Director Sam Raimi brought the Marvel Comics hero to the big screen for the first time in this superhero blockbuster starring Tobey Maguire in the title role, alongside Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe.
Classification Issues
- Violence
- The strongest violence occurs between characters with super-human abilities. In spite of the fantasy context, the violence does feature some strong blows with impactful sound effects. There are also some scenes of more realistic violence, including when a super-hero attacks a criminal, which includes an arm being broken and a man's face being smashed through glass.
- Threat and horror
- There are some intense action scenes as well as some images younger viewers may find horrifying. These include a man transforming himself into a super-villain, as part of an experiment, with the man screaming in pain. Younger viewers may find this character frightening. There is also a scene in which a woman is set upon by muggers, although she is saved before anything happens.
- Additional issues
- There is also mild bad language ('arse', 'crap', 'piss') and a mild sex reference when a woman says "those tights and that tight little butt" in response to Spider-Man's suit. There is occasional sight of blood in the aftermath of violence. A character is subject to bullying at school. The same character experiences a bereavement when a relative is killed.
Cinema classification
The highly anticipated film was submitted to the BBFC for classification in April 2002, with a PG request from the distributor.
Upon viewing the film, the BBFC found that it contained a level of violence – including “emphasis on blows landing, faces twisting under impact and sweat/blood flying across screen as a result” – and a revenge theme that went beyond what was acceptable at PG under the Classification Guidelines of the time, which only allowed for “moderate violence without detail... if justified by its setting”.
The film was therefore classified 12, meaning that nobody aged under 12 could be admitted. The advisory 12A rating, which allows under-12s to attend cinema screenings if accompanied by an adult, was yet to be introduced.This was in line with other superhero films of the time, such as 2000’s X-Men.
Public reaction
The BBFC’s decision was met with some dissatisfaction among children under the age of 12 who had collected Spider-Man merchandise, such as toys and lunch boxes, which had been marketed towards younger audiences. The BBFC received letters from disappointed children and parents questioning the 12 rating. The BBFC maintained and defended its decision.
There was also public pressure on some local authorities to issue a local licence for the film with a PG classification. The BBFC classifies cinema films on behalf of local authorities, who have the final say on what films can be screened in their area and may overrule BBFC rating decisions should they see a need. In practice, this rarely ever happens. In the case of Spider-Man, however, between 20 and 30 local authorities issued either local PG or ‘PG12’ certificates, with the condition that all under 12s must be accompanied by an adult.
The introduction of the 12A
More than a year before Spider-Man was submitted, in September 2000, the BBFC announced that it would look at the possibility of making the 12 cinema category an advisory category, like U and PG.
This was in response to complaints from parents – particularly whenever a new James Bond film came out – who argued that they were better placed than the BBFC to determine which films were suitable for their children under the age of 12.
Therefore, in 2001 the BBFC carried out a pilot in Norwich allowing under 12s to see the 12-rated films showing during the eight week pilot period. The outcome was that the public was only in favour of making the 12 cinema rating advisory if under 12s were accompanied by an adult throughout the film, and if information about the content of the film (e.g. 'Contains a single use of strong language and moderate violence') was available on publicity material and was included in local cinema listings.
The BBFC then carried out a national survey in May 2002 and got almost identical results, with over 70% of people supporting the introduction of 12A, as it is now known, provided children under 12 were accompanied by an adult and content advice was available to help them make informed decisions about what their children could watch.
Once the BBFC was satisfied that the film industry was including its content advice on publicity materials for films rated U, PG and 12A, and that exhibitors were including the content advice for 12A-rated titles in cinema listings, the new category was introduced on 30 August 2002. All 12-rated cinema films automatically became 12A, although the equivalent video rating remained 12.
The BBFC’s decision to introduce the 12A cinema rating was not directly related to Spider-Man or to pressure from parents and children wishing to see the film. The BBFC had announced in September 2000 that it was considering changes to the classification system, having recognised that children were maturing earlier and that parents were better placed to decide what content was appropriate for their children.
12A re-release
The distributor of Spider-Man decided to re-release the film in cinemas immediately after the introduction of 12A so that young fans in parts of the country where local authorities had not changed the rating had the chance to see the film at the cinema.
Fun fact: The very first official 12A-rated film was The Bourne Identity.
