Office of Film & Literature Classification
We have resources to help you start the conversation with your rangatahi.
We have tools and advice for parents and whānau to help their rangatahi deal with challenging content.
Find out how we classify content by watching this animation.
Search through the NZ Register of Classification Decisions.
Latest news and blog posts
News - Introducing New Zealand age ratings and warnings to streaming services
29 June 2020
Resource - Understanding loot boxes: a guide for parents and whānau
22 June 2020
Blog post - Our Youth Advisory Panel talk Tiger King
14 May 2020
Blog post - Our Youth Advisory Panel on drug use in films and series
11 May 2020
Blog post - The Porn Talk
30 April 2020
Resource - How to talk with young people about porn (updated)
18 April 2020
Research - Growing up with Porn
18 April 2020
Research - Breaking Down Porn
05 December 2019
What do the ratings/classifications mean?
All about rating/classification labels and descriptive notes.
OFLC updates
Including updates on the latest research carried out by the Office of Film & Literature Classification, media releases and other breaking news.
Growing up with Porn: Insights from young New Zealanders
18 April 2020
Read our latest research report, Growing up with Porn - Insights from young New Zealanders Read more
How to talk with young people about pornography
05 December 2019
This page contains frequently asked questions and advice for parents who want to talk with their young people about pornography. Read more
Recent classification decisions
These are brief snapshots of recent classification decisions. For more detailed information on selected titles see featured classification decisions.
19/03/2020 - R13: Violence, offensive language and sex scenes Read more about Queen and Slim
What is it? Queen and Slim is a crime drama and unlikely romance. After an unexceptional first date a young black couple are pulled over by a racist white cop. When the encounter goes badly wrong, Slim ends up shooting the cop and the two almost-strangers go on the run, travelling cross-country in an attempt to keep their freedom.
What to expect? Queen and Slim is a nuanced exploration of the effect of police brutality in the wake of the “black lives matter” movement. Both a love story and a road movie, it blends genre and characterisation to create a narrative which manages to voice anger at injustice without being didactic.
While the film’s portrayal of police brutality and gun violence is well-contextualised and of low extent, children are still likely to be shocked by it. The moral ambiguity of the crime presented requires some maturity to appreciate. Children are also unlikely to have the maturity to process the relatively frank sex scene and associated nudity. Furthermore, the extent of offensive language is likely to inure younger viewers to such language, increasing the likelihood of imitation, to the detriment of their socialisation.
16/03/2020 - R13: Contains violence and horror scenes Read more about Nioh 2
What is it? Nioh 2 is an action role playing game set in a mythic version of feudal Japan. Players assume the role of a warrior imbued with the power of a supernatural spirit – whose prowess at demon slaying calls him to battle with a growing horde of supernatural foes. Amidst this burgeoning threat, the warlords of the day battle for supremacy. Played from a third person perspective, players explore each level – battling demons of various shapes and sizes, until they culminate in a more challenging opponent and the level is complete. Dialogue that bookends the missions gives players context for their task, and there are cinematic cutscenes to propel more dramatic moments forward. Along the way, players will be able to find and upgrade new weapons, armours and skills to help them tackle ever more difficult foes.
What to expect? The combat in Nioh 2 is fast paced and bloody but somewhat mitigated by the mythic-historic setting. Most of the opponents the player faces off against are either supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore, or humans influenced by demonic spirits. During the game's frequent martial combat there is blood spray, as well as some decapitation. Whether the necks spurt blood or gas depends on the creature being fought. Ultimately, while this is a frequently bloody game, the mythic-historical setting considerably lessens the realism of the physical harm depicted. Nonetheless, the bloody violence and persistent but limited horror themes are likely to prove disturbing to younger audiences. Therefore Nioh 2 is best classified as restricted to those aged 13 and over, as teenagers have the maturity to properly contextualise this violence and horror in its supernatural setting.
05/03/2020 - R16: Contains graphic violence, drug use and offensive language Read more about Guns Akimbo
What is it? Guns Akimbo is an American action film about ‘Skizm’ an illegal-but-popular game of kill or be killed, which is broadcast on the internet. Set in contemporary times, it follows office worker Miles Harris as he spends an evening trolling the watchers of the Skizm stream, baiting them in chat for his entertainment. Unfortunately for Miles, a Skizm admin takes an interest in his online exploits and sends a team around to sort him out. Knocked out and taken away, Miles wakes the next day to discover he has had pistols bolted onto his hands, and he must face a fight to the death against Skzim’s reigning champion, Nix.
What to expect? Prepare for an entertaining mix of kinetic violence and dark comedy. Guns Akimbo is both ludicrous and bloody, stylishly shot with a high energy soundtrack. However there is a high extent of strong, and at times cruel, violence which is likely to disturb younger audiences. Alongside the frequent use of highly offensive language, and some drug use and sexual content, this strong violence ensures Guns Akimbo is best restricted to those aged 16 and over.
21/02/2020 - R13: Violence, horror scenes and offensive language Read more about Bhoot Part One: The Haunted Ship
What is it? Bhoot Part one: The Haunted Ship is a Bollywood supernatural horror film about a deserted container ship that strands on a Mumbai beach. Customs officer Prithvi discovers that the ship is haunted by Meera, a girl who has been stuck on the ship for 11 years and is possessed by a tormented spirit. With the help of his friends, Professor Joshi and agent Riaz, Prithvi must find out what the spirit wants before the ship is towed out to sea.
What to expect? The film is a slick, well-paced supernatural horror, which creates a low-level atmosphere of fear and a sympathetic hero. While none of the horror-violence is gratuitous or gory, the consistent use of sound to enhance jump scares and the imagery of possession mean that the film is not suitable for young children, especially in a cinematic setting with surround sound. More importantly, it is the scenes of domestic violence, implied torture and a bloody murder, while brief, are likely to shock and disturb younger audiences.
21/02/2020 - R16: Violence, cruelty, sexual material and content may disturb Read more about The Lighthouse
What is it? The Lighthouse is a psychological thriller feature about two men keeping a lighthouse in the 19th century. It is set on a small, rocky, isolated island in rough seas. A taciturn former lumberjack (Ephraim) arrives on the island to help the salty, grizzled lighthouse keeper (Thom). Ephraim begrudges Thom’s garrulous and bossy tendencies, unhappily submitting to the hard physical chores his boss sets for him. Thom is steeped in the folklore and ways of seamen, and finds Ephraim lazy, entitled and mean-spirited. A storm arrives, resulting in the two being stranded together without relief.
What to expect? The dominant effect is of a boutique psychological horror about the nautical mystique and mythos of lighthouse keeping in a bygone era. The style and subject matter will appeal to mature audiences. Children and younger teenagers will be shocked and disturbed by the level and nature of the horror, violence and cruelty. The sexual content supports a restricted classification, as it is likely to disturb children.
21/02/2020 - R16: Contains graphic violence and horror Read more about Doom Eternal
What is it? Doom Eternal is a first person shooter that presents an adrenaline rush of brutal-but-slapstick violence set to a ripping metal soundtrack. With Earth in the grip of a demonic invasion, Doom Guy – an angry man in an armoured suit – works on wiping the demons out. Through destroyed cities, huge space ships and the sanctums of ancient civilisations, the player tears through the demonic horde, guns blazing and chainsaw revving. As players progress through a story that is both self-serious and self-aware, they can explore the various levels to find secret items which grant lore details, weapon and ability upgrades. In this way the game encourages exploration and repeat play. Alongside the single-player campaign, Doom Eternal has a challenge system, and a three-player adversarial multiplayer mode.
What to expect? Doom Eternal presents one of the more detailed gore systems in video games, mitigated by its use on fantastical creatures. Under the sustained gunfire of Doom Guy’s sci-fi arsenal, demon flesh gives way to muscle, meat, and bone, blasted away in lurid chunks. This is a fast way to recognise damaged enemies, and also results in a mechanic where players can target enemy weapons to destroy them and limit their available attacks. In further examples of the game’s over-the-top tone, players can execute finishing moves, where the Doom Guy punches, pulls and stomps on his victims in an exaggeratedly amusing fashion. One of the highlights is where the Doom Guy pulls out the large green eyeball of a floating cacodemon – the accompanying stretch-and-pop sound effect turns what could have been a more gruesome act into a sequence of amusing but violent slapstick. In this way, despite the scattered corpses and bloody violence found throughout the game, Doom Eternal clearly veers away from the inherent cruelty which can easily accompany depictions of graphic violence. This is violence against exaggerated, almost-cartoonish demons, with the piñata-like bursts of health, armour and ammunition pickups which herald the demise of each opponent further adding to the arcade-like tone. As a result, Doom Eternal deals with its frequently gory violence in a manner which remains likely to shock younger audiences, but which can be properly contextualised by older teenagers and adults.
Minds Over Media
Video transcripts
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Video transcript - What do they want to know?
The video clip is a minute long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: What do they want to know? appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
I think it's - again, it's about listening. So it's really important to listen to what actually do they want to know? Because us with our adult minds (dirty, filthy minds that we've got) we go straight to, "Oh, they must be asking about the details of intercourse, or the - they want to know about oral sex, or..." But actually they really don't want that much detail. They just want to know that you're happy to answer. So always - if they ask you a question, you go (gasp) 'Oh, how am I going to answer this?' Just ask them back. "Why do you want to know? What would you like to know about that?" And then clarify, and you might find they don't want to know all that much detail and you go way over the top and totally unnecessarily. So those, "I'm wondering how come you think like that? I'm wondering why you ask that question? I'm just wanting to understand where you're coming from." Rather than listening to think, "Oh help, how am I going to answer that one?"
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Really listen
The video clip is one minute and two seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Really listen appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
I mean, for me the biggest message I want to get across to parents is "listen". The biggest feedback I get from kids is "My parents don't listen to me". And parents think they're listening, but kids don't feel heard. And I think it's that difference between listening, but you're still doing something and actually listening and reflecting and actually spending time to not necessarily looking people in the eye, because that’s really embarrassing, but while you’re driving or while you’re doing something automatic so that you’re doing it alongside each other, but really hearing. So I think trying to listen to what the underlying message is what the child is trying to say because they haven’t got the vocabulary. So we really need to listen to the emotion and the need underneath. And that kind of listening, whoa. If we could all do that, our society would be way different. Especially our politicians.
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Thinking critically
The video clip is 42 seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Thinking critically appears on screen.
I think we kind of need to apply and teach people critical thinking powers to actually see what the underlying assumptions are; actually evaluate them in terms of your own experience and then draw some conclusions about what you're watching, rather than just jumping to conclusions. So I think it's really important that we teach young people right now as they're growing up, even from childhood on, that entertainment is entertainment - it's not reality. Yes we make movies of reality, but at the same time we're doing that for a purpose sometimes to help us reflect and think about ourselves so that we can actually say, "Well are we ok with this?"
This is intercut with footage from Black Mirror of a young man watching a sexualised music video.
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Getting started is easy
The video clip is 28 seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Getting started is easy appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
Watching a movie together is really good, because then you can go, "So what did you think about when that guy kissed her? What do you think about when that guy pushed her over because she wouldn't kiss him? What did you-" and kind of start at that level and kind of have those conversations around something you're watching. It's not the big talk but you pick up on that opportunity of watching something which you know is probably going to touch on those subjects and then you can talk about it.
This is intercut with footage from 13 Reasons Why of a young woman sliding down a slide and kissing a young man.
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
A handy guide to brain development
Video transcript - A handy guide to brain development
The video clip is 2 minutes and 15 seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: A hnady guide to brain development appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
I'm so glad you asked because now I can do my handy model of brain development! So brains develop from the bottom up. So this bit here is your spinal cord going down the back of your neck. The base of the thumb is the base of your brain and that controls all your organs without you having to think - the automatic nervous system, I call it - and your noradrenaline-adrenaline production; the bit that reacts to fear - that gets you going basically. That's all linked in online when you're born but not much else.
So all the structures are there but they're not online. The first five years of life you can actually see it through your eyes, because you can see them learn to walk, talk, and chew gum at the same time, and then this bit in the middle - the thumb - is your limbic system. And that's the bit which deals with emotion and new ways of laying down memory. The amygdala's there and the amygdala's really important because that's the bit that looks for danger and it's really on hyper alert with young people and it's firing up like mad, really coming online so their amygdala is much bigger than an adult's. So they're hyper alert already. If they've had bad experiences growing up, that's hyper alerted them as well - their already developed amygdalas.
But this bit, which is the bit - the cortex - that brings in your thinking about thinking and your ability to think is only online about 20% of the time for teenagers. So they think with their emotions and that's what you have to be aware of when they're exposed to all this media stuff. Adults have that thinking to critically review it and say, "This isn't real, this is rubbish; this doesn't equate with anything I know" but teenagers haven't got that. So adults need to be the frontal cortex for their teenagers, to be able to help them calm down their amygdalas, which go zooming off with horror stuff. We all like a bit of a noradrenaline buzz, that's why horror movies do so well, but at the same time not overly much.
Because some young people will have that horror buzz for two years after they've seen something and that's going to affect how they function in their lives. So really important that parents are there to help filter and to help do that critical thinking.
This is intercut with footage from Black Mirror of a child being taken care of by her caregivers, and seeing other students in a playground watching media.
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Concrete vs abstract thinkers
The video clip is one minute and seven seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Concrete vs. Abstract Thinkers appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
The other thing that I think we have to remember is the nature of a concrete thinker. So a concrete thinker will take everything literally and will just translate what they've seen into real life, whereas an abstract thinker will go, "Oh yeah, but that's not real life - that's fine, I can keep my stuff separate. That's just entertainment, that's okay." But it's a really blurred line for a lot of things, especially if you've had adverse experiences growing up, so you blur that line. It's really hard to know what's real and what's not and that's I think the danger of the violence that we see and the sexual violence that we see is: where's that blurred line, and how do we determine where that line comes when it's so difficult to determine what's real and what's not real? And certainly for young people I think we have to be careful about messages when they're watching it and they're thinking it's real, we've got to be really careful, whereas if you've got that critical thinking, that frontal lobe linked in a bit more then you can deal with it so much more easily
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Flipping your lid
The video clip is two minutes and 24 seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Flipping your lid appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
So what comes online in teenage times is the amygdala and the limbic system kind of really feeling everything really intensely, and then this bit (the cortex) comes around and helps to temper those emotions because you start thinking about them and you're a bit more critical, and you temper them with your ability to think. When you think horrible thoughts that stimulates your feelings which triggers off your adrenaline and then when your adrenaline's triggered off you get all these things like you increase breathing, increase heart rate, your immune system's affected because of cortisol going on and on. Your guts get affected: you get diarrhea, feel nausea, you want to throw up, you pee all the time. So all those effects.
But just so you know what it's like to think with your emotions - all of us I know have lost our keys, already late from work. That's a kind of classic scenario and how many times do we look in the same place? We look in the same place three times, five times, 15 times - totally illogical! You know? If you didn't find it once you're not gonna find it again looking in the same place. So we have flipped our lids. We're thinking with our emotions and our logical thought is gone. So when you're talking to teenagers it's really important to acknowledge that emotion because we all know, you know when we go, "Just calm down. When did you last have them? Think." We can't do that, we just want to slap that person, "Look, just help me find my keys!" That's what teenagers feel. They feel like slapping us because they know that we don't understand, so the most important thing you can do is talk to the emotions. Acknowledge that emotion, show them you're trying to understand (you can't absolutely, but trying to) and then introduce that logical thought and then that makes it so much easier.
So if somebody's upset by watching a movie just saying to them, "Oh look it's just a movie you know you've got nothing to worry about it's okay." Goes down like a lump of lead but if you can say "Oh yeah how did it make you feel? Did it really make you feel scared?" or, "What did you feel about that, and tell me more about how that's affecting you?" And then introduce "But actually it's only a movie." You know, we all know if we woken up in a nightmare and somebody says, "Oh it's only a dream", you think "But it feels really real! You know, it's taken me I'm really upset." Got to acknowledge that and calm it and soothe it first, and then you talk about it.
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Suicide
The video clip is one minute and sixteen seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Really listen appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
It's not just on 13 Reasons Why, it's also knowing a friend who has suicided, and I think probably the biggest risk factor for somebody to suicide is knowing somebody who has suicided. Whether it be a family member or a friend or just somebody they know in their school. And I think it's really important the parents have that conversation and I think it depends on their stage of development and how young they are and what their experience but I think going from a position of grief and say, "Gosh, wasn't that really sad for that young person, that they had felt that way that they could take their own life?"
So exploring what your young person thinks about what happens after death is really helpful because you may not realize that they're thinking this stuff and then go, "Have you ever felt like that?" Actually bring it out. "Have you felt like that? And if you have, that's really sad that you feel like that and you've lost that hope that keeps people going. I really need - you need - we need to talk about it if you feel like that. Please if you feel like that and you get thoughts like that, just come and talk; it doesn't matter what time of the day or night, come and tell me because that's much better than carrying it on your own."
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - Checking your emotions
The video clip is 59 seconds long. White background. A small pause button appears on screen before turning into the Minds Over Media logo, which reads "Minds Over Media. Watch carefully. Think critically." Dr Sue Bagshaw's name appears on screen alongside that of the Collaborative Trust. The title of the video, Talking to young people: Checking your emotions appears on screen.
Sue's voiceover plays over this. Transcript follows below:
It's really important for parents to contain your own emotional response before you actually go and talk to your young person, because otherwise the two get conflicted and you don't actually get a good message across. All you get across is your anger, and grief, and horror that this is my child doing this stuff.
[CLIP FROM RIVERDALE] We're your parents. [EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYS]
Sue: I love the t-shirt says "No you calm down" because you know adults are really good at kind of [exasperate sigh] going off. We all are! We all lose our prefrontal cortex from time to time and so it's important to just calm yourself before you actually bring it up with your young person. But it is good to bring it up because then you can discuss that time and that's a learning time for everybody then.
White background. Image of Classification Office logo with Massey University logo. Text on screen reads: Office of Film and Literature Classification Te Tari Whakarōpū Tukuata, Tuhituhinga. www.classificationoffice.govt.nz; and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa University of New Zealand, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. End of clip.
With thanks to Drs. Sue Bagshaw of the Collaborative Trust and Claire Henry of Massey University. Ka pai! -
Video transcript - How we classify
This video clip is 2 minutes long. It is an animation. Red cinema curtains pull back, and show a PG label.
A voice over plays over an animation, which follows a person watching a film between a pink rabbit and a fox. The film makes the person remember crying by a grave, but the rabbit and the fox have a good time. At the end of the animation, the person is watching the film on their phone, tablet, picking out a disc, and at the cinema.
The transcript for the voice-over follows below:
Have you ever gone to a film where there was something that made you anxious? Scared? Maybe even dug up some unpleasant memories? We watch films mostly to have a good time, and be informed, but not harmed by its content. Classifications are important so consumers are empowered to choose what is right for them. But who makes these classifications? In New Zealand, it’s us! The Classification Office. Before films come out in New Zealand, one of our classification advisors watches it, and looks out for: sex, horror, crime, cruelty, and violence, as well as offensive language and self-harm content. We give the film a rating based on what we saw, as well as a brief description of the strongest content in the film. It’s not just films. We look at games, books, and all sorts of publications. It can even be a t-shirt.
We can classify almost anything that needs to be restricted. Everyone has different life experiences and needs. Classifications act as way for people to know what kind of content is in a film. So next time, take a look at the classification. Watch carefully, think critically.
Visit our website at classificationoffice.govt.nz