“Mary Poppins”: They raise the age rating of the film due to its language

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has raised the age classification – to parental supervision – of the film in the United Kingdom ‘Mary Poppins’ due to language that it considers discriminatory, 60 years after the success of the film, the Daily Mail reveals this Monday.

The change in classification, until now with U – which means that there is no material that could offend – was due to a term valued as derogatory for the Khoikhoi, a group of people who were among the first inhabitants of southern Africa.

The term is used in the film by the character Admiral Boom, when it refers first to people who do not appear on screen and later to refer to the children in the film when their faces are blackened by soot.

Based on an investigation into racism and discrimination, the BBFC considered worrying for parents “the possibility of exposing children to discriminatory language or behavior that they may find distressing or repeat inadvertently,” a BBFC source told the newspaper. .

The new classification only affects the cinema version of the famous film, as the home entertainment versions still remain at U, according to the BBFC.

The word in question is “Hottentot,” a name adopted for the Khoikhoi by Dutch settlers.

Mary Poppins, a fictional character created by PL Travers and played on film by Julie Andrews, tells the story of an English nanny with magic, who arrives on an umbrella helped by the wind to a family’s house in London where she takes care of the little ones.

With information from EFE