The United Kingdom raises the age rating of the film ‘Mary Poppins’ for its “discriminatory language” | Culture

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, for its acronym in English) has tightened, 60 years after its premiere, the age rating for viewing Mary Poppins, the iconic film about the babysitter who flew with her umbrella, considering that it contains “discriminatory language.” The 1964 film was rated U (suitable for everyone) and is now PG (with parental supervision). The BBFC justifies the decision in the use of the word in production hottentot (Hottentot), a term that Europeans used to refer to the nomadic peoples of southern Africa and that the Oxford Dictionary considered “archaic and offensive”. “It exceeds our guidelines for U movies,” the BBFC says in a statement.

Mary Poppins, Winner of five Oscars, it is set in London in 1910. It tells the adventures of a magical governess (in the debut role of Julie Andrews) who must take care of the two rebellious children of a suffragette mother and a banker father. The secondary character of Admiral Bloom, a naval veteran neighbor of the family, says hottentot twice. In the first he refers to people who do not appear on screen and in the second he uses the term to refer to the protagonist children when their faces are blackened by soot. The expression was used by Dutch settlers to refer specifically to members of the Khoikhoi community, who populated southern Africa since the beginning of the 19th century, but later its use would be extended to all black people.

The film was reclassified when it had a theatrical re-release this year, so its new label will only affect the theatrical version and the U version will be maintained for the streaming and the DVD. “Although it has a historical context, the use of discriminatory language is not condemned at any time and exceeds acceptable language for U films,” the BBFC says in a notice. The organization maintains that in its research on racism and discrimination parents were primarily concerned about “the possibility of exposing children to discriminatory language or behavior that they may find distressing or repeat without realizing the potential offense.”

According to the official web portal According to the organization, movies with a U rating are suitable for all ages. Regarding productions rated PG, it considers that “they should not disturb a child of eight years or older” and that “unaccompanied children of any age can watch it, but parents are advised to consider whether the content may disturb smaller or more sensitive.” The 2018 sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, It is rated U in the UK.

Mary Poppins is not the only classic UK film to have been reclassified for viewing. The animated film Long ears (1978) also went from having a U classification to a PG in 2022 to keep it “in line with social norms,” according to a BBFC report. The document read: “In their exile, the rabbits face various challenges, some of which end with bloody bite and claw wounds caused by fights between animals. In one scene, a bird tells one of the rabbits to ‘go pee’.

Star Trek, the movie (1979) suffered the same tightening in its classification due to its “mild language and mild violence.” The BBFC maintains in its rating guide that it takes into account “scenes that may show dangerous behaviour, discrimination and references to drugs and sex. As well as the language used in the film, the scenes of nudity and threats, terror and violence.” Classifiers pay special attention to discriminatory language or behavior “that is clearly disapproved of, either in an educational or historical context, or in a particularly outdated work.”