Revisiting British Genre Fandom & the Regulation, Censorship and Classification of Film Violence in Contemporary Britain.

Abstract

The paper investigates the complex relationship between British genre fandom and the regulation of film violence within contemporary Britain. The presentation revisits and updates an earlier piece of audience research with more recent theoretical and empirical work. The paper is informed by two main theoretical positions. The first is a revisionist approach to film regulation, censorship and classification, which recognises these processes as dynamic and productive rather than restrictive and prohibitive. The second is recent shifts within certain areas of Film Studies which foreground the study of the consumption of audiences within their everyday lives. The paper explores two main areas. The first part investigates the relationship between British genre fandom and the regulation, classification and censorship of film violence in Britain. This examination explores fans views on the impact these processes have upon the way in which they understand and characterise their fandom. The second section considers the views of British genre fans on the regulation, censorship and classification of film violence. This involves surveying fans views on how the censorship of film violence in Britain manifests in various overlapping official, cultural, self, economic and voluntary forms. During the course of the paper an argument is advanced which promotes the view that British genre fans are a valuable source of information concerning their consumption. What’s more, it is suggested that by including the voices of genre fans within debates over the regulation of film violence we are enabled to take into account views normally excluded from such discussions.