Regulation: BBFC

The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984. The BBFC Annual Report provides a review of the activities and classification decisions of the Board over the calendar year, as well as information about the BBFC's financial position as required by law.

Cinema
The British Board of Film Censors was set up in 1912 by the film industry as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally.

Video
In 1984 Parliament passed the Video Recordings Act. This act stated that, subject to certain exemptions, video recordings offered for sale or hire commercially in the UK must be classified by an authority designated by the Secretary of State.

Finance
The BBFC is a not for profit organisation, and its fees are adjusted only to cover its costs. In order to preserve its independence, the BBFC never receives subsidies from either the film industry or the government.

How does the classification work?
In order to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give consumers information they might need about a particular film or video before deciding whether or not to view it, the BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. This independent scrutiny prior to release ensures the highest possible level of protection and empowerment.

Case study: Fight club

Film information

• Fight Club
• Director: David Fincher
• Status: 18 uncut
• Year: 1994

"The first rule of Fight Club is: 'You don't talk about Fight Club'. The second rule of Fight Club is: "You don't talk about Fight Club". Thus runs the tagline for this David Fincher film submitted to the BBFC in 1999.
Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, the film had caused something of a sensation at the Venice International Film Festival when some critics reacted strongly to both the film's thesis and its level of personal violence, while others praised its imaginative approach and strong performances from Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. In particular, Alexander Walker, then veteran critic of the London Evening Standard, who had seen it in Venice, inveighed against the film as "a toxic experience ... an inadmissible assault on personal decency ... and on society itself. It resurrects the Führer principle. It promotes pain and suffering as the virtues of the strongest. It tramples every democratic decency underfoot."
There was much debate about the film's subject matter – it was seen as a blackly comic satire of capitalism and consumerism; as an exploration of the loss of male identity in a feminised society, and as about violence as a way in which the powerless male can reassert himself against the corporate world he inhabits. Whatever the meaning, the film presented sequences in which men challenged other men to beat them up, and then allowed their opponents to do so without any resistance from their ‘victims’, the result being scenes of strong, and sometimes bloody, violence.
The film, which came with an 18 request from its distributor, 20th Century Fox,  was seen by most of the BBFC's examiners, and also by the BBFC Director, Robin Duval, his Deputy, and the President and Vice-Presidents, provoking a wide range of opinion. While BBFC examiners found the film stylish and challenging, and some felt an uncut 18 was acceptable for this adult viewing experience, there were concerns under the BBFC Guidelines of the time about the glamorisation of violence and the potential for encouraging an interest in organised bare-fist fighting. Neither the novel nor the film condoned brutal fighting, as the conclusion of the narrative makes clear.