The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) regulates age ratings for films in the UK. Films are carefully assessed by examiners based on factors like discrimination, drugs, violence, and sexual content. They are then placed into one of several age rating categories: U (universal), PG (parental guidance), 12A, 15, or 18. Each category has specific restrictions on what types of content are allowed. For example, a U film can have very mild violence while an 18 film has almost no restrictions. While the BBFC aims to properly rate films for audiences, their standards may change over time or differ from public opinions, potentially impacting filmmakers and their target audiences.

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Regulation – The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)
Within the film industry, before films are allowed to be released for the public to watch, they
have to go through regulations that age rate their filmto protect young children from seeing
content that would change their opinions and views, that may lead them to take negative
actions. However, only films that are going to be broadcasted to large audiences will have to
go through these regulations. Filmmakers who use a different platform to showcase their
films, such as YouTube, won’t have to go through these regulations. Nevertheless, these film
makers will need to meet YouTube’s terms and conditions. If they fail to meet these terms
and conditions, the film will be rejected from the platform.
In the UK, all of the British films are submitted to BBFC (British Board of Film Classification),
where they are carefully assessed by examiners, who take extensive notes. These notes will
then lead to the final decision in which category the film belongs to. The films are assessed
based on 8 different categories that play the main role in process of making the right decision.
These eight categories include: discrimination, drugs, imitable behaviour, language, nudity,
sex, threat and violence. These different factors will help the examiners to identify which
category the film should belong in. The categories that can be chose between are: Universal
(U), Parental Guidance (PG), 12A/12 (Suitable for 12 year olds and over), 15 (Suitable only for
15 year olds and over), 18 (Suitable only for adults), R18 (shown only in licensed cinemas and
sex shops, and adults only).
U
Firstly, the U age category means that any age person is able to access the movie when it is
being broadcasted on any platform available. Any film that is in the U category should be
suitable for nursery children and set within a positive framework. When considering
discrimination, the discriminatory language or behaviour is not clearly disapproved of.
Looking at drugs, illegaldrugs or drug misusemust be infrequent and harmless unless the film
is used to promote the awareness toward anti-use of drugs and their harm. Any dangerous,
anti-social behaviour and weapons that younger audiences may copy should not be used in
the content of a U film. The use of bad language should be very mild and infrequent, as well
as occasional nudity without any or very mild sexual content. In terms of threat, scenes that
may be scary or cause anxiety for younger children should be very mild, brief or unlikely.
Finally, in terms of violence that can be seen within the film should be very mild or not used
at all, protecting younger audiences from copying actions that are represented in the film. A
great example of U age rated film might be a cartoon by Disney ‘Frozen’ as it is suitable for all
of the audiences. This is due to its innocent and positive content, which could influence some
of the children in a positive way.
PG
Secondly, in terms of parental guidance, this category ensures that the film is acceptable for
general viewing. However, it may also contain scenes that could be disturbing for younger
children, therefore, parental supervision is needed. In terms of discrimination, language or
behaviour is unlikely to be accepted. The only reference to illegal drugs or drug misuse for a
PG must be purely for educational purposes. In terms of behaviour, there should be no

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detailed dangerous or anti-social behaviour that children are going to respond to by copying
it, for example, through glamorisation of easily accessible weapons like knives. PG will also
only allow bad language that is very mild. There might be a brief moment of nudity, but no
sexual content involved. In terms of sexual activity on its own, this might be mild but not
frequent. Regarding threats and violence, when the characters are in danger, the moments
should be short and not intense. Furthermore, there should only be very mild violence that
can also include moderate violence without any detail. An example of PG movie is ‘The
Greatest Showman’ by Michael Gracey, it is aPG due to the positivemessage about hard work
and determination, but it has some violent scenes where the main characters are being
attacked, in a fire or developing a relationship.
12A
Next, 12A is a category that contains content that may not be suitable for younger children
below 12, but if the content is personally accepted by the guardian, then the film can be
viewed by a child who is under 12 as long as they are under guardian’s supervision. In terms
of discrimination, the aggressive discriminatory language and behaviour should not be used.
If the drugs are shown in the piece of content, there should be no detail, positive perspective
or detailed information on how and when to use them. This is to ensure that the content
doesn’t change the views of younger viewers, which might lead to them trying the techniques
at home. In terms of imitable behaviour, there should be no dangerous or anti-social
behaviour that viewers may potentially want to copy. There should also be no glamorisation
of realistic weapons such as knives that young viewers could access themselves after the film
has been viewed. Strong language can be used but it has to be very short and not very
frequent. Additionally, it depends on the manner that it is used with the strong language in
order to fit into 12A criteria. When considering if a filmis a 12A, nudity and sex side must also
be taken into account. Some nudity is accepted as long as it is in sexual context and brief
without detail.Sex is accepted but should be brief without any detailand not frequent. Finally,
threat and violence are accepted as long as the scenes are not descriptive, for example, shots
with blood and the scenes of horror or disturbance shouldn’t be frequently used in the
content. For example, Robin Hood (I) is categorised as a 12A as there are violent scenes
happening, but without too much detail.
15
15 is another category that a filmcan be placed in. 15 means that people who are 15 and over
are allowed to watch the content, therefore under 15-year-olds won’t be able to rent, view
or rate it. Specifically, discriminatory language or behaviour may not be endorsed but can
include racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes. In terms of drugs, films are able
to show drug taking, however, they are not able to encourage the idea of drug misuse.
Imitable behaviour like suicide or self-harm is acceptable but should not be shown in too
much detail as it may be disturbing for the target audience. In addition to this, the use of
weapons will depend on the setting, context and realism. Language-wise, there might be a
very strong language used but depending on the manner that it’s used and how frequently in
the piece of content. When considering nudity and sex, there are no restrictions on the
amount of nudity or sexual activity in educational context, however, there shouldn’t be a
large amount of detail. Finally, in terms of threat and violence, strong threats and horror is

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allowed but there shouldn’t be a focus on any sexual or sadistic threat. Strong violence is
accepted but the focus of injuries or infections should be brief. For example, ‘Insidious’ is a
horror movie that is in the category of 15. This is becausethere are moments of a supernatural
threat as well as the use of very strong language.
18/ R18
The final part of the rating is 18 and R18. The 18 category states that no one younger than 18
should be allowed to watch, rent or rate the movie. In terms of the restrictions that are set
for the adult audiences, there are almost no restrictions on the content as adults are able to
choose what they want to watch. However, if the material encourages audiences to self-harm
or performs dangerous or illegal acts, which also include sex violence, the film might be not
able to be screened in the cinemas unless the cinema owns the particular license. Therefore,
there is R18 material that is only shown in sex shops or licensed cinemas for adult audiences
only as it includes heavy sex scenes as well as very explicit footage.
Overall, in some case scenarios BBFC are not always correct on how they assess British films.
This is due to audiences who later view the films sometimes feel as though
the content in the movie is too detailed or explicit. As a result, the limits and requirements
that BBFC set for the age rating are based on general public opinions and what they think is
acceptable. This also means, that the age ratings change over time because people needs will
also change along with their opinions and views. For example, the content that wasn’t
acceptable 20 years ago, may only belong to PG category today. However, this also impacts
the filmmakers who target a specific audience as the BBFC may change their opinion on what
is categorised under their desired age range. This can be a big issue if the filmmakers have
used elements that they believe would attract their specific target audience, but because it
was rated higher or lower, this may restrict from audience accessing the film. As a result, a
largeloss of profits can occur for the movie. Finally, in most cases,thefilmmaker willcontinue
communicating with the BBFC in order to see where they can make changes to fit the
particular age category that they personally desire.