
Movies carrying the NC-17 rating were often difficult to screen and promote, as they were locked out of some movie theater chains and tradition...
