Current trend of cutting films to get a 12a certificate
This seems to be happening more and more these days, and I am not a fan of it. I can see why its done, commercially its probably been quite a boost to the ratings for the Hunger Games and Woman in Black, but from an artistic viewpoint its rubbish. I would prefer to see the movie as the makers intended, rather than a watered down version.
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I hate the 12A certificate (I believe 2002's Spiderman is to blame for it). I'm fed up watching movies filled with ignorant 12 year olds (I know they are not all the same, but in my experience the bad ones outweigh the good ones). I especially hate parents that take small children. Just because you can take them to the movie, doesn't mean you should.
The Hunger Games and Woman in Black are the best examples. Two good movies ruined by bad parenting. During the Hunger Games, an 8 year old girl in the row in front of me sobbed and screamed during the arena scenes. During the Woman in Black there was a boy who could have been no more than 5 who ran up and down in front of the screen. Even during the Avengers, there were parents with babies and toddlers sat on their knees!
Unfortunately, money is more important these days. If I had my way, I'd get rid of the 12A certificate.
Yeah it did look silly. It showed you kids being attacked and stabbed, and yet the blades being used were all shiny and clean afterwards.
Its a lot harder to get an 18 certificate these days, so there are very few 18 rated films at the cinema. Looking at the recent BBFC certifications, most the films which have been given an 18 certificate are either art house films or horror - all mainstream movies seem to be aimed at 15 certificate or lower
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/recent/films/
A lot of films that were given 18 certificates in the 1980's, would probably be given 15 certificates if rated today.
The stupid thing is that surely this desensitises the violence, and makes it seem less horrific than it really is.
Drive, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Inglorious Basterds, Watchmen, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the Saw movies, etc.
Everything is easier for the youth of today. You can find out anything online, you can find a girlfriend on fb (back in the day we just didn't have gfs! fb makes it so much more simple, and slutty lol) and all films these days are a 12. Spoilt little shits.
I'm clearly bitter about the technology boost happening just after my teens.:p
But in all seriousness I wouldn't mind 12a if it wasn't for the parents of the younger kids. I have seen parents tell their kids to sit on the opposite side of the screening from them, so they end up bothering other people rather than them. I have seen them bring kids of 6 - 8 years old, who seem not to be able to concentrate on something for more than 20 minutes without having to get up and run around or start screaming. I have even sat through one where the parents brought their baby who insisted in crying often while the parents insisted on ignoring the baby.
It is the reason film lovers have to be almost strategic when it comes to working out when to see the film.
An unfortunate by-product of various aspects of american film industry over the last 25 years. Budgets have gone up, studios only agree to PG-13 to make maximum profit, etc. It's all business.
You get exceptions occasionally. But money usually talks....
It's interesting how the pendulum has swung further from artistic integrity towards studio profit. Would be nice if it swung back one day..
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/CFF275375/
"The Guidelines at '12A'/'12' also state 'The use of strong language (for example, 'f*ck') must be infrequent'. There is a single use of strong language, which is uttered as an exclamation rather than in a directed or aggressive manner.
TRANSFORMERS – DARK OF THE MOON also contains some moderate language (eg 'bitch', 'd*ckhead', 'w*nker')"
That sounds absolutely fine at 12A to me. The King's Speech is a 12A too and contains about 15 uses of the f-word!
That was a 15 first.
I know, but it got a 12A after a request from the distributor. Besides, there's loads of 12As that contain more swearing than Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.
Me too but the makers are the ones who cut films in order to maximise their earnings.
I do wonder about certifications particulalrly the 15. At one end you have films like Tinker Tailor which a bit too much sex, violence and language for a 12 and Final Destination (can't remember which one) that had so much violence that it wouldn't have been allowed in the old x certificate.
The cost of making big films went up significantly. Blockbusters are now in the £150-200 million range for budget. That's a lot to fork out and studios want to make sure they at least earn that back. Consequently, they need as big an audience as possible. So ratings get pushed down to guarantee that.