X-Rated!

Word plays crossing ‘X’ with ‘explicit’ became popular, and the now-ubiquitous ‘XXX’ was adopted for emphasis - presumably because skin-flick goers might think they were in for something X-tra scandalous. This eventually led to the creation of the NC-17 category (No Children under 17), at the instigation of director Philip Kaufman for his film 'Henry & June' (1990), fought for in court by celebrity civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz, whose services were retained by Universal Pictures.

Dershowitz argued that it was unreasonable to damage a film by associating a work with artistic intention with mere titillation and thus limiting its distribution and profitability. The court agreed, the X rating was left to the pornographers, and explicit films such as Kaufman’s got to enjoy the dubious distinction of bearing the new NC-17 rating. In the United Kingdom, the X Rating remains and prohibits viewing by children under the age of 18. Likely because there had never been such widespread acceptance or awareness of adult film theatres in Britain as in America, this rating appears not to have gained the reputation its US equivalent did. This may have been because British censors were generally more likely to ban potentially controversial films outright rather than allow them a restricted release. Today, it is used for all films containing explicit content, whether sexual, violent, or political.