James and the giant shark: How JAWS passed the UK censors

When JAWS was released onto cinema screens in the UK on Boxing Day 1975 it was rated A, which meant children under the age of 14 could see it.

Similarly in the US the MPAA passed it as a PG. So, just how did the Steven Spielberg shark film that opens with the blood curdling death cry of Chrissie Watkins, continues with Alex Kintner's death fountain, Ben Gardner's head scene jump scare, the nightmare fuel that is the estuary victim and concludes with the taking of Quint, get such a rating?

That decision we can thank the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and its former chairman James Ferman.

He first saw the film a few weeks before he became its chairman, his initial thought being how on earth could he pass it as an A and let children see it if it was going to give them nightmares?

Ferman sought the advice of a child psychiatrist, who after deliberation told Ferman what was so bad about nightmares? It's just kids working through their problems. And, boy, did JAWS give us a lot of nightmares about swimming, be it in the sea, pools or even in the bath.

Despite its horror and frightening elements, the BBFC knew - perhaps based in part on the huge success in the US where it had released over six months earlier - that the film would have really appeal to boys aged 10 or 11 upwards, even showing it to test audiences of children - my kids were in that test screening!

And the rest was film history, and us JAWS fans owe Ferman - and those kids - a debt of gratitude, it turning us into the hit film - and dare I say - the people we are today. At the BBFC one man can make a difference.

And that is the story of how, in the UK, JAWS was able to be seen by “those aged 5 and older admitted, but not recommended for children under 14 years of age.” 

See it, we devoured it. It was released with a small caveat, that it was one of the first films to be given content advice, with the following to be prominently displayed in cinema foyers and as part of the films promotion, but that only made it more of a must-see and a rite of passage, right?

It said:  'Parents are warned that this film contains sequences which may be particularly disturbing to younger unaccompanied children'.

Words by Dean Newman

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