London: Mary Poppins has had its rating lifted due to “discriminatory language” – 60 years after the film's release.
The British Board of Film Classification has now deemed parts of the 1964 classic about a magical nanny unsuitable for children to watch alone.
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in the 1964 film.
The rating has been upgraded from U, meaning suitable for everyone, to Parental Guidance due to the use of the derogatory term “Hottentot”.
Coined in the late 17th century to refer to the Khoikho, a group of people who were among the first inhabitants of South Africa, the term is now considered racially offensive.
Admiral Baum, a neighbor of the Banks family in the film, says “Hottentots” twice – first about the people off-screen, then when talking about the two children whose faces are blackened with soot.
Admiral Boom.credit: marypoppins.fandom.com
A BBFC spokesperson told… daily Mail: “We understand from our research into racism and discrimination…that a major concern for…parents is the possibility of children being exposed to discriminatory language or behavior which they may find distressing or which they may repeat without realizing the potential offence.”
The live-action and animated film, starring Julie Andrews as the nanny who changes the lives of two children who feel neglected by their parents, will be re-released in selected UK cinemas next month to mark the film's 60th anniversary.
Classifiers picked up on the outdated and racially derogatory term – historically used by Europeans to refer to Khokhoi but later used to refer to all blacks – and deemed it necessary to reclassify.
