Originally Posted by theonlyweeman:
“The first film classified 12A by the BBFC was The Bourne Identity, Spiderman was later reclassified down from a 12. (Though some councils had already overruled the BBFC's rating, turning the film into a PG (in East Anglia) and a so called called PG-12 (in Manchester)).”
The 12 was introduced to bridge the enormous gap between PG and 15 which existed at a time when US films with a PG-13 rating were either too strong for a PG or too mild for a 15. And the PG-13 had been introduced in the US because of films like POLTERGEIST, GREMLINS and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, all rated PG in the States and all the subject of controversy (and rightly so - the MPAA had no business allowing such films to go out with a PG - and no, I don't think it's a coincidence that Spielberg's name is on all of these films in various capacities...).
But the 12 was highly controversial at times. I remember standing in line to see the 1989 version of BATMAN (I was young and foolish) and seeing pre-teen kids being ejected from the queue, with no hope of them getting into the cinema under any circumstances. That was the rule at the time, and cinemas would have been in breach of their license agreements if they hadn't kept a watchful eye on who was allowed to see certain films. The BBFC website says MRS. DOUBTFIRE was passed with a PG after cuts in 1994, because of some especially rude jokes, though I coulda sworn it was shown with a 12, leading some parents to complain that their kids had been turned away from what they thought was a family film (that's debatable, but what
should have been a 'family' film was rendered rude in places because of the commercial necessity of the PG-13 rating).
But it was SPIDER-MAN that really set the cat amongst the pigeons. The BBFC was absolutely right to give the film a 12 - it was simply too violent for a PG, and many people would have complained if it had gone out with that rating. Indeed, it would have constituted an abdication of responsibility by the BBFC. But because it was a superhero movie, many parents felt it was a 'kids' film, possibly because they were unaware of the true extent of the violent content. Stung by the criticism - which had been picked up by the media - the BBFC moved to calm the situation by introducing the 12A certificate, which placed the responsibilty where it belongs - with parents. This has led to a subsequent rise in consumer advice, which can only be a good thing, so that people know in advance what they're going to see, and whether or not they're prepared to tolerate their kids being exposed to such material.