The difficult art of rating "children's movies"



(Credit: Wikipedia.  Accessed June 27, 2024)


In 1978, Britain was blessed with this movie, Watership Down, based on the 1971 novel by Richard Adams.  The British Board of Film Classification saw fit to give it a "U" rating, which stood for the same all-ages rating as the U.S. "G."  This wasn't changed in the slightest until last year, despite many scenes of gory violence and existential terror.

I must admit that I could read the book comfortably enough.  But that was the material reduced to black ink on white paper.  The same scenes and emotions rendered graphically on screen would have hit me a lot harder.  This Board should have paid real attention to what they were watching.

A few bits from the comment thread of the first video link (I'm using symbols in place of the original commenter handles):

👦👦: '“Runs blocked with dead bodies"

don't you just love kids movie quotes 😊'

👦👦👦: 'Yeah Ik so cute and friendly 😊😊😊😊'

👵: 'How is THIS from a "children's movie"?  "But I knew how it was going to go, I knew what they would think -- because **I'm Bruno, and everyone always assumes the worst!**"  This from a character who's lived the last 10 years half-starved in the walls.

 

'No.  Seriously.'


It's perfectly obvious that the art of figuring out what's "appropriate for children" didn't advance as much as we think between 1978 and 2021.  "Granny" went on to describe Encanto as "Watership Down take away the literal bloodshed."  

Certainly, neither of these movies would be comfy viewing for claustrophobes!

Oh, and I forgot to mention Coraline and Paranorman!!


 


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