Film ratings - do they matter?

[FishCanFly]

Or do people who assign them are useless jobsworts?

If you go to the BBFC website it explains why each film was given the rating that it was assigned. There is also a page that breaks down the movie in more detail so parents can see if a particular film is suitable for their child. There are spoilers though.

The criteria they follow is pretty rigorous

If you read the BBFC site they break down why films are awarded the certs they are. Surely it’s a good thing, you wouldn’t want your kids seeing something distressing or violent/sexual etc by accident because a film hadn’t been vetted and certified correctly?

You can't guess what the movie is going to be like from the promotional poster/title.

Take the movies Ted or Deadpool. From the poster they look like a U/PG (similar to Paddington) and 12A (typical Marvel superhero rating)

I don't follow movie ratings but knowing that they were 15s would lead me to make sure that my kids didn't watch them while at primary. (My kids watch 12A from 7ish?)

Yes they absolutely do. We have unlimited passes for odeon so go to the cinema a lot. Parents frequently take very young (under 5) children to see 12A films. Particularly anything with super heros or space etc. The content is frequently unsuitable and the children get bored. So go to the loo, run around and talk, disrupting the film for others. There are also times when children are obviously frightened.

As pp's have said the BBFC have good reasoning and explain it on their website. I think most children are pretty aware and don't think we should baby them too much. But I also think it is potentially harmful to expose them to things they don't understand or might fin scary.

No they mean nothing. My kids love a good rape scene.
I mean the nightmares are a bit of a pain, but once I’ve left them to cry it out , it’s all good.

I ask this because my DS, aged 10, is very much into westers. And i have a collection. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is rated 18. Well i don't have enough expletives to whoever did this

www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly

The parents and kids on this site think that 12+ is a more "realistic" rating.