James Ferman
James Alan Ferman (11 April 1930 – 24 December 2002) was an American television and theatre director. He was the Secretary (later termed Director) of the British Board of Film Classification from 1975 to 1999.[1]
Ferman originally came to the United Kingdom while in the United States Air Force, following an English degree from Cornell, [2] where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity[3]. He subsequently studied at King's College, Cambridge.[4] Before his time at the BBFC, Ferman worked on TV series such as Armchair Theatre, and after moving from ABC to ATV,[2] Emergency Ward 10 and many documentaries. He also wrote the libretto for the musical Zuleika.
Ferman gained, amongst some, reputation as an overzealous censor as result of his refusal to allow several films from the 1970s to be released following the introduction of video censorship under the Video Recordings Act 1984 and the media outcry over "video nasties". It was felt by many cultural commentators that these films, including works such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, were not without cultural value.
Ferman was also well known for his keenness to remove references to certain weapons, with the result that sequences involving nunchuks, no matter how innocuous, were removed. A prime casualty of the ruling were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films which were aggressively pruned.
However the other side of Ferman's tenure was that under his management cuts to films, once comparatively routine, became exceedingly scarce.[2] While liberal commentators complained about his dogged refusal to release certain films, others (such as Mary Whitehouse) saw him as excessively lenient. This dichotomy was clear right up to the end of his tenure when he was criticised both for refusing to allow the release of The Exorcist on video and for permitting the uncut release of David Cronenberg's Crash (1996) in cinemas.[citation needed]
On his retirement from the BBFC, Ferman called for a relaxation of the restrictions applied to hardcore pornography in the UK, suggesting that this would discourage illegal material.
[edit] References
- ^ Michael Brooke "Ferman, James (1930-2002)", BFI screenonline page
- ^ a b c Dennis Barker Obituary: James Ferman, The Guardian, 27 December 2009
- ^ "Pi Lambda Phi 2010 Membership Directory"
- ^ Obituary; James Ferman, Daily Telegraph, 26 December 2002
