Film censorship

BBFC stands for the British board of film classification is an independent non governmental body which has classified films since 1912, they classify films in age groups based on the content and the message portrayed in the film. They pass films based on if they meet requirements of a certain category.

Their role is important because they inspect films made in the film industry and make sure they get a rating so they can be sold and retailed they do this based on the rating they give them. They make sure films are appropriate for specific target audience and not any other group, and this typically dependant on age.

Things that get censored:
Language used gets censored because of language that some people of certain groups may find offensive so they use age ratings to ensure maturity.
Violence gets censored as it may be too graphic or disturbing for people who may be younger or from a certain background.
Nudity gets censored in sections of the body for certain audiences of different belief systems or because some parts may be considered inappropriate for younger viewers.

Films being cut means they have had parts taken out of them  as they may have been deemed unfit for viewing. And films being banned means they are not allowed to be shown altogether

For and against:
One example for media censorship is the hypodermic needle theory suggesting views from the media are injected into the audience which makes them share the same beliefs, therefore making people fear the younger generation will be influenced by bad role models in the media. It has also been said by Albert bandura that after a group of small children watched adults playing aggressively and afterwards they wanted to replicate the violence they had seen, which leads them to make the conclusion that young people watching violent films leads to damage and violence towards other people. So without censorship the majority of the public would think that the film industry had a lack of morals.

Arguments against censorship may be that it stops some films being enjoyed because of what is going on around them suggesting unfairness and absolutely no freedom of speech because of some insignificant like fear and if people don't like the film or program they shouldn't view it at all. Some critics have suggested that it imposes will on younger audiences and brings them up to be closed minded and not having a real perception of the world instead only seeing it as perfectly as they do on TV which can lead to deception.

In my opinion I agree with the against arguement as it thoroughly demonstrates that all target audiences are separate and people who aren't looking for specific content shouldn't view it, because when censorship occurs it creates monotony in films and only one set of morals, therefore not encouraging open mindedness or decisiveness in younger children leading to them staying dependant on parents.

Conclusion:
I have learnt that I carefully need to consider my target audiences as some views on content may be conflicting so I need to only produce content relevant to the plot and be specific relating to target audience.