Nearly 60 years after its debut, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has upgraded Mary Poppins’ age rating from U to PG, reports Breaking News.
The BBFC said that “discriminatory language” was the reason for the age rating modification.
The Khoikhoi people of South Africa were previously referred to as “hottentots” by white European colonists, a name that was colonially utilised in the 1964 movie starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.
In the movie, Admiral Boom, played by actor Reginald Owen, uses the phrase twice. The first time is when he asks Michael, one of the kids, whether he’s going on an expedition to “defeat Hottentots,” reports Breaking News.
Afterwards, the admiral sees chimney sweeps with soot on their faces and yells, “We’re being attacked by Hottentots,” before hurling pyrotechnics in their way.
The BBFC told the PA news agency: “While Mary Poppins has a historical context, the use of discriminatory language is not condemned, and ultimately exceeds our guidelines for acceptable language at U. We therefore classified the film PG for discriminatory language,” reports Breaking News.
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