Today, Sunday, the United Arab Emirates announced the inclusion of a new age classification for cinematographic films, specific to an age group over 21, to alert viewers who wish to watch films in their original version, announcing that it will not censor films shown in cinemas inside the Emirates.
The Media Regulation Office of the UAE Ministry of Culture said in a tweet that "the (+21) category will be included in the age classification categories for cinematic films."
The Media Regulation Office announces the inclusion of a category (+21) within the age classification categories for cinematic films.
According to this classification, films will be shown in cinemas according to their international version, and the classification is given based on the standards of media content in the country.
pic.twitter.com/wYhYTPjipH
— Media Regulation Office (@uaemro) December 19, 2021
And the office continued via Twitter, "According to this classification, films will be shown in cinemas according to their international version, and they are given a classification based on the standards of media content in the country, with an emphasis on the application of age classification standards for public entry."
Why age censorship of films?
Because some films contain words or scenes of violence and other scenes that are not suitable for children or adolescents, many countries of the world adopt a censorship system to regulate the process of showing entertainment materials such as films and games to the public, and these systems differ from one country to another.
While some countries resort to editing films by banning showing or at least cutting and deleting some scenes that they consider inappropriate to the audience, some other countries resort to evaluating films according to the age classification of the audience, often ranging from global ratings, starting with the appropriate general classification for all members of the audience or What is known as the family classification, passing through the family guidance classification, and for those over 15 years and over 18 years old, and this was the highest age classification in the UAE, so that the new classification for older than 21 years that I recently presented to be a new classification.
It is noteworthy that the UAE was among the countries that allowed the screening of the movie “Eternals”, which was banned in a number of Arab countries last November, as the film was allowed to be shown to audiences over 18 years old, but it has not yet been announced whether Will the film be reclassified according to the new criteria or not?