Essay Plan

Introduction (150)

• Discuss what argument is about and relevant issues

Section 1 (650)

• Fast and Furious 6
• Textual Analysis

Section 2

• Role of BBFC 
• Issues from the past
• Debates
• http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-regulation-and-censorship/
  The Hitchcock film Psycho was given an “X” certificate on release in 1960, (equivalent to the current “18”).  However, on re-release in 1986 it was given a “15”.
• http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-regulation-and-censorship/
  In the 1960s, the use of swear-words in a TV programme was unacceptable.  Now you will frequently hear swear words, although usually under certain conditions, including after the 9pm watershed or when a pre-programme warning is given about bad language.
• Media Magazine 49
  Like Wolf of Wall Street the film raises the debate ‘Should there be an Uncensored Adult category in Film?’ As adults, are we free to watch what we want to? And, like Wolf of Wall Street, a ban on any film simply affords it a massive dose of publicity.
• http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-regulation-and-censorship/
  With a spokesperson for the BBFC telling the Telegraph that “the use of the f-word up to four times in a 12A film is considered acceptable”
• http://www.cbbfc.co.uk/film-ratings/why-we-age-rate-films
  For example, in 1993, the comedy film Mrs.Doubtfire was given a 12 classification by the BBFC. Some councils disagreed with our decision and gave the film a PG.
• http://www.cbbfc.co.uk/film-ratings/why-we-age-rate-films
  No two 12A films are the same and no two children are the same, which is why BBFCinsight is designed to help parents find a good film fit for their child."
• http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2007/apr/23/an18forthisisenglandthis
  By having one piece of violence and one piece of really acute verbal violence I've managed to get an 18 certificate, whereas someone else can slay thousands of people in a single film and that's OK.
  

Section 3

• Secondary Text - Hunger Games/Dark Knight
• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/19/bbfc-change-film-certs-here-are-mine
  Was initially given a 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification but this was lowered to a 12A after producers agreed to make several cuts.
• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/19/bbfc-change-film-certs-here-are-mine
  The debate over the 12A rating was undeniably fiercest however in 2007 after the release of ‘The Dark Knight’. As we’ve already reported, the Batman sequel is the most complained about movie of the last decade in Britain, with 364 complaints.
• http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2008/jul/31/isthedarkknightsuitablefo
  If the BBFC really is not recommending that under-12s go, why choose a classification that could admit them?
• http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/mar/28/hunger-games-12a-classification-concerned-parents
  The British Board of Film Classification had intended to give the movie a 15 rating, but agreed to a 12A following the removal of seven seconds of brutality and bloodshed.
• http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/aug/05/politicsandthearts
  Duncan Smith said he enjoyed the film and thought it was well-made. But he thought the BBFC had "caved in to commercial pressures".
• http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/aug/05/politicsandthearts
  Vaz also said the film should have been a 15. "There's a line between good entertainment and something which influences young minds … We need to be very vigilant in terms of what we do about these issues," he said.
• http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/aug/05/politicsandthearts
  "There is no way that a parent could have been guided by the classification and realised what they were about to see."
• https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/the-most-controversial-12a-films.html
  The debate over the 12A rating was undeniably fiercest however in 2007 after the release of ‘The Dark Knight’. As we’ve already reported, the Batman sequel is the most complained about movie of the last decade in Britain, with 364 complaints.

Section 4

• Historical Text - Terminator/Die hard
• https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/the-most-controversial-12a-films.html
  Another 12A movie that sailed close to the shores of a 15 was ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’ - which got the most complaints in 2003 (54).

Section 5

• Future issues and problems 
• Future of certification
   
• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/19/bbfc-change-film-certs-here-are-mine
  The old principle, whereby BBFC representatives sit through hours of dross in order to create certificates that might protect children from filthy language or behaviour at the cinema, is redundant when kids can watch these films (or far worse) online anyway.
  
  (Mitchell, 2014)
• http://www.cbbfc.co.uk/film-ratings/why-we-age-rate-films
  If the filmmakers decide the likely rating is too high, they may decide to change the film, eg by removing scenes or changing the special effects, so they are more likely to get the lower rating they want. This is called a ‘cut for category’ and is the most common sort of cut made to films in the UK.
• http://www.cbbfc.co.uk/film-ratings/why-we-age-rate-films
  Even today, for films shown in cinemas, councils have the power to ignore any decision made by the BBFC and can give them their own age ratings.
• Media Magazine 49
  We have access to so much information and we are skilled consumers of the media. Most of us are not passive, unthinking consumers of film or other media.
• http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-regulation-and-censorship/
  The BBC has its own powers of regulation, as well as partly being under the influence of Ofcom.  Like many media industries, they try to avoid external regulation and censorship by regulating themselves.

Conclusion