CMA’s Hon CEO Barbara Biggins poses, ‘Let’s not mention the classification – might spoil the fun?’

The movie Deadpool & Wolverine has had a huge amount of promotion worldwide over recent weeks.  Ad week says Deadpool & Wolverine at $211m, now sixth highest opening all-time at US box office.

What hasn’t been promoted is its MA15+ classification – given for “Strong crude sexual humour, bloody violence and coarse language”.

The publicity interviews and discussion have centred on the movie’s self-deprecating humour and one could be forgiven for thinking that “it was just another M rated romp” from Marvel. As one critic said “Let’s start with the good stuff. Deadpool & Wolverine is a fun, irreverent and blood-soaked summer blockbuster that fans of the Deadpool franchise are going to love”. Trailers on TV have glamorised that violence while failing to inform about the likely classification of the film.

No one seems to be taking seriously the likely impact of the film’s relentless bloody violence and the need to inform potential viewers.

The film was given its MA15+ classification in Australia on 15 July, with the consumer advice lines “Strong crude sexual humour [themes]; bloody violence and coarse language”.  Trailers for the film, showing for some weeks before this date, carried the CTC (Check The Classification) label. Such a label is permitted until the actual classification becomes available (see CTICP 2.5.4: Trailers for unclassified films). Distributors and advertisers also need to observe the Markings for advertising unclassified films.

It’s doubtful that the latter rules were observed, given the CTC label was still being used well after 15 July (release date was 25 July). CMA members observed such trailers on 22 July and again on 26 July and lodged complaints that weekend with FreeTV Australia. The trailers seen on 29 July carried the MA15+ symbol.

Australia is not alone in giving this film a strong classification and legal force.  In the UK, the film was classified 15 for “strong bloody violence, injury detail, sex references, very strong language”. This means that no one under the age of 15 may see the film in the cinema. The Netherlands Kijkwijzer system gave it a 16 (with legal force) for violence and fear, saying “the film contains very bloody wounds. Seeing such explicit, bloody images can scare children”.

CMA’s child-development-based review contains detail of the images and scenes that can cause distress/harm to children and adolescent and does not recommend the film for those under 17.

So let’s talk about it!   Classification information can be valuable in informing potential viewers and parents about content and likely impacts of films.

Why is such information being delivered so close to release dates, so poorly, and in such a cavalier fashion?   Present promotion practices are undermining the value of the classification system.   Why are we getting the impression that the industry doesn’t care?