When the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) changes its certificate for an old movie, it is generally to ease up a bit and concede, like strict parents letting their teens have a glass of wine at dinner, that all right, times have changed. The Alien movies were once rated 18; now they’re 15.
However, the recent decision to upgrade the 1978 animated version of Watership Down – the much-loved wild rabbit adventure – from U to PG (Parental Guidance) is a remarkable example of the censoring authority becoming more puritanical over time. Watership Down is violent apparently, with “bloody bite and claw injuries”. To which we can only say: yes. The overwhelming threat of violence is part of what has made Watership Down so compelling. Who can forget the terrifying figure of General Woundwort? Maybe Watership Down should be an 18 certificate, like all those children’s movies which were once routinely allowed to be terrifying and upsetting. Death of Bambi’s mum? 18. Child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? 18. Kaa’s creepy eyes in The Jungle Book? 18.
But of course, the BBFC isn’t just there to protect us from sex and violence etc. It is there to protect us from the past with all its inappropriate assumptions about what is and isn’t offensive. I like to imagine James Ferman, secretary of what was in those days called the British Board of Film Censors, saying to his colleagues over a good lunch: “Look, nature is red in tooth and claw and a children’s cartoon robustly showing this is perfectly all right. Cleared for newborns and above!”
But are young people really going to be triggered by Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and their Peckinpah-esque ordeal? Or is the whole idea of distinguishing between U and PG a quaint absurdity to children who have long since mastered the art of disabling the parental restrictions on their iPhones? The BBFC might well find they have in no way restricted access to Watership Down, but there is something pleasing about the focus on film history, a way to make this old movie new and debate worthy and alive, blood dripping from its claw.
