Classifications in animation

[Pawnless Endgame]

I was wondering why scenes with smoking or headbutting raises the cartoon from U to PG, while references to alcohol remains U?

Going back to classic Disney and classic Tom & Jerry, these were all rated U and were watched by our grandparents when they were kids. A few of the T & J episodes e.g. "Texas Tom" had smoking scenes which were no problem back then, but has to be edited out if broadcast on TV now. Think of the 1951 Alice film by Disney. That had a caterpillar who smoked and it's rated U. The 2010 Alice film also has the smoking caterpillar and it's PG. I've not yet seen the new one so I can't really comment, but if anyone knows why, that would be great. Also, the 1998 Mulan film was made U but apparently only scraped through with the U rating. There was a headbutting scene that had to be taken out. If left in, classification would have raised to PG. Mulan is relatively violent in a cartoony way, but I wonder why headbutting is considered worse than e.g. kicking, punching or strangling? When happy sailors get drunk, then it's no problem?

Discuss

 

[Demoniser]

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/introduction

U Rating

Violence

Mild violence only. Occasional mild threat or menace only.

PG Rating

Violence

Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy).

If someone kicks or punches in a cartoon, it's not always lethal or in a truly violent manner to cause real harm. However, i'm pretty sure a Headbutt can only result in harm...so i can see why it's considered a bit more violent.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Thanks for explaining Demoniser. I've never seen headbutts for real, only as pretend/joke and in school, so I didn't realise.