David Lynch once pushed for an overhaul of American film censorship after his 1986 film Blue Velvet was hit with an X-rating by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), a classification he felt unfairly lumped serious cinema in with pornography. Lynch argued the rating stemmed not from the film's nudity, sex or violence but from certain scenes being deemed "too powerful" — precisely the emotional impact he had intended, prompting him to propose a new tier of certification. His complaint reflects a long-running debate over whether film censorship protects audiences or stifles artistic expression, with the MPA and Britain's BBFC gradually loosening restrictions on adult content over the decades.

Lynch suggested introducing a "Double R" rating, positioned between a hard R and an X, which would still allow films to be advertised in newspapers, unlike X-rated releases, which were often shunned by theatres and publications. His idea was echoed in 1990 when the MPA created the NC-17 rating, distinguishing mature, non-pornographic content from explicit material. Notably, Blue Velvet is now classified even lower than NC-17, carrying just an R rating under today's standards.