Who should have the right to decide if audiences should be protected - and from what?

As it stands, the BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. These age ratings are there to protect us and primarily children from seeing (what they deem as) inappropriate things for their age, this might be based on factors such as violence, sex scenes, nudity, drug use, language, themes and horror.

One view is that the government should have the right to decide if audiences should be protected. This is because, we feel it is the government's responsibility to protect us from harm,  and things that might be distressing, for example, a young child going to see a violent horror film, would not be seen as acceptable. Another reason why the government should have the right to decide if audiences should be protected, if because, if they did nothing, and set out not age ratings, or guidelines, and children were to see an unacceptable film, it would automatically be the government's fault, as they made it too available and did not do their job in protecting us.

One other view, is that parents should have the right to decide if audiences should be protected. This is because, parents/guardians are trusted to protect us, and bring us up, so why should they not be able to determine what films e can and cannot watch? They should also be responsible, as if they were to let their child see something inappropriate, they have to deal with the consequences  for example, a young child who watches a horror film, might go onto have nightmares, therefore, it is only the parents' fault. Parents should also have the right to decide if audiences should be protected as they do anyway. The only places that can monitor what films get seen and by who are really cinemas, and shops, as it is now available to watch films on the internet, which might have some parental protection, but children can easily get around this. Films can also be brought from things such as ‘on demand’ now, and some films might even be watched illegally, which means that it is impossible to monitor who sees what, and this means that we trust parents to monitor what children watch anyway.

Another view, is that we, ourselves should have the right to decide if audiences should be protected. This is simply because, we know ourselves what we like, and don’t like and therefore we should decide what films we want to watch, and if we are to watch something we don’t like, or is inappropriate, then it is our fault. We are in control of ourselves and make decision everyday whether they be big or small, so we should in turn, be in charge of what films we see.

In conclusion, in some ways, all of these groups/people should have the right to decide if we should be protected, but what it comes down to, is that these ratings are mostly only there as a guideline, as we can only monitor who is protected from what as far as cinemas and shops.