Hot Fuzz - Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Implications of a Production - Movie Review Example

Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Implications of a Production Case Study by Synopsis of the Film “Hot Fuzz” is a British action comedy drama with the elements of horror and thriller released in 2007 by Edgar Wright. The movie is a classical parody on detective films of the decade and is a third film of a “Blood and Ice-cream” trilogy. Having previous common work experience with “Shaun the Dead” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost agreed to play major roles in this film as well (Hot Fuzz on IMDB, 2007). The movie reveals every basic cliché of detective drama and makes it absurd but more humorous eventually. The action takes place in a seemingly calm village of Sandford where one of the best police officers of London is transferred due to his “promotion”. Nicholas Angel is a perfect cop who dedicates all his free time to mastering his skills and improving his physical form. His partner Danny Butterman is an infantile and naïve man who violates the law himself often. Angel and Butterman get involved into clearing up unimportant village crimes such as chasing a swan or catching a petty thief in a supermarket. However, later a number of deaths disrupt peaceful atmosphere of the village. While other cops consider them to be simple accidents Angel suspects that murders were committed by a serial killer. Eventually after intensive investigation Angel and Butterman find out that a secret group SNA Sanford which commits murders of dwellers in the village in order to keep its prestigious title of “Village of the Year”. After successful investigation Nicholas Angels decides to stay in the village. In general the film is acceptable for a wide target group but taking into account its horror and thriller parody and subsequent violence the movie must not be recommended to children under 15 without parents` presence. The film was given a 15 classification after examination due to the following issues: repetitive usage of strong and very strong language and horror in combination with the scenes of violence. So basically older group of teenagers and youth will be able to understand the humor without harmful influence while for the children under 15 this film will be inappropriate. Strong and Very Strong Language Usage The heroes of detective and gangster movies often use strong language, and “Hot Fuzz” is not an exception. The word f**k is utilized more than ten times in various forms and contexts which allows presuming that the film is not acceptable for the auditory under 15. BBFC also marked usage of a stronger word such as c**t twice, however, taking into account the context the film was not given a classification 18 despite the fact that this word can be seriously offensive to a certain layer of society. First time this strong word appears in the list of swear words which require a fine to be paid in the case of their usage. The situation suggests the wrongfulness of such terms therefore this case was accepted by BBFC. In the second episode the sergeant exclaims the word in order to describe his attitude to a drug dealer who sells drugs to students. As BBFC suggests that strong words must be used aggressively and offensively in order to raise the classification, however, in these cases the usage was justified by the comic genre and situation. According to Classification Guidelines, usage of strong words that can evoke negative and offensive sexual, racial or religious associations can lead to a raise of classification. Cases of socially unacceptable gestures or verbal discrimination of any minority groups are also regarded unacceptable in a movie. As it is clear from the case with the film, much depends on the context of the usage and such parameters as age, race, background, religious views of the auditory (Classification Guidelines, 2014). Violence/Horror Elements Violence and horror elements were present in the film but since the movie was created as a pastiche of genres (cop film, a thriller, and an action film) they were modified and differentiated from traditional depiction (Topel, 2012). Humorous genre of the film alleviates the overall effect of violence and crime on the screen that is why “Hot Fuzz” received a classification 15 as even in the scenes with blood the accent was shifted towards comedy elements. One of the most violent scenes of the “”Hot Fuzz” involves beheading of the personage with a spire by an axe-man. Though the episode is really painful to watch its absurdity nevertheless creates purely unrealistic impression of the event. Another episode involves one of the heroes falling on the spire of a church with his face being pierced. But to mitigate the effect of this injury on the viewers the producers make the hero speak turning the whole episode into absurdity. According to the Classification Guidelines the degree and nature of violence are examined in the movie to determine age restrictions. The following cases including violence are usually judged in the strictest way: Showing violence as a means of problems solution; Sadistic elements of violence; Showing violence in glamourized way; Encouragement to violent behavior. Thus, the exaggeration and intended unrealistic nature of violence with absence of other elements leads to a classification 15 for “Hot Fuzz”. All in all despite excessive amount of victims in the movie the whole police operation ends almost bloodlessly involving no fatal cases.As for the several sexual references they do not presuppose aggression or inappropriate sexual behavior. Product Placement Though the cases of product placement are not regulated by BBFC they still undergo ethical examination. There also were several cases of product placements in the movie but according to the parodying genre these placements were not typical to normal action dramas. In detective movies principal heroes usually drive the latest models of cars and wear the most expensive Swiss watches but in “Hot Fuzz”” there were product placements of Vodafone during Angel`s trip to Sandford, Gloucestershire which was not intrusive and irritating. Cornetto by Unilever is also difficult to call a real product placement because it is used mostly as a “symbol” of extraordinary physical form of Butterman but still this type of food appears regularly on the screen. According to Shrum, the ethics of product placement is doubtful because it blurs the border between advertisement which is based on manipulation and entertainment. That is why there is an assumption that viewers can be less sensitive to advertisement which they see in movies or TV programs. The author claims that most viewers find product placement acceptable as long as it is limited wisely (Shrum, 2012, 67). However, product placement is allowed in the United Kingdom by OFCOM, independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communication industries since 2011. Product placement is permitted in movies (dramas and documentaries as well), TV series, and in shows on TV (such as sports or entertaining programs). OFCOM nevertheless takes its right to regulate what and where can product placement appear (Product Placement on TV, 2012). According to Ess,”doing ethics” presupposes much more than selecting some rules and principles and using them in particular circumstances in an algorithmic manner. The most complicated part here is for content creators to define what principles are applicable to reality. This skill involves a capacity to make reasonable judgments from directors and script writers (Ess, 2009, 65). Basically media is aimed to enhance human morality by promoting such qualities as fairness, awareness, personal involvement, unity, respect that are intercultural (Japp & Meister, 2005, 286). However, in recent decades it became important to not rely on the media content producers but also cultivate “home film culture” as films became a mundane routine of households (McDonald, 2007, 59). However, producers of any media content definetely have certain obligation before society to choose such values and frameworks that would be beneficial to them. Thus, producing such a complicated genre mix as “Hot Fuzz” it was necessary to divide illusory messages from real and represent important moral values, and this is exceptionally important in relation to children. This film received a classification 15 which means that the age of auditory cannot be less than 15 years. Classification of BBFC distinguishes between seven categories depending on age. Generally not to be refused from the classification a film must adhere to the following principles: Avoiding any sexual, racial, national, gender, religious or disability discrimination; Absence of any drugs promotion. Exclusion of glamorized image of drugs; Avoiding negative imitable behaviour such as criminal or violent behavior; Avoiding strong language that can be offensive to a certain category of public; Avoiding demonstration of violence; glamorization of violence; Avoiding overly sexualized behavior and sexual scenes promoting sadism, Avoiding nudity on the screen; Absence of threatening, scary, and unsettling scenes. Avoiding explicit violent scenes promoting aggressive or sadistic behavior (Classification Guidelines, 2014). Thus, this comedy adheres to the ethics principles in the UK and can be recommended to a wide auditory of teenagers, youth, and adults. As the movie was released eight years ago it managed to create positive image and met the expectations of BBFC examiners and achieving recognition among viewers. References Classification Guidelines. (2014). BBFC. Retrieved from: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202014_0.pdf Ess, C. (2014). Digital Media Ethics. Cambridge: Polity Press Hot Fuzz on IMBD. (2007). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/ Japp, P., & Meister, M. (2007). Communication Ethics Media and Popular Culture. New York: Peter Lang Publishing McDonald, P. (2007). Video and DVD industries. London: British Film Institute Product Placement on TV. (2013). OFCOM. Retrieved from: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio/television/product-placement-on-tv/ Shrum, L. (2012). The Psychology of Entertainment Media. 2nd Edition. Blurring the line between Entertainment and Persuasion. Routledge: New York. Topel, F. (2008). Interview with the Stars of Hot Fuzz - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. About Entertainment. Retrieved from: http://movies.about.com/od/hotfuzz/a/hotfuzzsp041307.htm Read More