MovieChat Forums > Hairspray (2007) Discussion > How did this get away with a PG rating?

How did this get away with a PG rating?

posted 8 years ago by TheEternalCherry
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The song lyrics include "playing with yourself", "you could use a stiff one", and "I screwed the judges", the scene where Velma stages the affair with Tracy's dad is pretty raunchy, you saw guys stuffing their pants with socks, and some of the dialogue ("grass stains all on her back") was pretty suggestive for a PG.

I was just re-watching this last night and shocked. The MPAA have much harsher standards now and no way would this have gotten a PG if released today.

Live fast, die young

[–] radrobd 8 years ago

Usually they determine the ratings by the number of instances. They literally count the nudes/swears/obscene material to determine what rating it should get. Hairspray (2007) was pretty tame, and perhaps they felt the overall message (desegregation) was more important than a few sexual innuendos that would prolly go right over kids' heads.