Unnecessarily Explicit

The moral guardians at the British Board of Film Classification have been criticised for giving away plot information. Apparently a mere classification by age with tick-boxes for sex, violence and swearing is no longer enough, so specific plot details which may cause trauma to the unwary are now being shouted out prior to showings. Of course, when the traumatic incident is part of the film's conclusion, this can lead to some small deflation of the drama; but since the BBFC's entire raison d'être is the doctrine that adults are children and seeing is emulating, it would obviously be a gross dereliction of duty not to take precautions. The films which have been spoiled are respectable works of art rather than denizens of the lower depths of genre; so the BBFC has promised to tie itself in knots “in a pragmatic way without compromising the need to inform the public about a film's content”. In Standard English, this appears to mean that the information will be published online without being displayed at cinema showings. It is very charitable of the BBFC to assume that we will be able to find information online; but the policy will be reviewed in six months, just in case they have overestimated our intelligence.