British Board of Film Classification - Attitudes To Censorship

Attitudes To Censorship

Historically the Board has faced strong criticism for an over-zealous attitude in censoring film. Prior to the liberalising decade of the 1960s, films were routinely and extensively censored as a means of social control. For example, Rebel Without a Cause was cut to reduce the "possibility of teenage rebellion". Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night was cut to remove "overtly sexual or provocative" language.

The BBFC's attitude became more liberal during the 1960s, and they concentrated on censoring films that featured graphic sex and violence. However, some Board decisions caused controversy in the 1970s when it banned a series of films that were released uncut and were popular in other countries (such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Last House on the Left), or released other controversial films, such as Straw Dogs and A Clockwork Orange. However, under recent President Andreas Whittam Smith and current incumbent Sir Quentin Thomas, guidelines have been relaxed again, allowing the release, usually uncut, of these previously banned films on video and in cinemas. Some films from the 1970s remain unreleased, but many of these titles remain banned primarily because their distributors have not chosen to re-submit the films to the BBFC, almost certainly for commercial reasons. If they were, they would be likely to receive a more sympathetic hearing than 30 to 40 years ago. Two notable examples from this period include the 1969 film Love Camp 7, rejected in 2002, and Women in Cellblock 9, released in 1977 and rejected in 2004. Both films contain substantial scenes of sexual violence and have remained completely banned following a re-submission since 2000.

In general, attitudes to what material is suitable for viewing by minors have changed over the years, and this is reflected by the reclassification of older films being re-released on video. A 1913 film given the former A rating could very probably be rated U today. An extreme example of this is the rating of the horror film Revenge of the Zombies, with a U certificate upon its video release in the late 1990s, whereas, when it was first examined as a film in 1951, it was given one of the first X ratings. In some cases, it does not change, as was the cases of the 1931 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was passed A with cuts for its original release, and the 2008 limited re-release was given a 12A certificate, and Ghost, which was given a 12 certificate when it was originally released, but it was recently re-examined on film and given a 12A certificate. In other cases, the certificate is only lowered by one. This was the case for the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London, which was given an X certificate when first released, and subsequent 18 certificates on video but when examined for a limited re-release in 2009, the rating was finally lowered by one certificate to a 15.

The BBFC are also known to cut the words 'spaz', 'moron' and 'retard' from U and PG certified films and videos on the grounds of discrimination (though "spaz" and "moron" aren't considered as derogatory in the United States as they are in the United Kingdom: "spaz" in American slang means "someone who overreacts to a minor problem" while "moron" is used as a synonym for "idiot." "Retard," however, has been censored on some American TV shows for being derogatory). One example of this is when Marmaduke was passed U after the word 'spaz' was removed. The uncut version is rated 12A. They also award higher ratings to films that contain potentially imitable and dangerous behaviour; this includes all three Jackass films being passed 18, and Fred: The Movie being passed 12A. They are also very serious about suicide themes, references, or attempts, and will either cut them or award a higher rating. An example of this was in 2010, when the Board cut the Hindi film Anjaana Anjaani by two minutes and thirty-one seconds for a cinema 12A certificate in order to remove references to and sight of someone attempting suicide by asphyxiation. The cut footage was put back into the film for its video release, which was passed 18. The Hunger Games was assessed before formal classification, with the film's studio wishing to obtain a 12A for financial and marketing reasons. In order to get this, 7 seconds of footage was cut and blood splashes were digitally removed from four scenes, as an alternative to the uncut film being rated 15.