Do you think the U rating for Watership Down is appropriate?

[♥ Lily ♥]

Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure-drama film, written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and was distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom.

Released on 19 October 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office.

It features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film work of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson. Art Garfunkel's hit song "Bright Eyes", which was written by songwriter Mike Batt, briefly features.

This British animation movie is based on the English novel series for children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_(film)

It's also famous for being one of the most poignant and saddest animation movies that has caused a lot of viewers to cry. The animation caused me so much distress as a young child that my parents had to switch the movie off as I couldn't stop crying.

Other adults say it was the most frightening animated movie ever for them as a child:

I doubt Martin Rosen and John Hubley, directors of the 1978 film version, wanted to scare the bejesus out of their young audience either.

But one small section – the apocalyptic vision that leads skittish rabbit seer Fiver to encourage his warren mates to abandon their burrows – was far too vivid.

Fiver sniffs around, a whisper of terror in the air: a fencepost rears up like a gallows; a cigarette singes the lush green. Then he sees it: blood blotting a vast field, threatening to engulf them all.

Skeletal tree outlines crack like veins through the insanguinated sods. Their branches twist and undulate with queasy malice.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/fil...ed-me-the-most

I couldn't stop crying as a small child upon seeing this part of the animation (below)... so my parents switched-off the movie and they comforted and cuddled me... and I didn't ever watch the rest of the animation - nor ever see the end... as I was far too distressed.

It still causes me to cry with all my heart whenever I hear that sad song from the movie, or see the death scenes on YT.

I remember my parents were both sitting in the living room and they were also watching Watership Down when I was a small child (about 4 or 5 years old)... and they kept looking over at me and asking if I was ok - and I just quietly nodded.

I was trying not to cry - and then I turned away from the TV screen in shock, and I started uncontrollably sobbing... and my mum came over and she put her arms around me and my dad then lifted me away from the TV to sit with them on the sofa and they switched the movie off.... but I was still crying for a long while in my mum's arms even after they'd switched that children's animation movie off.

My parents had assumed that the movie was suitable for infant children due to the child friendly exterior packaging and the U rating.



The new BBC adaption of this childrens animation is reported to be far less violent and brutal than the original version in 1978.
https://inews.co.uk/culture/televisi...-brutal-death/

Tom & Jerry is much milder for children and has a PG rating - yet the far more bloodier and intense and graphically violent animation of Watership Down strangely has a U rating.

Watership Down was an immediate success at the UK box office and has received a mostly positive critical reception, with an 82% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Aimed at adults perhaps more than children, this is a respectful, beautifully animated adaptation of Richard Adams' beloved book."

The film was nominated for Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1979.

In 2004, the magazine Total Film named Watership Down the 47th greatest British film of all time and it was also ranked 15th in the "100 Greatest Tearjerkers".

Investors in the film reportedly received a return of 5,000% on their investment.

Slaughter and torture scenes, gassing scenes, strangulation, scenes involving suffocation and being buried alive, some mild swearing which states 'piss off' in one scene, animals being ripped to shreds in graphic detail, gratuitous amounts of blood and violence, and also shooting and murder scenes are included in the 'universal' rated animation Watership Down. A U rated movie gives parents the reassurance that a movie is suitable for all ages - including for 2 and 3 year olds to watch.


A U rated movie gets a wider range of audience, a lot more viewers, and thus generates a lot more money to the film makers than a PG rated movie will make in profits.

Watership Down is emotionally overwhelming and frightening though for children who are 5 and under. I think the current U rating for this movie should be changed to a PG rating, with a recommendation guidance of at least 6 and over.

The animated movie is beautifully artistic and it's unpretentious about life and death. It shows the sheer fragility of existence and the risks of danger and death everywhere in life, the cruel and sad and harsh reality of nature, the sick cruelty of humans towards animals and their suffering and pain, the nature of animals viscously killing each other, reflects the feelings of emotional pain and loss and of mourning and grief, along with showing the desperate struggle for survival of the fittest. The subject of the film is educational. It's definitely one of the greatest and most thought provoking movies that's ever been created.

I just think (from my own experience of watching this as a small child) that it's not suitable for nursery-age kids, toddlers, or pre-school infants.... and it shouldn't have a misleading U rating as being suitable for very young children to watch. I think it's more suited to junior children, adolescents, teenagers, and adults.

Watership Down is a bit of a conundrum. The classic children’s novel by Richard Adams, about a band of rabbits trying to establish a safe home in the English countryside, is a little too subtle and complex for (young) children.

And the 1978 animated film is definitely too violent and terrifying for them.

Netflix's version of Watership Down isn't suitable for children either. https://www.vogue.com/article/waters...netflix-series

[The Lawspeaker]

I remember this one vividly and I'm torn here: on one hand it's completely unfit for children, on the other hand, our children are so coddled that they turn into crybully SJW's when they grow older. My grandparent's generation grew up in poverty and in those days butchers still placed their wares in front of the window. Every child of that generation who grew up in the countryside, has seen butchers ply their trade and when they grew up, they ended up in a world war. They didn't come out any worse because of it - they lived to tell the tale.

[♥ Lily ♥]

I think the rating for this movie should be a PG rather than a U... and it should be advised as unsuitable for children who are 5 or under, to prevent them from becoming emotionally overwhelmed with distress and fear and terrifying nightmares at such an early age in life... which is a time of innocence that's supposed to be a magical and blissful and happy experience in life.

I think it should be recommended for parents or guardians to sit with children who are 6 or over for emotional comfort and support.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Did every child in Britain get traumatized by this film?

I was about 4 or 5 when I saw it and I don't think I'd even started school yet... but looking at the comments and other peoples experiences - even people who said they were 8 or 9 when they watched it also found it extremely frightening and distressing.

[The Lawspeaker]

I think this is what we get with the latest generation of snowflakes: get over it, kids.

[♥ Lily ♥]

I think this is what we get with the latest generation of snowflakes: get over it, kids.

I think they're over it... but they're simply sharing their childhood memories as they feel concerned about protecting future children from having the same negative experiences. They seek responsible product labelling for future children.

Given their own bad memories and negative experiences of feeling extremely frightened and deeply emotionally distressed when they watched this movie at young ages.... it's only natural that as adults they want to see a change from a U to a PG rating for this movie... so that their children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all naive children in the future, can be spared and protected from going through the same extreme heartache and distress and emotional pain and terrified feelings of watching graphically violent and brutal and very distressing scenes at young ages.

The misleading U rating generates wider audiences and a larger amount of money and profits for the film makers, and they only care about money.

But if you had young children, would you feel comfortable with letting 2 and 3 and 4 year olds sit and watch graphic scenes of violence and cruelty, strangulation, torture, swearing/bad language, gassing, shootings, suffocation and being buried alive, etc?

[The Lawspeaker]

I think they're over it... but they're simply sharing their childhood memories as they feel concerned about protecting future children from having the same negative experiences. They seek responsible product labelling for future children.

Given their own bad memories and negative experiences of feeling extremely frightened and deeply emotionally distressed when they watched this movie at young ages.... it's only natural that as adults they want to see a change from a U to a PG rating for this movie... so that their children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all naive children in the future, can be spared and protected from going through the same extreme heartache and distress and emotional pain and terrified feelings of watching graphically violent and brutal and very distressing scenes at young ages.

The misleading U rating generates wider audiences and a larger amount of money and profits for the film makers, and they only care about money.

But if you had young children, would you feel comfortable with letting 2 and 3 and 4 year olds sit and watch graphic scenes of violence and cruelty, strangulation, torture, swearing/bad language, gassing, shootings, suffocation and being buried alive, etc?

Not really, but they might very well end up witnessing it in real life soon enough the way things are going.