The World of Leonardo Morgado

The Video Appeals Committee has given permission for Manhunt 2 to be sold in the UK. The British Board of Film Classification has fought hard to have the game banned or at least cut in this country as they felt the game “went too far”. This little tête-à-tête has once again raised the debate about classification and whether or not it is simply another word for censorship.

Now I have to be honest and admit that I am not a “gamer.” I don’t own a PS1, 2 or 3 or any other console and my computer is rather dated so any high spec games wouldn’t work even if I wanted to play them. I do occasionally partake in them when I’m visiting a friend and there is no better way of cementing a friendship than playing Grand Theft Auto where you can simulate sex with a prostitute before shooting a Miami traffic cop.

A lot of people argue that Manhunt is no different to any other 18-rated entertainment. Rockstar Games who made the game state that the content is no more excessive than the ones seen in the Saw series. I may not know a lot about computer games but I do know quite a lot about films. The spate of so called “torture porn” that have been released along with Saw (yawn), Saw 2 (yawn, yawn), Saw 3 (yawn, yawn, yawn) ad infinitum is nothing more than the scrapings of fully grown men stuck in adolescent minds.

I have no quarrel with genuine male adolescents (let’s be honest these films and games generally appeal to this demographic), after all, I was one myself and one who enjoyed watching Porky’s and Zombie Flesh Eaters at an age when I wasn’t supposed to. At the time it was daring to watch films that were considered taboo and let’s be honest there is no better motivator for a child to do something than being told not to do it. However, I’m digressing slightly.

Despite the criticisms against the BBFC as being “thought police” and nothing more than self-appointed wallahs of taste and decency I actually feel that there is a genuine place for them (something I didn’t believe when I was an adolescent). They have been increasingly transparent about the classifications they give for films, games and other digital media. In 2004, Robin Duval (the former head of the BBFC) gave an interview with Mark Kermode explaining his work as a film censor. He is very clear in stating that the censors are not there to impose their views on 18-rated material because they’ve been classified as for adult eyes only.

Presumably then it is up to parents to ensure that their under aged children do not get to see material that is deemed unsuitable. Well, yes and no. In a cinema or even video store employees are getting more and more vigilant about what products is sold to whom and I suppose one should be grateful. But as I said before the irony is that many of these films and games have such an adolescent mentality behind them that it’s hard not to give in to some teenage boy desperate to see exploding heads and sweaty, half-dressed women.

The real issue for me is not so much the content but the context. I know I can get any fifteen year old to watch Saw or Hostel but I’m pretty sure I’d need to have the persuasive powers of Jesus to try and make them watch In the Realm of the Senses. I’m not going to get into the debate about media violence encouraging violence because that is a long and rather complicated affair. But if we are placing emphasis on parents to keep an eye on what little Davey is watching or doing then surely the adults who make the games and films also need to take responsibility on what they’re churning out?

The general attitudes of the games that companies like Rockstar create are that in order to get ahead in life then you have to be nasty and incorporate violence. You are perfectly entitled to do bad things because otherwise people will do bad things to you. The fact that you become the person carrying out a spot of brain bashing or stabbing does make it different to watching a film.

If producers of games are serious about saying that they are making games for a rational, adult market then perhaps it is time that they made rational, adult decisions with regards to the games that they are making.