How far
do changes to the regulation of media reflect broader social changes?
Regulation is an essential practice in the process of
releasing any cinematic production, to allow audiences to identify the type of
content and themes present in the product in order to self-regulate their media
consumption and prevent impressionable audiences such as children and
vulnerable adults from potential harm. The film rating system has changed
drastically since the BBFC was founded back in 1912. The organization’s
original intent was to censor, rather than classify, which is evident through
the change of name from ‘British Board of Film censors’ to ‘British Board of
Film Classification’ in 1984. As of today, the BBFC has 7 classifications
labelled with suggested age restrictions designed to be easily recognisable by
consumers. However, back when the organization began, only 4 classifications
existed (U, H, A and X) with only U remaining to this day. It wasn’t until 1982
when we were first introduced to a variant the age-based system we are familiar
with today; however it wasn’t until 1989 when a 12 category was introduced. The
development of this system has undoubtedly been influenced by the constant
progression of both films and audiences alike, as producers tackle more and
more films tackle controversial subject matters or fall into a middle ground
between ratings, the latter being what influenced the creation of the 12/12A
Classifications. Many would argue that this category mainly benefits the
producers, as it allows films which would have initially been rated 15 to be
targeted to the young teen demographic: The hunger games and twilight trilogies
are good examples of this. This is evidence that throughout the years Media
regulation has become much more liberal. While once, one of the BBFC’s main
concerns was the issues surrounding impressionable young audiences from copying
actions they see in the media (copycat theory), now the BBFC allow films such
as the ‘Hunger Games’ trilogy, which has a predominant focus on violence (child
on child) to be targeted towards a young teen audience. This raises the
question whether The BBFC are more lenient towards the inclusion of violence
over sex, as films with high levels of violence such as ‘Deadpool’ received only
a 15 rating, while abroad it has received an 18 certificate. Films which focus
on sex, such as ‘Fifty shades of grey’ and ‘Blue is the warmest colour’ however
have received an 18 rating. For the case of ‘Blue is the warmest colour’, it’s
initial country of release (france) are much more liberal when it comes to
representation of sex in the media, not to mention thefact that the UK are
still stricter than most countries when it comes to the representation of LGBT
relationships, with many progressive media texts being heavily censored in the
UK.
Since the BBFC’s introduction in 1912, we have been exposed
to a variety of different media platforms such as TV, Games and most recently,
the internet. While for the most part, the same classifications can apply to
these platforms, the ways in which they are regulated varies drastically, for
one, while someone who’s underage cannot be legally permitted to view a film
above their age rating, it is harder to prevent children from accessing content
which is being broadcasted live. While the watershed hours were established in
1964, meaning that ‘mature’ content is only broadcasted after 9pm, nothing is
ensuring that all children are in bed before this content is aired. As well as
this, currently, little is preventing people of any age from accessing whatever
content they desire 24/7 through the introduction of streaming services such as
Netflix and user-generated content on sites such as YouTube. Neither of these
platforms are controlled by a regulatory board, allowing these services to
stream content which may not be suitable by OFCOM’s standards.
As for videogames, the constant upgrades allow
for authentic simulations of real world scenarios. While violent and sometimes
pornographic games have existed as far back as the late 1970s, the platforms
were still very niche, it wasn’t until the early 1990s when controversy
surrounding games such as Mortal kombat and doom sparked outrage, resulting in
the BBFC regulating games until 2004, when PEGI was formed to exclusively focus
on regulating game releases. PEGI appear to have a liberal take on regulation,
such as their decision to allow hatred to be released, despite the game
allowing simulation of murder of innocent civilians. However, Releases of games
aimed at children such as the 1999 Pokémon games and New super Mario bros for
the DS received a PEGI 12 rating for
their inclusion of gambling minigames, a minor aspect of these generally family
friendly games which both initially received a 3 rating, which suggests that
gambling is looked at with a more conservative view than back in the 90s, which
is contradicted by the fact that forms of real-world gambling are present in
games accessible by children, such as the FIFA Franchise. The fact that both
‘The Hunger games’ and these releases share a 12 rating suggests that the
different regulators have widely varying standards surrounding what is suitable
for each age demographic. The most controversial of these being the internet.
The fact that individual sites self-regulate their own content has resulted in
bias surrounding the target demographics of content. For example, YouTube have
stated in e-mails to creators who have had their work demonetised that this is
due to their content not being suitable for a 5-year-old, despite YouTube
requiring the user to be 13 to make an account. Creators and content which
successfully target children are typically safe from demonetisation due to
their advertiser friendly nature, despite often containing themes and imagery
which would not be deemed appropriate by regulatory bodies such as OFCOM. While
it is important we have a wide range of regulators who are specialised to their
focus area, I feel that it is important that the age classification system does
not range too far between each individual regulator, as this will undoubtedly
cause confusion amongst parents.
