Research: Censorship - Miss Begum

Censorship

Who are the BBFC and what is their role?

- The BBFC stands for British Board of Film classification. They are an independent body which were established in the film industry in 1912. They were then made responsible for deciding the certificates for the different types of film, and it was their decision to allow what age group is allowed to see what type of film. Going through the BBFC legal requirement for all films are imperative as they are those who have duty to keep the public away from inappropriate films/moving images and to keep the audience to not be affected in a bad way.

Why is the role of BBFC important to the film industry?

 

The BBFC is important to the film industry because they are responsible for the final decision of the certificates of a film, which means they have to put the productions to its right genre and suitable for certain age group. Therefore along with the local authorities, whatever they had said, was final. Without their permissions, no production would be allowed to release in any cinema or social networking site.

What things get censored and why?

- Contents of a film that may get censored: extreme violence, rape, drug abuse, graphic scene, torture, sexual violence, animal violence and copycat behaviour.

Natural Born Killers released in 1994 were banned completely in Ireland & denied distribution in USA for having extremely controversial scenes.

 Cannibal Holocaust were filmed in the Amazing rain forest and were banned in over 50 countries till today for having graphic murder and disturb culturals.

The Exorcist was released in 1973 and was banned in many individual town & countries for being horrifying scary and have the idea of religion which is extremely controversial. The film was a psychological thriller and still wasn't available in the UK until 1990.

What is the difference between films being cut and banned? 

- When a film is being cut, it means that the BBFC has reported to the director of the film to cut out of certain scene that could be a little bit too controversial or over extreme violent so that the content of the movie is not too disturbing. But after cutting the scenes that was reported from the BBFC, the movie production then be placed in its right genre and age group that is suitable for the public to views. For example, 'Texas Chainsaw 1974' was banned outright in  many countries for having the highest grossing independent film of all time and have natural of extreme violence with based on real story. This film has been asked to cut many scenes over a long period of time until the BBFC thinks that it is now allow to be out on cinema and still the most influential horror movie in cinema till today.

- When a film is being banned, it means that the BBFC has reported to the director of the film that the production is not allowed to be release due the extremely controversial scene and include very poor narrative due to the fact that there are too much blood and violence in the film and could be very harmful to the public. For example, ''Grotesque'' were banned in many countries for having horrific torture and includes very little narrative. Therefore, the production cannot be release or leak in any countries that does not allow the production to be release to the society except for other countries if they allow the production to be displayed.

      

Forna and Kemode debate

In 1999 Channel 4 broadcasted a short season of programmes about censorship. During this season it showed two short programmes, one of them was about a case fighting for the use of censorship, and the other was against the use of censorship.
Fighting for was a journalist and broadcaster called Aminatta Forna and fighting against was a film critic and broadcaster: Mark Kermode.

Three arguments made by Forna for censorship were...

1. The public associate themselves with different characters and may be influenced to put themselves in that situation.
2. Some films may start to break down the barriers us as humans put up, for example there may be a film about a woman being raped however the woman starts to enjoy even though before they watched the film the audience would think it wrong for her to do so. 
3. The power of words and images featured in some films may affect the audience and have the potential to stir racial hatred etc.

Three arguments made by Kermode against censorship were...

1. Everyone has different reactions and interpretations on what they see in the film. 
2. It is unfair that we are being told what we can and can't watch. As human beings we know what is right and what is wrong so it should be our choice whether to watch it or not. 
3. The issue of responsibility; policing films is impossible, the films we watch should'nt be seen to be encouraging however they should be seen as showing the audience realistic situations e.g. rape/ murder etc..  
  
Personally, I do agree with Forna's debates because when we go to watch a film we don't know what whole narrative of the movie and don't have any idea of what to expect as the trailers don't give away to much information. However we are able to read briefly the storyline of the movie websites such as IMDB, LetMeWatchThis which will gave us an idea to decide whether if we want to watch a certain film or not and also give us an insight on what we should expect from the film. 
On the other hand, Kermode's debates is insignificant to the key knowledge of an expert. He is relating his arguments to his own beliefs and has not looked at how all different people in the society may react to a certain movie.

Conclusion

- All the information above has helped me to have a deeper insight of the BBFC and their important roles in the media industry and has also helped me to develop a wider range of knowledge about different people with different theory and ideas towards media.