The film centres around Tilly, a HIV positive young kid who sets about to sleep with as many virgins as possible, while one his previous sexual partners, discovers that she has contracted the disease and sets out to stop the same thing happening to another girl. What is most interesting about this film is the trouble that it encountered upon release in 1995. Mirimax films gave the film the certificate of NC-17, which is the equivalent of non-classification in the UK. This caused a large deal or controversy at the time as Mirimax’s parent company, Walt Disney, forbids the release of films classified NC-17. Mirimax resolved this problem by setting up a one off distribution company that handled the film and it was released without a rating.
After viewing the film, it seems understandable as to why this film was given such a bad classification as Tilly is seen seducing underage girls for sex. Although it is very common for films to feature gang violence (a scene in which Tilly’s friend Casper gets into a fight and the whole of his gang come to his aid and beat the other guy to a pulp) and drug taking, the issue of underage sex on screen, is an issue that many people are offended by and I believe this to be the reasoning behind the films classification.
An interesting question raised in the lecture on ‘Bad Cinema’ was whether parents should let their children see this film. If I remember correctly, this question received mixed responses with some saying that it would be acceptable and some having a completely different view. I found the film to be quite chilling, to consider that this exists in modern society, with people causing this type of devastation to another, without being aware of it themselves. However for this reason I believe that it may be a good idea for parents to allow their children to see this film. Without a doubt, children are growing up fast and they are being pressured into things more so now than ever before, I believe that this film could be very educational as to what children should be aware of.
It is no question that this film pushed the boundaries back in 1995 and I haven’t witnessed another film that used kids to deal with these types of issues and for that reason ‘Kids’ has stayed in my mind as a very memorable film.
An interesting website that I found was the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) which gives a description of each classification from ‘PG’ to ’18’ and was helpful when conducting research for this topic.
No comments:
Post a Comment