The R18 is actually a very useful classification, as it establishes a pretty clear distinction between softcore and hardcore pornography (I know films have been passed at 18 with unambiguous hardcore sequences, but they're not primarily pornographic films), which means that interfering busybodies can't then complain that they weren't warned upfront about the likely content. The warning couldn't be clearer.knives wrote:If it does come to have no future would the implication toward the BBFC by the end of banning and maybe even reformation of the R18?
The problem has always been with the way it's been implemented, whereby R18 films can only be sold over the counter in licensed premises. As I said in this very thread, unless you actually own the licensed premises in question or have a very strong business interest in them, this makes it essentially impossible to make money off R18 titles - which is why, although several people had wide-eyed plans to get into that market (as Duncan says above, there's one hell of a lot of titles up for grabs), they quickly backed out when they realised the challenges.
So even a change as seemingly minimal as allowing R18 titles to be sent via mail order would potentially make a huge difference, as it would cut out the sex-shop middlemen and allow distributors to deal directly with their customers. And it would therefore mean that the more adventurous independent labels could add R18 titles to their own catalogues - something of clear artistic/historical/cultural merit like Thundercrack! or The Good Old Naughty Days or even the hardcore Radley Metzger titles could fit right in to several labels' line-ups.