Cinema-goers take umbrage at age classifications

Superheroes, sex, and a debate over whether a dog would eat a corpse are some of the issues that have prompted complaints to the organisation responsible for classification ratings so far this year.

Documents released to the Irish Examiner by the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) has revealed some of the parental concerns around some of the movies that played out in cinemas for the first half of 2019 — and the response to these from Ger Connolly, director of film classification.

The new year was just four days old when IFCO received a complaint from someone who saw a man with two kids that “looked about 5 years old” at superhero movie Aquaman.

“I thought it was strange movie for kids that age as the characters were talking about killing each other, war, defilement etc.

“I looked up the rating and it said 12A. I told the guy with the kids this and he ignored me,” the complainant wrote.

They said they also raised it with staff who said the 12A rating means that under 12s must be accompanied, an interpretation the complainant disagreed with.

“The reason this bothered me so much is that my parents brought me to violent movies in the cinema as a kid. I have flashbacks to this day and I have a panic disorder. I really think this cinema should be enforcing the ratings,” the complainant wrote.

Mr Connolly agreed it was an “undesirable situation” but not a common one as overall classifications “are used responsibly by those with care of children”.

He said 12A allows parental discretion and that it may be suitable for children slightly younger than the age rating.

“My view of this would be 1-2 years. I certainly do not believe that a 12A film is suitable for a five-year-old and similarly that a 15A film might be suitable for a 10/11-year-old.”

Later that month a complainant criticised the 15A rating for Mary, Queen of Scots, and asked IFCO to “please consider tightening up the requirements for the classification of films in Ireland”.

The strong sex and violence scenes in the first half of the film are shocking! I do not think they are appropriate for 15-year-olds and the use of A for advisory provides no information. In fact I wish I had not had it in front of my own eyes and I’m much older than 15! You have debunked any notion that age rating are of any value. That should have been at least 16 and in my opinion 18.

Mr Connolly replied that the film “does indeed feature scenes of violence, particularly a stabbing to death and brief sex scenes”.

“I believe these are compatible with our published guidelines at 15A and consistent with other works classified at this rating,” he said, adding the guidelines are the result of public research and feedback, and more is planned this year.

A Dog’s Way Home, a family film which tells the story of a canine’s 400-mile journey back to her owner, prompted some ruff words for IFCO from a parent after they saw the film with their seven-year-old son in January.

This parent particularly took issue with the warning of “mild threat and upsetting scenes”.

“I might agree that the bit where the dog is hit by a car in a jump scare counts as ‘mild’, but I think that the dogfight with a pack of wolves scene and the scene of poachers killing one of the character’s mother and then posing with the carcass both nudge the indicator above mild,” they wrote.

“And as for the scene where the dog is chained to a dead (and the titular character confirms he’s dead through narration lest anyone miss the point) homeless man for three days unable to reach a water source because the chain is four feet too short, all the while being stalked by a pack of wolves, well that’s really more something that should kick this out of ‘mild’ and into ‘are you taking the absolute mick’ category, don’t you think?” they asked.

“I’m 42 and even I had a hard time watching that, and wondering if the film was about to decide ‘sod it, let’s teach children that dogs will eat corpses’ was PG as well didn’t really help matters,” the complaint concluded.

Mr Connolly responded to disagree with the complainant’s view of the scene in question.

“Regarding the dog being chained to the dead man, I certainly took no inference of the animal making any attempt to eat the corpse and its only concern was to get water,” he replied.

Mr Connolly agreed that a scene with a dead cougar was upsetting but felt the content was covered by a PG classification.

I appreciate that some scenes in films may be upsetting to some people regardless of their age, and I also accept that people will, on occasion, disagree with our classifications.

“Nevertheless I believe that this title has been rated consistently with our guidelines.”