The age rating of the family film Pete Bell has been adjusted to ‘9 years and older’ after complaints. Previously, the classification from ‘all ages’ was tightened to ’12 years and older’, but this was met with a lot of criticism. Nicam, the organization that monitors the age rating of films and series in the Netherlands, is tacking and is now making a milder adjustment. That means that the film will be shown on New Year’s Eve at the NPO.
,,Nicam has just informed us that Kijkwijzer has changed the age classification for our family film Pete Bell, which is scheduled for Saturday December 31 at 11:10 am on NPO Zapp, has been adjusted from 12 years to 9 years,” KRO-NRC responds. “We are happy with this adjustment and we wish children and parents a lot of viewing pleasure next Saturday morning.”
The film Pete Bell, which attracted nearly a million visitors to cinemas around Christmas 2002, has been under discussion since the film’s age rating was changed from ‘all ages’ to ’12 and over’ after twenty years. This happened after Kijkwijzer, which monitors the age rating, had received several complaints that certain scenes in the film made children anxious. Pete Bellabout a Rotterdam street urchin who experiences adventures, then had the same rating as recent action films such as No time to die or Spider Man.
“Following the report that several children became frightened after seeing the film via an online streaming service, the film was reassessed by them,” Kijkwijzer explains. “Based on this, the online streaming service has reclassified the film at 12. year.” But due to a large number of new complaints to regulator Nicam from people who thought that the rating 12 years and older was far too high for a family film, an adjustment followed.
How does age determination film come about?
Director Tiffany van Stormbroek of Nicam, the organization that Kijkwijzer falls under, explained on this site yesterday how a new age classification is created. If complaints are received at Kijkwijzer, the film will be viewed again to see if the original age rating is still correct. According to her, that was apparently not the case with Pietje Bell. Then the relevant distributor is asked to test the content of the production again on the basis of a questionnaire. According to Van Stormbroek, this is based on very thorough scientific research that takes into account, among other things, how explicit the violence shown is.
The distribution of Pietje Bell was once owned by Disney, but that is no longer the case. The questionnaire is then completed by the streaming services and broadcasters offering the title. They arrived at ’12 years and older’ instead of all ages.
Van Stormbroek explains how that difference can be so great. “The reaction of children, how they experience a film, can be different than years ago. Society is changing and the questionnaire is changing with it. It must be dynamic on the basis of new scientific insights. We will continue to do this. Language is an example. What used to be considered normal may now be less accepted. Just like that the Zwarte Piet discussion changed a lot.”
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