Certification

An 18 for This is England? This is an outrage

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) had decided to give This is England  an 18 certificate for its use of "realistic violence and racist language". 
Shane Meadows wrote in outrage against the decision to certify his film an 18: 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. To be honest I don't understand it because, yes, the film is affecting but I think it's something that someone of 15 can cope with. It's not like it's a film about the 80s that has no value; it's incredibly relevant politically. It's as much about Iraq as it is about the Falklands. It's as much as about England in 2007 as it is about England in1983. We learnt from this that social realisms need to be accessible to a wider audience as they relate to so many people and making This is England an 18 restricted the audience and wiped out a demographic that the film was targeted at.

The BBFC certified this British social realism film a 15. Their given reason for certifying 15 to The Kid was as follows:

The frequency of the strong language in the film went beyond what is permitted by the BBFC's Guidelines at '12A'/'12' and required the '15' category at which the 'frequent use of strong language (for example, 'fuck')' is allowed. The film also contains a scene in which a jumble of words and pictures are seen scrawled on a wall which reflect the state of mind of the lead character and this includes an example of very strong language. No particular attention is drawn to the word and its isolated appearance met with the allowance of the Guidelines at '15' which state that 'the strongest terms (for example, 'cunt') may be acceptable if justified by the context'.

The strong violence in the film occurs in two distinct contexts. Firstly, there are scenes of domestic violence as the lead character's parents fight with each other and child abuse where the boy is seen being beaten by his mother. Although these scenes are harrowing they are presented with a lack of detail and were permitted at '15' since they do not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury beyond the point at which the circumstances of the boy's terrible home life are established. Strong violence with bloody injury also features in sequences when the lead character is an adult and has become involved in illegal bare-knuckle fighting contests, but the violence is once again delivered without detail that invites the audience to take pleasure in the pain and injury being caused.
The film also contains scenes of alcohol and prescription drug misuse, as well as scenes of moderate sexual activity.

After looking at the guidelines for a 15 certificate on the BBFC webstie, it is clear that our film is to be certified 15. This is because our film will include frequent strong language but the use of the strongest lanquage will not be used excessively and repetively in an agressive tone. The film also includes mild domestic abuse which includes some violence however it is justified and no sadistic or sexulised violence will be shown in our film and no strong gore will be evident.