The contentious issue of film-ratings revisited

When the 2nd World Film Festival of Bangkok wraps up tomorrow, it could leave a significant mark on the Thai film industry, as the organisers plan to forward the outcome of filmgoers’ votes to the government offices grappling with the long-delayed and contentious issue of movie ratings.

Postcards will also be sent to parliamentarians to seek support for a bill to introduce Thailand’s very first film-rating system. The issue is also being taken up at major mass-communications faculties at Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Bangkok and Rangsit universities.

While it might be a fledging first step by film enthusiasts to address the growing need for film-rating in Thailand, it is a movement that reflects two major implications. First, it demonstrates public acknowledgement of the benefits of having such a system and the will to push for it. But at the same time, everyone seems to want a guarantee that this system will be independent of government control.

It won’t be easy. Opponents of ratings are afraid that any system may fall into a “legal trap” that would keep provocative innovations at bay. And there’s the commercial reason, as youngsters are a fast-growing market here.

Yet we need to do something. The Thai film industry is no longer in its infancy. It has made great leaps and achieved exposure and recognition domestically and internationally. Meanwhile, globalisation has brought countless imported films, mainly from Hollywood. We have come to a point where regulations need to be updated and a balance struck between accommodating the growing talents in the domestic industry and taking into account vulnerabilities of children and young audiences.

But we are somewhat fortunate that almost all imported movies have been rated at the original source, so the task of applying ratings can be focused on locally made films and unrated foreign films.

The debate on the pros and cons continues. The foremost benefit is certainly the protection of children from unsuitable content. Here in Thailand, we often associate youth with deviant behaviour, but we adults – parents, teachers, politicians and policy-makers – have done little to protect them.

Most people tend to zero in on sexual content as dangerous, but it is not the only thing that the young are ill equipped to be exposed to and absorb. In fact, excessive on-screen violence can do children more harm than sexual content. Introducing film ratings will certainly help guard them until they are mature enough to interpret such content realistically.

Many adults, especially parents, have dropped their guard. On weekends many parents take their children to cinemas to see the movies they like to see. Many assume that Thai films are for children because they can understand the story lines well. This is dangerous. Thousands of children are exposed to realistic violent and sexual content from which they would have been excluded had ratings been applied and enforced.

Ratings would encourage parents to be more cautious about a film’s content. At least they would have a way to judge what their children should be allowed to see.

Cinema-operators too would be encouraged to conform. There are times when they show family films but children are exposed to trailers for films that elsewhere would be rated as unsuitable for young audiences.

Surprisingly, we have relied solely on official censorship for the past several decades. The United States has used its Motion Picture Association of America film-rating system since 1968, while Britain first introduced the British Board of Film Censors in 1912, before changing the name to the British Board of Film Classification in 1984. Although Thailand has a National Censorship Board, it doesn’t work independently, as do it’s US and UK counterparts

The Thai National Censorship Board is often subjective and has a “blanket” mentality. The authorities have been bombarded from both sides. On the one hand they are criticised for not appreciating or encouraging artistic freedom and sometimes for discriminating against certain producers. On the other hand censors have been ironically blamed for not providing enough protection for the country’s young citizens.

While liberals lament restrictions on artistic expression, conservatives complain that films that pass censorship are full of nudity, sexuality, violence and improper language.

An independent panel comprising parents’ representatives, academics and artists, among others, could be the solution. For the local film industry, the introduction of an “independent” film-rating system would allow movie-makers to freely exercise their creativity without any barriers, although those in the business must keep in mind that their product will have limited audiences with sensitive content like drugs, nudity and bad language. Ratings would clear away the frustrations film-makers experience over indiscriminate censorship or ignorance of artistic elements by the authorities.

For economic reasons, policy-makers must look closely at how much foreign revenue or repute Thai films like “Satree-Lek”, “Last Life in the Universe”, “Ong-bak”, “Bang Rajan” and “Sud Pralad” brought to Thailand. If cinematic artists could work more freely under the guidance of a rating system, Thai movies would become second to none in the global market in terms of quality, diversity, boldness and creativity.

Compromise and a rational approach are the key. Enjoying “Eyes Wide Shut” or “Kill Bill” is one thing, but finding out that our 12-year-old daughters have seen them too is quite another.

Published on Oct 23, 2004