Should Film Certificates Be Axed, And Why?.
(British Board of Film Certification), which is an independent company. The following are the current rating groups: U - no age restriction, PG - parental guidance and therefore any child must be accompanied by an adult, 12A -twelve plus or with an adult, 15-fiveteen plus only, 18-eighteen plus only. There is much deliberation however as to whether these certificates do actually fulfil the purpose of protecting young and vulnerable people within our modern society.
Numerous film certificates are often ignored by the general public. Young children can quite easily attend 12 rated movies without being questioned at the ticket office. This is generally due to the staff not policing the cinema correctly; obviously the management do not want to limit their audience numbers, which would reduce the financial takings for the film complex.
Films are only certified by one company i.e. the B.B.F.C; this company appears to often categorise the films in accurately. There are many examples where the rating has been inappropriate i.e. either too high or too low; two such films could be Billy Elliot and Macbeth. Billy Elliot was rated a 15 movie because of the large amount of swearing within the dialogue. Many young people are already well aware of the bad language and swearing used in the plot. This Film does not actually contain a great deal of violence. Likewise Macbeth is also a 15 rating; this is absurd because young people study this book as part of the school curriculum and would therefore benefit greatly from seeing the film. If one reads the book, which children are encouraged to do, they are already well aware of the violent nature of the story, and will therefore not be necessarily shocked by the film content.
Many children look younger than they actually are. Some children are not allowed into movies that they are perfectly entitled to watch. Many film series like "Star Wars" are given different ratings, children will be allowed to watch the first and third and then find out they cannot watch the second.
