BBFC Ratings : AVATAR

The British board of film classification is an independent, non-govermental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/DVDs since the video recordings act was passed in 1984. 

The BBFC, British Board of Film Classification, was set up by an independent, non governmental body in order to place age restrictions on films, DVDs, video recordings and games so that any explicit scene was not witnessed by the eyes of a younger audience, not being able to view certain events that may be disturbing at their age.. 
Originally the BBFC was founded in 1912 as a result to monitor the content of films and propaganda through world war 1 and to try and honor those who went off to fight instead of putting the name of war in a bad light. When the war was over the BBCF still continued to rate films in order to keep a strict clutch on what was view-able to certain ages. Over time however what is now classifyed as a 12 could easily be classafyed as a 15 a centory back as society slowly grows. Because of the age ratings in place film producers still try and keep some scene driven towards the over all plot while at the same time obiding by the BBFC rules in order to appeal to a wide audience such as 15 or lower, genre dependent.
For example the Horror, comedy and some sci fi's usuall tend to be a higher rating because of graphical scenes or adult themed language or humor. On the other hand animated films which may conists of fantasy or thriller can be found mostly 15 below, some thrillers depending. 


As a result of the ratings program in place it had concluded in some films having to cut whole scenes out of the film for example if something is to graphic and the prodcers wish to appeal to a younger age rating.

For example:
The BBFC's guidelines at '12A'/'12' state that 'Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context'
The sci-fi / fantasy film AVATAR under took no cuts which is usual for this genre, where as a genre such as horror or thriller may have to cut and tweak multiple scenes to get the age rating they desire. with a lower age rating the more people they can appeal to for the opening box office. On the other hand there were a few hiccups within the production as Avatar came out at an age rating of 12 where as the producers wished to have a PG film. This was because many of the battle scenes shown on screen with supposed people getting injured and even killed, while some were off screen it still made it clear upon what was happening and didn't hide it. We also see some moderate violence, including sight of arrows piercing bodies, fight sequences where characters are heavily kicked or punched, and a fight scene between a man wearing a large metal body armour suit and a fantastical creature. however through all this there are no focuses on blood or wounds which anyone has sustained and the more gruesome parts appeared off screen.