Loopholes in film control and labeling

Let underage audience in

This year’s Tet movie season, there are 3 Vietnamese movies containing hot scenes: “Mai”, “Dao, Pho and Piano” and “Tra”. While “Mai” and “Tra” are labeled T18 (forbidden to audiences under 18 years old), “Dao, Pho and Piano” is only forbidden to audiences under 13 years old.

However, the situation of cinemas letting audiences slip through the cracks and being careless in age censorship is complicated, especially during the peak holiday season.

According to the reporter's records, some audiences reported that they did not see cinema staff asking for identification from audiences buying tickets to see "Mai".

Sharing with Lao Dong, Phuong Thao (19 years old, Hanoi ) said that the trend of booking tickets via mobile applications is becoming more and more popular, making the age control of audiences more lax.

“On the second day of Tet, my friends and I went to see “Mai”, and met 10th grade students who were allowed to watch without having their IDs checked. Sitting next to me was a boy who was only in middle school, he was as tall as my shoulder but was still allowed to watch a movie for those aged 18+”.

Currently, cinema chains in Vietnam such as CGV, Lotte, BHD... have applied the method of buying tickets via the application. When booking tickets, the software requires confirmation that the audience is of age and there is no specific verification step such as taking a photo of both sides of the citizen ID, filling in the information of the person booking the ticket or committing to age. Then, when arriving at the cinema, the audience scans the barcode and waits for the system to automatically print the ticket.

Ticket checkers mostly just look at faces and count people according to the number of tickets, thus letting many general audiences in to watch T18 movies.

Speaking to Lao Dong, Mr. Le Thanh Liem - Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - said that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has directed local Departments of Culture to strengthen inspection and examination of cinemas after the incident where some cinemas did not strictly control audiences under 18 years old watching the movie "Mai".

How to label properly?

The Film Classification Criteria Table issued by the Cinema Department for dissemination by age is divided into four levels: P (allowed for wide dissemination), T13 (prohibited from dissemination to audiences under 13 years old), T16 (prohibited from dissemination to audiences under 16 years old) and T18 (prohibited from dissemination to audiences under 18 years old).

Some factors that the management and censorship councils rely on to classify labels include: hot scenes - nudity, violence, horror, drugs and stimulants... However, these regulations are only qualitative and do not have specific quantitative criteria.

The draft requires that sex scenes must not be “frequently and in detail” and “not be prolonged” in T13 films. However, the criteria for how long “frequently” means and what “detailed” means have not been clarified. Similarly, C18 films (forbidden to audiences under 18 years old) require that there be no offensive tattoo scenes but do not specify what is offensive.

The war-themed film “Peach, Pho and Piano” also contains hot scenes at the beginning and end of the film, labeled T13.

In a conversation with Lao Dong, a group of 12th grade students from Phan Dinh Phung High School (Hanoi) expressed their surprise when the movie had a hot scene right from the beginning.

“Watching the hot scenes made us quite shy. I don’t think these hot scenes would be popular with audiences under 16. If the movie was rated T16, it would be more suitable for younger audiences,” Ngan Giang shared her opinion after watching the movie.

Film labeling in practice always gives rise to many controversies, when views on hot scenes can fall into emotionality and subjectivity.

Dr. Phan Bich Ha - former Principal of the University of Theatre and Cinema in Ho Chi Minh City - once raised the issue: “In Article C, Clause 3 of the circular, it mentions the description and simulation of human sexual behavior expressed in an artistic, realistic, or crude, depraved way. So what is art? What is realistic? What is depraved? This point is too abstract and there is no standard to evaluate. The same movie scene that students see as normal, but older people shake their heads. This makes it difficult to convince students what is the standard.”

Watching a hot scene together, some people will find it shocking, some will find it normal, that is the point that is very difficult and easy to cause controversy.

Strictly censoring sensitive scenes such as violence, hot scenes... is like a rope that ties up the filmmaker's creativity, affecting the artistic intention of the work. However, how to untie hot scenes in Vietnamese films is still an open question.

Source link