Regulation - Unfinished.

The BBFC, which stands for The British Board of Film Classification, regulate every single film in the UK. The BBFC used to be known as the British Board of Film Censors, however changed as they no longer censor films. They also used to classify video games, which is now done by PEGI, and also TV Shows, which is now done by OFCOM. The BBFC has many aims that it hopes to achieve, through its line of work. They want to empower the public, respect people's freedom/choice, reflect social change and opinion and protecting the public from harm, mainly children, they want to limit their exposure to films not suitable for their age.  

It's important to note how the BBFC classify a film. Is a simple process, that only requires a small number of examiners to do so. They have two examiners to view a film, and decide on the rating and give their justification for their classification that they have given. There will usually be a senior examiner, who will confirm the recommendation if the examiners are in a disagreement, and can't decide the classification that I right for the film, then the film will be referred to other examiners, who will watch it, and give their thoughts and opinions. The rating with the most support will be chosen as the classification. These examiners judging the film after a referral will usually be experienced, and highly qualified, to ensure that the film receives a majority vote. In addition to this, the film could also go to the director, to gain an insight in what they believe the film should receive. For example, the film This is England received an 18 rating, whereas director Shane Meadows believed a 15 rating was fairer as 15-17-year olds were the target audience. The BBFC declined, however theatres in certain areas, such as hull, overruled the BBFC, because technically speaking, the BBFC has no legal jurisdiction. They only offer advice to the local council into the ratings a film should receive, it is actually completely down to the councils to show the film in the theatres, they can overrule their classification to give them their own rating, which happens very rarely. The examiners have a set criteria when watching the film, looking out for key issues that are in society, sucj as nudity and language. They separate the language into multiple parts, saying that the word c*nt is counted as very strong language, whereas fu*k is classed as frequent strong language, which is controversial, as the words are classed as the strongest by OFCOM, it's strange that the BBFC differ from their classification of the two words. Once the rating has been chosen, it is then officially placed on the film and given to the theatres, local council and the producers of the DVD's and Blu-ray. The latter could have a different rating, it may be higher than usual, as it is more likely that the younger audience will watch at home, rather than going to see it at the theatre, the BBFC claim this will "help stop the incorrect audience watching an inappropriate film". The BBFC never cut or edit the film, they will always give advice and criticisms to the encoders, and tell them how they can lower their classification. This is what happened in Slumdog Millionaire, the BBFC gave the film a 15 rating, due to its frequent strong langauge in both Hindi and English. The BBFC said that the violence may be strong, but the pain must not be dwelled upon, and in Slumdog, there was violence and pain. The whole scene with Mamon includes Muslims being attacked, beaten and blinded, while also includong a scene of a man being set alight. There is also sex working which is eluded too as well, with some elements of nudity being shown too. These factors were raised by the BBFC, and they told director Danny Boyle that in order for it to receive a 12A, which was his preferred rating, then he needed to cut these down. Ultimately, the BBFC cannot enforce Boyle to change, but this advice was ignred, because these scenes play a huge part of the film, so depite not receiving his desired rating, Boyle still remained true to the film by keeping these scenes in.  

  

When the BBFC age rated the film of Slumdog Millionaire it achieved a 15 certificate. When gaining a 15 certificate strong language may be used and very strong language may be permitted, due to its occasional use of the F word in English and also untranslated in Hindi Slumdog was unable to get the 12A certificate it wanted. In addition violence may be strong but pain must not be dwelled on, and in Slumdog there is strong violence such as: a group of Muslims attacked and beaten, a shooting, blinding of a young boy, man set on fire and repeated scenes of Jamal being tortured. There is also sex working which is eluded too as well as small elements of nudity. Once this decision was made the BBFC contacted Danny Boyle and told him cuts that could be mate to reduce the certificate down to a 12A, in particular removing the shot of the many being set on fire and running across the shot. However, this was rejected by Boyle as he did not want to remove any scenes from the film as he believed if a scene was cut then the true essence and reality of the film would have been lost. The film could be seen as a social realism so Boyle believed that the gritty realism of this film had to be displayed and conveyed. In addition to this there was a set time for the film to come out and if Boyle had decided to take on this and cut the film the date would have been set back meaning it had more competitors and would probably not have done as well as it did in the box office. Also the fat that the main scene that was to be cut was the man on fire would have posed a problem for Boyle as the flashback is how Jamal remember the answer meaning there had to be something significant over everything else that engraved that memory into his head and the idea that a man was running through the slums on fire is something that would never be forgotten. If any of the scenes had been cut from the final edit of the film then the essence and impact of the film would have been lost, Slumdog works as a cause and effect and works perfectly the way it is cutting parts would simply make the film less effective and the impact wouldn’t have been so strong on society. The gory violence of this film encourage the audience to empathise with Jamal and understand his hellish childhood as well as teen years as he enters into adulthood, therefore having an audience who are not adults themselves would not allow them to relate to Jamal quite like a 15 year old might 

Another film that gained a 15 certificate was the film Pride. This is due to the occasional strong language used such as the F word, as well as discriminatory language such as ‘queer’ and ‘dyke’ etc. There is also verbal and visual sex references and brief nudity used for comedic elements. There is mild drug use (smoking a joint) and minor violence shown when the miners and police fight and when a brick is thrown through the book shop window. All of these elements are not suitable for a 12A certificate are the behaviour displayed within the film is easily imitable behaviour and is not suitable for viewers who do not understand the context in which the behaviour is displayed, for example when Johnathan is smoking a joint it is clear that in that society it was acceptable however in today’s society it is not as accepted and could be looked down on. However this is in contrast as in the USA Pride was granted an aged 17 certificate meaning you would only view it if you were 17 or older and if you’re younger than 17 you must be assisted by an adult. The film was seen as being of this age rating as it displayed homosexuality which is unfit for under 17’s, the MPAA said there was enough homosexuality in the world without manufacturing any more. They believed that children under 17 were vulnerable so viewing homosexuality would be wrong for them and could potentially corrupt their vulnerable minds, they should be seen heterosexual relationships rather than homosexual relationships. This raises the question about if this this rating was correct or was it more homophobic than anything else? 

Another controversial rating was the rating of the superhero film Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass received a 15 certificate from the BBFC but could be argued that it also fit will with an 18 certificate. The main argument that the film could have been granted an 18 certificate is the fact that during the live stream Kick-Ass and Big Daddy are repeatedly beaten and tortured, after the beating Big Daddy is set on fire and we watch as he is burned alive. This is a problem as for a 15 certificate the BBFC specifically says pain should not be dwelled on, glory and sadistic is not accepted, however in this case it seems that it has been accepted. Another problem comes from the scenes where Hit Girl brutally murders criminals with no remorse (Frank D’Amico’s men and in Rasul’s apartment) the viewing of these murders is accepted by a 15 certificate however it is the context of the murders, there murdered are being carried out by an 11 year old girl with raises many questions for the BBFC. In addition to this the strong language used such as the C word must be considered and have been liable for an 18 certificate as once again this is extremely strong language and in today’s society is classes as one of the most foul and explicit words that can be used, let alone the fact that once again it is a 11 year old girl who is saying it. The strong sexual nature of this film could also allow the film to be an 18 certificate as Dave sexualised his English teacher for no apparent reason and fantasies about women as well as sexualising his girlfriend Katy at any opportunity he can. However this film was given a 15 rating and this can be down to the fact that it does not depict strong sexual activity, the only scene with Dave and Katy they are both fully clothed so could be a reason why the film was given a lower rating. In addition some of the violence in the film can be seen as comedic and or really unrealistic and unbelievable. There is also the idea that as society changes many of these things are not as shocking as they used to be resulting in a 15 rating.  

Overall the BBFC does accurately reflect its ethos and aims and is important as it does try to protect people from viewing things that could potentially harm them or have a negative effect on their life. However, it may be seen as outdated as topics such as sex and drugs are no longer taboo subjects in today’s society meaning the BBFC may want to review some if its rules for classification and alter them.