Do The Right Thing lowered from 18 to 15 for cinema on Wednesday.
The last dvd/blu release had extras rated 18, film rated 15 text on the sleeve, but there was no evidence for that on the bbfc site.
It was always a very soft 18 anyway, I always suspected the theme made the bbfc uncomfortable, rather than the violence actually requiring 18, even in 1989.
I was just looking on the BBFC's website, and although Madame Sousatzka was the first film to get a 12 certificate in the UK - it's listed as 15? I think the DVD is a 15 still. What's going on there then? Looks like they just kept it a 15 from it's VHS video release. Perhaps, the film company just have resubmitted it to the BBFC to get the lower rating.
Starship Troopers was a 15 in the cinema but an 18 on video - very odd.
Were not some films upped to 18 from 15 due to that fact at home you can freeze frame / slo-mo the action, and possibly dwell on the 'unsavoury' bits, whereas in the cinema, the scene is all done and dusted in seconds, and you can't pause / rewind !
Yeah, I think so. Also I think the ease in which home video could be shared and viewed by children lead to some very violent 15's being raised to 18's - since 18-rated videos were generally less prevalent and it was hoped this would act as an extra form of protection.
Off topic but the bbfc gave an 18 rating to Gaspar Noe's film Love today, slightly surprising as it's widely reported as being little more than 2 hours of hardcore pornography.
Off topic but the bbfc gave an 18 rating to Gaspar Noe's film Love today, slightly surprising as it's widely reported as being little more than 2 hours of hardcore pornography.
Yeah - apparently, according to a few reviews that I read - it's meant to have the most raunchiest sex scenes ever filmed. It looks like it could get the sort of attention that "Blue is the Warmest Colour" got a few years back.
Were not some films upped to 18 from 15 due to that fact at home you can freeze frame / slo-mo the action, and possibly dwell on the 'unsavoury' bits, whereas in the cinema, the scene is all done and dusted in seconds, and you can't pause / rewind !
With Starship Troopers:
The board also takes a harder line on videos over cinema releases, on the basis they can be seen more easily by children and scenes can be played over and over again.
Last year it upped the video classification of the Paul Verhoeven film Starship Troopers from 15 to 18, which it had been in the cinema. However, it also lowered the teenage horror movie I Know What You Did Last Summer from 18 to 15, saying the effects were "considerably diminished on the small screen".
4 seconds were already cropped for the R-rated US release, which is the only version available internationally. Hope someone releases a Director's cut on Blu-Ray.
Yeah, I think so. Also I think the ease in which home video could be shared and viewed by children lead to some very violent 15's being raised to 18's - since 18-rated videos were generally less prevalent and it was hoped this would act as an extra form of protection.
Doesn't that defeat the whole point of having a ratings system?
Yes.
If a film has been rated as OK for 15 year olds, then it's OK for 15 year olds, and no-one under. Simple as that.
If it gets upgraded due to complaints about it not being OK for 15 year olds (e.g. 30 Days of Night or Starship Troopers) then fair enough, but it's not fair on 15-17 year old's that they can't watch films that are perfectly fine for them just because people under that age watch it and get affected by it even though there's a big, red number on the front warning them not to.
There were many strong 15-rated films that were touch and go in the first place - and were only allowed a cinema 15-rating due to the fact kiddies definitely weren't allowed in to those screenings by law. So in a way, they were being quite generous to opt for a lower rating at cinema release to allow 15yo's to see it.
And back in the day, 18-rated video tapes were generally kept out of reach of young children a lot more than 15-rated videos. It was a sound theory, although it's a bit of a moot point these days, I doubt the BBFC bother to even think of upgrading 15's for those reasons any more...
As long as you can see the context of the medium and its availability, it made sense I think.
Off topic but the bbfc gave an 18 rating to Gaspar Noe's film Love today, slightly surprising as it's widely reported as being little more than 2 hours of hardcore pornography.
Well, they gave an 18 rating to 9 Songs. Something simply being sexually explicit does not make it automatically pornographic; it's a matter of context and deciding whether the film has artistic merit. The BBFC guidelines make it pretty clear that it's a hard 18 and the nature of the film is made clear.
Well, they gave an 18 rating to 9 Songs. Something simply being sexually explicit does not make it automatically pornographic; it's a matter of context and deciding whether the film has artistic merit. The BBFC guidelines make it pretty clear that it's a hard 18 and the nature of the film is made clear.
Plus it's in french which automatically makes it "artistic" rather than "pornographic".
And back in the day, 18-rated video tapes were generally kept out of reach of young children a lot more than 15-rated videos.
Keeping 18's out reach 'a lot more' than 15's is just irresponsible parenting. 15's are restricted to older teenagers, so of course they are going to have strong violence in them; just because they are a bit less extreme than an 18 still doesn't mean that they're at all OK for younger kids.
Just been checking up on the BBFC again, and it seems that "Green Card" is still a 15. Despite being an early 12 in the cinemas - and yep, you guessed it - a 15 on video. Oddly, for it's 2002 re-release on DVD - it's still a 15.
Comments
The last dvd/blu release had extras rated 18, film rated 15 text on the sleeve, but there was no evidence for that on the bbfc site.
It was always a very soft 18 anyway, I always suspected the theme made the bbfc uncomfortable, rather than the violence actually requiring 18, even in 1989.
Anyone who has never seen it really should.
It is a silly film.
Was downgraded to 12 for video release in 2006.
Must be a cinema re-release coming.
Batman was the first film released with the certificate. Madame Sousatzka was the first film to receive it.
Ah, it was given a 12 certificate for London only as an experiment:
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592516/
This rating does not appear on the BBFC website entry for the film.
Ah, I stand corrected. Thanks.
Were not some films upped to 18 from 15 due to that fact at home you can freeze frame / slo-mo the action, and possibly dwell on the 'unsavoury' bits, whereas in the cinema, the scene is all done and dusted in seconds, and you can't pause / rewind !
Or something along those lines.
Yeah - apparently, according to a few reviews that I read - it's meant to have the most raunchiest sex scenes ever filmed. It looks like it could get the sort of attention that "Blue is the Warmest Colour" got a few years back.
With Starship Troopers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/512685.stm
4 seconds were already cropped for the R-rated US release, which is the only version available internationally. Hope someone releases a Director's cut on Blu-Ray.
If a film has been rated as OK for 15 year olds, then it's OK for 15 year olds, and no-one under. Simple as that.
If it gets upgraded due to complaints about it not being OK for 15 year olds (e.g. 30 Days of Night or Starship Troopers) then fair enough, but it's not fair on 15-17 year old's that they can't watch films that are perfectly fine for them just because people under that age watch it and get affected by it even though there's a big, red number on the front warning them not to.
There were many strong 15-rated films that were touch and go in the first place - and were only allowed a cinema 15-rating due to the fact kiddies definitely weren't allowed in to those screenings by law. So in a way, they were being quite generous to opt for a lower rating at cinema release to allow 15yo's to see it.
And back in the day, 18-rated video tapes were generally kept out of reach of young children a lot more than 15-rated videos. It was a sound theory, although it's a bit of a moot point these days, I doubt the BBFC bother to even think of upgrading 15's for those reasons any more...
As long as you can see the context of the medium and its availability, it made sense I think.
Well, they gave an 18 rating to 9 Songs. Something simply being sexually explicit does not make it automatically pornographic; it's a matter of context and deciding whether the film has artistic merit. The BBFC guidelines make it pretty clear that it's a hard 18 and the nature of the film is made clear.
Plus it's in french which automatically makes it "artistic" rather than "pornographic".
I was referring to "Love".