The British Board Of Film Classification

1. The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-
governmental body, which has classified cinema films since it was
set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was
passed in 1984. The films certificates range from U to R18:
– Universal (suitable for everyone)
– Parental guidance. Your parents may have to check the film
before you can watch it.
– Cinema release suitable for people only 12 years and over.
Younger children can only watch the film accompanied with an
adult:
- Video release only suitable for 12 years and over. Cannot
be sold to anyone under 12.
– Suitable for only 15 years and over. Things you may see in a
15 rated film:
 frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
 portrayals of sexual activity
 strong verbal references to sex
 sexual nudity
 brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
 discriminatory language or behaviour
 drug taking and strong violence
– Suitable for adults. Things you may see in a 18 rated film:
 Very strong violence
 Frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***') and / or very strong language (e.g.
‘c***’)
 Strong portrayals of sexual activity
 Scenes of sexual violence
 Strong horror
 Strong blood and gore

2.  Real sex (in some circumstances)
 Discriminatory language and behaviour
– Adult’s works for licensed premises only. The R18 category is
a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of
showing sex (real) or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be
shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas.
Classification Process
In order to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films/
videos and to give viewers information about films/videos they might need to
know before watching a particular film or video they decide to watch, the
BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. In
how they do this the BBFC watches the film/video all the way through and
give a rating to the film/video that they think is right. The rating is considered
due to the BBFC classification guidelines. When examining, examiners will
discuss with each other the right ratings for films and will look at issues such
as discrimination, drugs, horror, dangerous and easily imitable behaviour,
language, nudity, sex, and violence when making decisions on the rating for
the film. The BBFC also looks at the theme of the work is also an important
consideration. We also consider context, the tone and likely impact of a work
on the potential audience.
The ratings on DVD/Blu-ray may be stricter than the rating for movies at
cinemas as the BBFC are familiar with underage home viewing.
Legal Acts
Obscene publications act 1959
An Act to amend the law relating to the publication of obscene matter; to
provide for the protection of literature; and to strengthen the law concerning
pornography.
Video recordings act 1984
The Video Recordings Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom that was passed in 1984. It states that commercial video
recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry a classification
that has been accepted upon by an authority designated by the Home Office.
Protection of children act 1999
An Act to require a list to be kept of persons considered unsuitable to work
with children; to extend the power to make regulations under section 218(6) of
the Education Reform Act 1988; to make further provision with respect to that
list and the list kept for the purposes of such regulations; to enable the
protection afforded to children to be afforded to persons suffering from mental
impairment; and for connected purposes. This means that the actor that
portrayed Jessica in the descent (who was age 6 or 7 at the time) could only

3. film for 4 hours a day. Beside this, the actor who portrayed Jessica also needs
to have time for education. If the makers of the descent don’t abide by this law
they could suffer serious consequences such as arrests or getting sewed by
the actors guardian.
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to
control the ways in which their material may be used. So if the makers of the
descent don’t follow the rules by the copyrights act they could get sewed for
not abiding by it. This means if the makers of the descent didn’t ask for
permission for the use of brands like the land rover brand in the car crash
scene they could get sewed a lot of money for not asking for permission and if
the descent music wasn’t originally made they can get sewed a lot of money
for not using original music.
Banning and censorship of films in the UK
The bbfc take action to films that they believe will give a moral panic and a
public disruption. These are called video nasties, which were a flag of
concern for the public due to the fact that people could go rent movies (horror
movies) that were explicitly graphic or gory. People could also access movies
(horror movies) that are above the normal age range. This meant underage
viewing at home could occur. So kids could watch these graphic and
disturbed horror films through their vhs or whatever they could watch it on.
Through the video nasties this was the invention of the video recordings act in
1984. The video recordings act allows the bbfc to ban films that have caused a
public uproar. These films may be explicitly graphic or somehow very disturbing.
Banned films by the video nasty’s are film such as ‘I spit on your grave’. This film
was banned due to the fact that it contained a disturbing scene were a woman is
raped by a gang. The public claimed this scene as deeply disturbing and
unenjoyable to watch causing its ban of the film.
The Descent
The reason why the descent was given an 18 rated film instead of a 15 rated film
is because the descent contains content that redeems the film to be an 18 rated
film. The BBFC classification of an 18-rated film consist the film to have strong
horror, strong blood and gore, strong sexual activity and strong language. With
the descent the descent contains scenes of strong language, strong horror and

4. strong blood and gore. These scenes are mainly when the girls are killing the
monsters in gruesome ways. One scene where one of the girls kills a monster in a
gruesome way is where Sarah kills a monster by pressing her thumbs against the
monsters eyes. With graphic scene like this, this redeems the film to be an 18
rated film. Beside this, the film raises a lot of ethical constraints that would raise
the rating of the film. One scene is where Sarah daughter (Jessica) is killed in a
car crash by a pole piercing through her body. Although we don’t see the actual
death of Sarah daughter this still raises an issue of the fact that a child has been
killed in a grim way.