Dark Knight Rating

A controversy has emerged over the rating given The Dark Knight by the British Board of Film Classification. The BBFC, as the board is known, awarded the film a "family friendly" rating of 12A, roughly equivalent to the U.S. PG-13 rating. Critics, however, have maintained that the film is too violent to be designated "suitable for 12 years and over."BBFO.co.uk: Our Guidelines

Some critics have tied The Dark Knight's rating to a mounting problem of knife violence in the U.K., suggesting that lax media standards are partly to blame for such violence.Daily Mail: British film censors under pressure as other countries give violent Batman a 15 certificate (August 6, 2008) According to John Beyer, who directs the organization Mediawatch-UK, "One has to look at the fact we have a knife culture and ask what effect the BBFC's decisions over the last 40 years or so have had on this."Daily Mail: British film censors under pressure as other countries give violent Batman a 15 certificate (August 6, 2008)

In 2008, a perceived upsurge in youth stabbings has been covered in the British press. Reports have included a profile of the London suburb of Edmonton-dubbed Shank Town-where up to three-quarters of young people carry knives.Daily Mail: London suburb where stab vests and knives are a way of life (April 4, 2008) Another was the gruesome murders of two French exchange students, Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, who were stabbed a combined 233 times before their bodies were set on fire.The Sun: Arrest in double murder probe (July 5, 2008)