FILM REGULATION: ESSAY PRACTICE

Look at this lesson again (from 13 January 2021). Imagine that you have been set an exam essay along these lines, so write these as your titles and aim to make what you say relate to them: 

"How and why has the regulation of film changed over time?" or

"Changes in society have been reflected by changes in film regulation."

1. Give a very brief account of who regulates film now and what film classification means.

2. Write a paragraph explaining why in the 1930s, the BBFC refused to certify films that (for example) ‘portrayed British officers and forces in disgraceful, reprehensible or equivocal light’ or contained ‘realistic representations’ of the horrors of war’ and even ‘the presentation of objectionable propaganda’.

3. Write a third paragraph introducing Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein,1925) and explain why it was refused certification at first.

4. Write the next paragraph giving an account of why the 12A certificate was introduced - because parents and the industry asked for it. The BBFC explain on their site "For many years parents told us that they wanted to make the decision themselves, and that they were the best judge of whether their 10 or 11 year old would enjoy a 12 film. The BBFC researched this idea and decided to introduce a new certificate for cinemas which allowed parents to choose. They called it 12A with the A standing for 'Advisory' or 'Accompanied'."

5. In this paragraph, compose a topic sentence that refers to the fact that although social attitudes had changed, the 12A certificate was not a simple solution to a problem. Introduce your first case study The Dark Knight as an example of how contentious the 12A certificate proved. Explain the public's complaints and the BBFC's response.

6. Give a second 12A film case study The Woman In Black, explaining audience responses and the BBFC's reasons for classifying it as 12A. 

7. The BBFC aim to give adults the right to choose what they watch, within the law. Yet explain why Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999) caused 'moral panics' even though it was classified 18.

8. In this paragraph, complete this topic sentence: "Over time, society's attitudes to film violence has changed. The public has perhaps become desensitized. This is reflected in the public's attitude to Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrik,1971).

9. The ways in which we consume film nowadays makes regulation increasingly problematic as people claim the right to express themselves freely. (Use this as a topic sentence to write the next paragraph, which is a brief reference to how everyone can access film online so that it is difficult to regulate what audiences actually watch).

10. Finally, explain that theorists like Lunt and Livingstone  draw attention to the ways in which media policy is formulated and how the claims of ‘citizen’ and ‘consumer’ can conflict: the traditional distinction is that citizens are involved with politics and consumers are attached to popular culture. For Livingstone and Lunt, all media producers are led by financial considerations and the global nature of contemporary media production and distribution has weakened the UK's control over regulating content.