After rescheduling, we finally visited the Irish Film Classification Office and had the opportunity to learn how Ireland classifies its films. Honestly, learning about film classification was a great experience, especially since we rarely discuss how movies are rated in the U.S. I was surprised to learn that Ireland still operates under the Censorship of Films Act of 1923, which has been in place since the early days of the Irish Republic. It was interesting to see how seriously they follow guidelines when rating films. Compared to the U.S., Ireland seems to take a more thoughtful and cautious approach to film classification. They are very deliberate in determining what rating a film should receive like PG, 12A, and so on based on its content. In my opinion, Ireland’s system is better than the one in the U.S., which I find to be more lenient. Ireland is much stricter, especially when it comes to content that could affect children and families.
After learning about the history of the Irish Film Classification Office, we were given the chance to rate a film ourselves, based on the content we observed. I can’t recall the exact title of the film, but I do remember that it contained references to suicide and gun use. As a class, we decided to rate the film as 15A, which I fully agreed with. The themes were too intense for younger viewers definitely not appropriate for a 10 or 12-year-old so requiring a parent or adult for those over the age of 15 made sense.
Overall, I really enjoyed learning about Ireland’s approach to film classification. It has inspired me to look into how the rating system works back in the U.S. and how we approach content guidelines for different audiences.