MEST2: BBFC Institution research

What is the BBFC?

The British Board of Film Classification is a non-governmental organisation, founded by the film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the UK.

How are films rated?

The age ratings for films and TV programmes are reached by a consensus and the examiners watch the films alone, a solo viewing. However, if the film a foreign, this requires a translator in the room. The examiners watch the films and make notes referring to key scenes, bad language, sexual content, drugs etc. Distributors can also request an age certificate to the examiner and they would take this into consideration but if the decisions by the examiners are not consensual then it would be past down to senior examiners.

What issues are there?

The BBFC works on several major principles in determining the age rating of a given work:

• Whether it is in conflict with the law.
• Whether it can cause any harm that may result from the behaviour of potential viewers, but also any ‘moral harm’ that may be caused.
• unacceptable to broad public opinion.
• acceptably portraying the dominant issue 
• Whether it has a dark or unsettling tone that may disturb the audience at that level

the main age rating issues that need to be taken into account include:

• Violence 
• Sex
• Sexual Violence
• Drugs 
• Horror 
• Imitable Behaviour
• Discrimination 
• Language 

Controversial decisions - 'The Dark Knight'

The Dark Knight film generated so much media coverage when it was rated a 12A. This is because their were a lot of complaints from members of the public. Many members of the public thought the violence was to strong to be contained in a 12A category. 

What you might see in a 15 rated movie;

Any of the following:

•   strong violence
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   portrayals of sexual activity
•   strong verbal references to sex
•   sexual nudity
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   discriminatory language or behaviour
•   drug taking

'Adulthood' classification

This film was uncut and award a 15 as it has very strong language, strong violence, sex references and drug use. Adulthood uses strong language which is permitted at a 15 certificate. Also, the sex and sex references were contained at a 15 as images were detailed but nudity has been restricted. Adulthood is also contained at a 15 certificate because there are references to violence.