The following rant reveals a few things about a film called "The King's Speech". You may have heard of it. Indeed, what I have to say is about published spoilers in unexpected places. As I am aware of the irony in all this, I'll warn you that if you haven't already seen the film and want to, you should keep yourself clean and read no further. To protect you, here's a nice picture of Dani Harmer before the rant starts:
Here in Britain, we rely on an organisation called the BBFC to ensure that our cinema films, DVD releases, etc. are restricted to certain age groups, if anyone at all. I appreciate that they're in a difficult position as they are under pressure from both sides, either from organised prudery to ban everything or from liberal progressiveness to not even exist. However, a BBFC habit that has emerged in recent years is proving to be a pain.
Since films like Jurassic Park, deemed suitable for families but likely to scare young children, the BBFC has included text advice alongside its certificates. This has gathered momentum since they replaced the rather straightforward "12" certificate (nobody under 12 allowed in) with the "12A" (the A presumably standing for "apology"), where under 12s may enter accompanied but the accompanying adults are warned about anything contentious.
The King's Speech is a 12A. It's been playing to packed cinemas (I don't call them "theatres", and don't get me started on the US spelling of that word) and is likely to hoover up any number of awards internationally. This is partly because it's a very well acted and put together film, but also because people expect British cinema to be about the emotional constrictions of the ruling class and this doesn't disappoint in that department.
The 12A certificate is for language reasons. We all know that in BBFC-talk "strong language" means that somebody says "fuck" and "extremely strong language" means somebody says "cunt". But here they had to embellish; "strong language in a speech therapy context", it says on every poster. You've guessed it - one of the funniest moments in the film has now been telegraphed to you by our moral guardians; Bertie Windsor momentarily becomes Sammy and His Stammer out of Viz Comic.
F-F-F-Fuck Off indeed.
