Ryan Gosling has accused U.S. film censors of sexual sexism after ratings officials slapped his film "Blue Valentine" with a restrictive NC-17 rating for an oral sex scene, while playing down a similar racy moment in Natalie Portman's new film "Black Swan". The star admits he's "surprised and confused" by the hard rating and he can't understand why Portman's girl-on-girl oral sex didn't attract a similar ruling.
He tells WENN, "There's plenty of oral sex scenes in a lot of movies, where it's a man receiving it from a woman - and they're R-rated. Ours is reversed and somehow it's perceived as pornographic. Black Swan has an oral scene between two women and that's an R rating, but ours is between a husband and his wife and that's NC-17?"
Angry Gosling insists there are many more movies that feature graphic violence and sex scenes that get less restrictive ratings than his new movie. He adds, "You start to think, 'How is it possible that these movies that torture women in a sexual context can have an R rating but a husband and wife making love is inappropriate.' "
"A lot of people think, 'What's the big deal if it's NC-17, the kids under 17 can't see it,' but that's not true. What it really means is it can't play in a major theater chain and you can't have ads for the film on television. It stigmatizes the movie in a big way. What we're really saying is not that our kids can't see this movie but nobody can see this movie unless you live in a big city and there's an art house theater."
He tells WENN, "There's plenty of oral sex scenes in a lot of movies, where it's a man receiving it from a woman - and they're R-rated. Ours is reversed and somehow it's perceived as pornographic. Black Swan has an oral scene between two women and that's an R rating, but ours is between a husband and his wife and that's NC-17?"
Angry Gosling insists there are many more movies that feature graphic violence and sex scenes that get less restrictive ratings than his new movie. He adds, "You start to think, 'How is it possible that these movies that torture women in a sexual context can have an R rating but a husband and wife making love is inappropriate.' "
"A lot of people think, 'What's the big deal if it's NC-17, the kids under 17 can't see it,' but that's not true. What it really means is it can't play in a major theater chain and you can't have ads for the film on television. It stigmatizes the movie in a big way. What we're really saying is not that our kids can't see this movie but nobody can see this movie unless you live in a big city and there's an art house theater."