To Cut or Not to Cut: Compulsory and Category Cuts
When Zinedine Zidane delivered an almighty headbutt to Italian defender Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup Final, the watching public was outraged. How could this footballing icon, a role model for millions of children, behave in such a violent way? Particularly when Materazzi had used no violence against Zidane. Many parents of children who copy Zizou’s behaviour on the pitch wished that their children had not witnessed their hero acting in this way.
The same concerns apply to film classification. Had this been a scene from a film, with the hero initiating an act of excessive violence against another character, would it be right for the BBFC to allow young, impressionable children to see - and consequently perhaps to copy–
One of the more controversial aspects of the BBFC’s work is its power to cut films. The BBFC is obliged to avoid passing material which would be in breach of UK criminal law. However, we only rarely invoke this power in relation to mainstream films. So far this year only 2.2 percent of film works have been cut.
What is less well known perhaps is that film distributors may chose to cut films without being required to by the BBFC. Distributors generally do this to secure a lower rating, usually for commercial reasons. Some of film’s most notorious cuts - for example from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - were not required by the BBFC but made voluntarily by the films’ distributors. Here is a summary of the different sorts of cuts, how they are made and why. Compulsory cuts: the 'Harm Test'
The Video Recordings Act 1984 requires the BBFC to pay particular attention to the likelihood of a work causing harm to viewers, or through viewers’ subsequent behaviour, to society as a whole. The Act specifically refers to criminal behaviour, the use of illegal drugs, violence, horror and human sexual activity. So under this Act, the BBFC will cut material which shows viewers how to commit a crime. Cruelty to animals Under UK law, the BBFC will remove any scene from a film which was organised and directed to involve cruelty to animals. The BBFC has used this law to cut acts of animal cruelty from, for example, a number of Italian horror films from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among the most notorious is Cannibal Holocaust which features the mutilation and killing of several animals, including pigs and a turtle.
Indecent images of children and obscene material
Under The Obscene Publications Act, it is illegal to show a film which is obscene. The BBFC is therefore required to remove obscene material from films. Such material usually occurs in pornography but will occasionally turn up in other works. The US video Terrorists, Killers and other Wackos (an uncontextualised serving up of real torture, mutilation, suicides, executions and accidents) was rejected in its entirety in part on the grounds of obscenity.
Cuts for category: the Zidane effect
But not all cuts are compulsory. In many cases, the BBFC will offer a film distributor an uncut film at a particular rating. But for whatever reason, the distributor may want a lower category. In this case, the BBFC will suggest that the distributor remove material which would be inappropriate, or even harmful, at this lower category. Below are some examples.
You can’t have motherf***** at U! The makers of the children’s animated 2005 comedy Madagascar sent this film to the BBFC with a request that they receive a U. The problem for the BBFC was that the film included the word “motherf*****”. Although the word was not used in full, it was clear to the audience what was meant. The BBFC felt that the word was inappropriate in a film aimed at the very youngest viewers and offered a higher category with no cuts. But the distributor wanted a U and so chose to make a cut to remove the offending word to secure this category.
You can’t rip someone’s heart out in graphic detail at PG!
Star Wars: Obi Wan nuts Django Fett The BBFC is concerned by children imitating behaviour, particularly violent behaviour, which they may see in films. Research suggests that children do copy violent acts which they see on screen. For this reason, the BBFC is concerned at the portrayal in the junior categories of acts which show in imitable detail or otherwise promote violent, dangerous or other anti-social behaviour.
When George Lucas’ eagerly awaited film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was submitted for classification, the BBFC was concerned by a brief sequence in which the hero Obi Wan Kenobi headbutts the villainous Django Fett. It felt that young children may copy their hero in the school playground. The BBFC therefore offered the distributor a 12 without cuts. But the distributor wanted a PG and to secure this category, chose to cut the offending headbutt.
So how would you rate Zinedine Zidane’s 2006 headbutt were it in a work to be classified by the BBFC?
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such an act? 
In 2005 for example, the BBFC rejected four videos instructing viewers how to cultivate illegal drugs. The BBFC will also cut scenes from films which eroticise or endorse sexual violence, including scenes which promote the myth that women secretly enjoy being raped. Such cuts are in part based on research which suggests that certain men may become aroused by the eroticised portrayal of sexual violence and may subsequently act out such behaviour. One of the most extensive compulsory cuts for sexual violence comes in the notorious1980 film The House on the Edge of the Park. In this film, a teenage girl is forced to strip and is then repeatedly slashed by her razor-wielding tormentor during a scene lasting several minutes. The BBFC removed from this sequence all shots which made the torture and sexual violence seem appealing and a sexual turn-on.
Under UK law, the BBFC will also remove any indecent images of children from films. These usually involve minors in sexual situations. The 2004 French film Les Diables was cut under this legislation to remove sight of the aroused genitalia of a young boy.
Among the legendary cut scenes in film lore is the famous torture sequence in the 1984 Spielberg film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This film includes a sequence in which a sacrificial victim has his heart ripped out by an evil priest. This is shown graphically in the film. The BBFC’s then director described the sequence as showing a “