Netflix’s South Korean survival drama series Squid Game and Warner Bros’ The Suicide Squad topped the 2021 list of complaints received by ratings body the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), according to the organisation’s annual report.
Eleven complaints were made to the BBFC about Squid Game, which carries an age 15 rating. According to the report: “Threat and violence at the 15 level were the main concerns, with some people also worried that children younger than 15 were viewing the series.”
The report stood by the 15 age rating: “Our research has shown that violence occurring within a ‘real-world’ setting registers more strongly with viewers than that which is clearly stylised or fantastical. Squid Game largely takes place within a fantastical game show rather than a recognisable real-world setting.”
The Suicide Squad was the subject of 10 complaints owing to violence at its 15 rating, which the report argued was justified as the focus was “within a comic, fantastical, superhero context mitigated against the violence and gore”.
Slight increase
In 2021, the BBFC received a total of 109 complaints about films, compared to 93 complaints in 2020, 149 in 2019 and 361 in 2018. There is no legal requirement for online players to provide age ratings; however, as of 2019, Netflix struck up a partnership with the BBFC to provide ratings for all of the US streaming platform’s series and films in the UK, which in 2021 entered into long-term agreement after its pilot phase, to cover all of Netflix’s content library.
According to the BBFC, 91% of parents and 95% of teenagers want to see the same age ratings that they know and trust from cinema and DVD/Blu-ray packaging applied on video on demand (VoD) and streaming platforms.
At the close of the year, 27 VoD platforms were licensed to display BBFC age ratings in the UK.
No Time To Die had seven complaints made against its 12A rating, owing to the film’s tone and violence. The report defended its decision, stating: “In No Time To Die, there are a number of scenes in which characters are threatened or are in danger, including in action and chase sequences, but these are not sustained and will be familiar to cinemagoers and fans of the Bond franchise.”
Seven complaints were made about Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The feedback was all from fans who were under the age of 15, and so could not see the film in the cinema, or from the parents of under 15s.
Eternals had four complaints made against it, owing to a sex scene in the context of its 12A rating. The report said the scene “is brief and discreet in line with our Classification Guidelines and so is not strong enough to require a 15 rating”.
A total of 76 complaints were issued against the BBFC’s publication of its language research, and were from members of the public and religious organisations concerned with the classification of bad language at U and PG levels.
In 2021, the BBFC published a language guide for parents to add clarity to which terms may appear at a given rating, with some taking issue with the acceptance of terms ‘God’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ at a PG rating.
The report said: “We of course recognise that individual viewers will have their own view of film content and this is why we provide ratings info to inform viewers of a film’s content ahead of time. The purpose of this information is to assist parents in particular in making informed decisions about whether a film is likely to be suitable for their children.”
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