Censorship Madness

[wickednick]

Im not against censorship.There are things out there we do not want are children to see at a young age, or there are things which are done in such a blatant sense of bad taste that they should be censored.
My problem with censorship is that there does not seem to be a standard for it or there seems to be no reasoning behind it.Things are censored from some movies and tv shows which show up in other movies and tv shows with the same ratings.
Tv is probably the most guilty of being inconsistent with there rating and censorship.Comedy Central is a good example of this.South Park is probably one of the most vulgar and obcene, yet also one of the most thought provoking, shows on tv.They can say and do things on that show that would get censored on any other show.Why is that?Comedy Central has shown the South Park movie several times uncut, but bleep the out of other movies like GhostBusters, and Beetlejuice.
Comedy Central is just one example of the bizzare way diffrent networks censor there programming.Other networks like Spike tv, FX, Sci-fi, and Fox all lack consetancy in there censorship.The rating systems that have been put into place on the tv are diffrent for every network, and often the ratings are inconsistent between there own shows
So I have to ask why is this?If they are going to censor something lets get some set standards.



Post Edited (12-28-03 18:31)

[trekgeezer]

The problem with censorship is that  there is no way to be objective.  What I find funny or  okay to look at someone else may have a cow over.

The only place I see it is okay to censor things is when it comes to small children and this should be the responsibility of parents.  Pay attention to what they watch and what they may see and act accordingly.  

Ratings don't seem to help a lot because like many tv networks they are very inconsistent. I've seen R rated movies that made me wonder why they were rated R and PG films that I thought should have been R.   It is sorta maddening.

[Scott]

A channel should be known as one who censors or dosn't censor so we know what to expect when tuning in. Like if I watch USA, TBS, or FOX MOVIE CHANNEL I know that the feature will be edited, but if I watch FLIX or ENCORE then it will be most likely uncensored.

[FearlessFreep]

I've seen football and baseball games, especially on Fox, where I didn't mind my kids watching the game but I felt I had to  change the channel during the commercials.

[Evil Matt]

I think (and someone please jump in if I'm wrong) that according to FCC regs, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want on TV after 9:00 pm.  Most networks choose to forgo racier programming after 9:00 anyway because they don't want to lose sponsors.  So when Comedy Central shows the "South Park" movie uncut at 1 am, they're technically operating within the law, and they're not going to lose much in advertising dough at such a crappy hour.  You probably won't ever see it happen during primetime hours, though.  "NYPD Blue" and "Playmakers" is about as rough as it's gonna get at those times.

[JohnL]

I've noticed that most channels are more liberal with their own productions than with movies or shows from other sources. For example, USA will censor the scene of Mel's ass in Lethal Weapon, but yet La Femme Nikita had a scene of the main male lead getting out of bed naked in a well-lit room and walking away from the camera.

I could be wrong about this, but I think that when the various channels buy the rights to a movie, they're automatically sent one that's been censored for TV.

[Colt M1991A1]

The Australian TV Code of Practice basically says you can do whatever the hell you like after 8:30pm, and most people do.

Free to Air Channels show uncut movies (Channel 10 ran Pulp Fiction in it's uncut glory at 8:30pm about a year and a  bit ago, and every movie I've seen on Aussie TV has had the swearing left in it...), and TV shows shown after 8:30pm use all of the 7 words you can't say on television (most notable Channel 10's "The Secret Life of Us", where one character referred to another as a "F---ing Wanker".)

At the end of the day, they're only words, and most kids know them anyway- its the drugs and underage sex*  we should be trying to keep them away from!

*and by underage sex I mean under the age of 15 or 16, not 18... whoever decided that 18 was a good age of consent in parts of the USA obviously didn't get out much. At least most of the rest of the planet is more realistic when it comes to these things...

[Grumpy Guy]

Colt M1991A1 wrote:

> *and by underage sex I mean under the age of 15 or 16, not
> 18... whoever decided that 18 was a good age of consent in
> parts of the USA obviously didn't get out much. At least most
> of the rest of the planet is more realistic when it comes to
> these things...

Speaking as someone who had sex before he was 18, I really wish I hadn't.  I have an enormous ammount of respect for people who wait until they're actually adults to engage in sexual intercourse.

And, as a final note - I can't speak for every one, but I have no desire what so ever to see sixteen year olds get it on.  The older I get, the more fifteen-sixteen year olds look like children to me.  It's just... ewww...

[dean]

"The Australian TV Code of Practice basically says you can do whatever the hell you like after 8:30pm, and most people do."

They don't all the time.  Ever watch the saturday night movies? A lot of the times there is a fair bit of censorship.  Maybe not so much language, but there are quite often a few shots missing from violent scenes that could've been kept in quite easily.  Also did you watch Lethal Weapon 4 last time it was on?  It drove me crazy because of the beeps they added in.  Just imagine any conversation that Chris Rock had in the movie "Beep the Beep Beep Beeping Beep"

It was very frustrating.  But other than that, yup, Aussie TV does sometimes allow a fair bit of leeway when it comes to showing stuff.

[trekgeezer]

As far as  I can tell Fox Movie Channel  doesn't censor anything. FX the other Fox station does.
 I've seen Predator, Die Hard, and several others in their complete glory with every curse word intact on FMC.

[Grimsnipe]

> I've noticed that most channels are more liberal with their own
> productions than with movies or shows from other sources. For
> example, USA will censor the scene of Mel's ass in Lethal
> Weapon, but yet La Femme Nikita had a scene of the main male
> lead getting out of bed naked in a well-lit room and walking
> away from the camera.
>
> I could be wrong about this, but I think that when the various
> channels buy the rights to a movie, they're automatically sent
> one that's been censored for TV.

Plus I think with older films they only have a version that was censored according to the laws/regs/mores of the time.  For instance, it's okay in primetime to say "b***h" and "ass" on regular tv, but I've seen a lot of older films where that's censored out.

[Colt M1991A1]

I missed Lethal Weapon 4 the last time it was on, but for proof you really can get away with anything on Australian TV, try watching SBS on a Saturday Night- there's a reason it's nicknamed Sex Before Soccer...

[dean]

'try watching SBS on a Saturday Night- there's a reason it's nicknamed Sex Before Soccer...'


So true, so very true.  Puberty wouldn't have been half as fun if it didn't exist.  ;-)

Sat December 20th:  9:30pm MOVIE: Karma Sutra- A tale of love (1996)(India)

Sat December 27th: 9:30pm MOVIE: The Dark Side of the Heart 2 (1992)(Argentina)  'A struggling young poet living in Buenos Aires meets and falls in love with a prostitute.'

Hmmm...

[Serge Normandin]

You are wrong.  Censorship is limitation of expression only.  People will be even more drawn to see Actual nudity if they get teased all the time.  Rape has gone down significantly since internet porn.  I don't have the exact figure from the department of justice, but it's true.  Blocking nudity on this site is useless and prudish.

[Max Gardner]

Censorship laws are indeed baffling, but they make for some genuinely hilarious edited-for-television dialogue.  My favorite must be "fail you," featured in the TV version of The Breakfast Club.  "Fail" seems an unlikely substitute for the good old Big Eff.  I've also heard "mess you" and "frog you."