Woke trigger warnings on Rocky, Flash Gordon and even Watership Down are fuelling generation snowflake...

SOME might say we live in a nanny state – as film censors upgraded the parental guidance rating of kids’ classic Mary Poppins from U to PG.

The kerfuffle is over a single “discriminatory” word in the 1964 movie about the magical nanny, played by Julie Andrews, who flies on a broom.

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The term, a now dated one for the Khoikhoi tribe in Southern Africa, is twice used in the film by Admiral Boom (Reginald Owen), once when the kids have sooty faces.

The British Board of Film Classification cites “potential to expose children to discriminatory language”.

But as Ellie Henman reveals, Mary Poppins is far from the first classic film to have been given a stricter rating . . . 

Flash Gordon 12A

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 SCI-FI caper about a planet-hopping gridiron player went from a PG to 12A when re-released to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2020.

Its “discriminatory stereotypes” were the reason given for the tougher control, which dictates that viewers aged under 12 must be with a grown-up.

Rocky 12A

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THINGS all got a bit too rough for the censors’ liking when Sly Stallone’s 1976 boxing blockbuster got a 40th anniversary re-release, and they switched it from PG to 12A due to the level of violence.

Watership Down PG

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TEAR-JERKER about rabbits trying to dodge destruction by human developers also had watchdogs running scared, as the 1978 film got a PG stamp in place of the old U.

Spoilsports said it was to “remain in step with societal standards,” and “our policies for violence, threat, injury detail and language.”

Lord Of The Rings 12A

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FOR whatever Middle-earthly reason, fun police made The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring a 12A, in line with the trilogy’s other films, citing “moderate fantasy violence”.

Ratatouille 12A

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THE hit animation about a rat who cooks had censors in a stew – and the 2007 film was bounced from a U to PG for its “comic violence”.

The same fate befell The Empire Strikes Back due to its “moderate violence”.