I, Daniel Blake: Regulation

Question 1

Who is the regulator for I, Daniel Blake?

Answer 1

The BBFC (an independent, non-governmental body) age rates film and video releases in the UK.

Question 2

Who has the power to overrule BBFC ratings?

Answer 2

• Local councils have the power to overrule BBFC decisions and rate films differently
• e.g. ‘This is England was rated 18 by the BBFC but several councils rated it 15.

Question 3

What are the reasons cited by the BBFC for I, Daniel Blake’s 15 age rating?

Answer 3

• There are some verbal sexual references voiced in the film, particulary in a scene where a man pays a suprise visit to a woman who is working as a prostitute secretly, to try to dissuade her from prositituing herself.
• The infrequent use of stronger expletives such as ‘cunt’ are featured but justified by context and not impactful.
• The film contains the utterance of the stronger expletive ‘cunt’ as well as other expletives such as: ‘fuck’, ‘wankers’, ‘twats’ as uttered by the main character out of anger and frustration and frustration or for emphasis.
• There are two notable scenes of emotional intensity. They include ‘the food bank’ scene and the ending ‘funeral’ scene.

Question 4

How can age ratings impact audiences?

Answer 4

• Age ratings are important to producers and distributors in guarenting an audience - for example, a 15 rating in the UK opens the film to a much wider audience than an 18 certificate.