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Film Regulation: BBFC (The Past)

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the way the BBFC has operated
in the past:

ADVANTAGES:

• The system is one of self-regulation rather than government imposed regulation


– the film industry voluntarily submits works to the BBFC to be classified and
abides by their decisions. This means the BBFC has some degree of
independence and stops films becoming agents of government propaganda, as
happened in Nazi Germany in the 30s and 40s.
• Films are judged by people who understand and are sympathetic to film-making
– they should make educated judgements?
• The BBFC reviews its criteria every so often and updates them to reflect the
public’s ideas about what is and what is not acceptable. This makes its approach
flexible.
• It has an appeals process and will reclassify banned films if approached. It gives
guidelines about what film-makers need to do to gain a classification or certain
rating. This gives film makers a fair chance at getting their work exhibited.
• In 1984 they change the C in their title from Censors to Classification – suggests
they are not all about forbidding us to see certain things but try to allow as much
material to be exhibited as possible, only with restrictions...
• They revamp their remit to take into account new technologies (e.g. video) – this
ensures they do not become redundant or ineffective.
• They are self-funding (gain money from fees charged for classification) and are
run on a not-for-profit basis – this should protect them from corruption.
• Transparency – the BBFC publishes its rulings and reasons for those rulings for
all to see – the MPAA (US equivalent) does not, nor does it publish who its Board
members are, something else the BBFC makes known...

DISADVANTAGES:

• They are subject to the concerns of the presiding president/chairman – compare


the views of TP O’Connors to Trevelyan! The BBFC could be influenced by
someone’s personal views and be unrepresentative of the public.
• Its rulings can be inconsistent, partly because of the above
• The BBFC lacks any real power to enforce its decisions (apart from video
recordings) – it is Local Authorities who decide to allow or not allow a film to be
shown – generally they abide by the BBFC guidelines BUT not always – The
Exorcist was passed at X but some authorities refused to screen it; some areas
showed Spiderman to children younger than 12, despite the BBFC rating it as
such.
• It is not as independent as it thinks – it needs Home Office approval for its
Director and has co-operated with the government in times of war about film
censorship – it may be swayed to reflect government agendas BUT has also been
criticised roundly by MPs for some adjudications!

HOW WOULD YOU CHANGE THE bbfc IF YOUY WERE CHARGED WITH
MODERNISING IT TODAY?

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