Sinister: Must we fling this filth at our pop kids?

[Robert McTaggart]

You lot,

The mail you are about to read contains sexual swearwords.  It will
almost certainly have an adult theme.  It's also extremely off-topic,
but I can't resist a discussion about film censorship, one of my pet
subjects.  Hopefully, some of you will find it interesting.

Andy Dean, the original White man in Hammersmith Palais, wrote:

>and apologies if tag's already written this post (only more eloquently) but i'm a digestive.

I hadn't, but I will now.  Censorship has shown signs of slackening in
the UK recently, as the new president of the British Board of Film
Censors seems to have taken the revolutionary step of crediting
filmgoers with some intelligence.  This has meant that a few horror
films have finally been available on video e.g. "The Exorcist" which
has been shown late night at some cinemas for many years, and was
still playing to packed houses until its eventual video release.
Infamous flicks such as "Driller Killer" and "Texas Chainsaw
Massacre", withdrawn after the big "video nasties" furore of the early
80's (when the number of nasties you'd seen was a mark of how hard you
were at school and we played Splatter Top Trumps at morning break)
have also been re-released.  It's been recognised that they aren't
nearly as gratuitous as they were painted, and their reputations were
mostly the result of hype (nothing like controversy for packing them
in).  I was surprised to find "Texas Chainsaw" isn't the gorefest I'd
been led to believe, but is in fact some kind of masterpiece.  That
doesn't mean I'm in any hurry to see it again, its horror is almost
entirely psychological and a lot more disturbing for it.  And yes,
it's well-publicised that it was Kubrick himself that withdrew "A
Clockwork Orange" from the UK, but sadly, not because it was an
overrated load of pretentious toss, but because of a handful of
copycat acts of violence, almost certainly exaggerated.

Censorship can be counter-productive, as was the case when the
Argentinian censors removed the notorious nude wrestling scene from
"Women in Love".  As a result, Argentinian viewers got to see Oliver
Reed and the other bloke (whose name escapes me) collapsed, naked and
exhausted after an unspecified type of frantic physical activity, and
now, quite understandably, talk affectionately of "the buggary scene".

Helen wrote:

>The banned book debate was rather intriguing, the last thing that there was 
>controversy over in Australia was the film 'Sick: The life and death of Bob 
>Flanagan super masochist'..

That little charmer was actually shown on Channel 4 in the UK,
admittedly extensively edited.  When I saw it at the BFI, it broke all
records for the number of men crossing their legs in unison.

>Funnily enough there was no controversy over 
>the film "Happiness", which I'm led to believe is slightly 'worse' (in the 
>context of censors,(for lack of a better word)) in content.

That's not strictly true, "Happiness" didn't show a naked man trussed
up like a Christmas turkey or hammering nails into his gentleman's
excuse me.  And while it certainly dealt with some taboo subjects,
these were either dealt with off-screen or merely talked about.  That
didn't stop it from being extremely unsettling.  I liked it though, if
"like" is the right word.

David pontificated:

>still off topic, but if you are going to point out where someone is wrong, i
>should too.

Blimey, that told you, Andy.

>Romance does indeed show an erect penis, as well as penetration, but neither
>of these are firsts for the BBFC. La Vie de Jesus showed penetration, and
>The Idiots showed both an erect penis and penetration. As did Sitcom (well,
>the erect penis anyway). There may be more.

There are.  Contemporary cinema is positively littered with instances
of rampant tackle.  Derek Jarman got one past the censors in
"Sebastiane" by shooting the offending article at the edge of
widescreen, and letting the BBFC see a version in a different format
so that the meat and two veg wasn't visible, the subversive little
scamp.

The fuss about "real shagging" in "Romance" is nothing new either,
we've already had "Ai No Corrida", finally shown at UK cinemas 20
years after it was made.  Like "Romance", it's rude, and not very
good.  "Romance" really does seem like the ultimate in porn dressed as
art, and the fact it's directed by a woman doesn't really change that.
It did spark one of those perennial "did they/didn't they?" debates
though, because the man in it said they did, whereas the actress says
they didn't.  This sort of gossip crops up a lot, it happened with
"Betty Blue", it happened with "Don't look now", and it happened with
the "Dog on wheels" video.

As far as I know Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" is still banned in the
UK, and is likely to remain so.  Unfortunately, although it's a very
powerful and well-made film, it does suffer from some very dubious
notions about women.  My Mum liked it though.  The Brits certainly
aren't the only ones to wave the censorship scissors around..."The
Last Temptation of Christ" is banned in Greece.  Several countries
won't let Pasolini's "Salo" anywhere near a public cinema.  And anyone
who's been been glued to "The hip-hop years" in recent weeks will know
that Brandt's comments about the American "moral" "majority" and their
motivations weren't exactly without foundation.  Here in Britain,
we've got our own army of "outraged of Surbiton"s, most of them
writing for the Daily Mail, who'd dearly love to see the likes of
"Crash" kept off-screen (there were even a few local councils who
tried to put the mockers on "Crash", thus denying residents a
remarkable piece of unintentional comedy), but generally I tend to
think that the BBFC have ignored such kneejerk reactions, and got the
balance right.  

Worryingly, that Jordan Knight single is freely available to minors,
despite the ex-New Kid pin-up clearly proclaiming "Anyone can make you
sweat, but I can keep you wet".  I mean...really.  Won't somebody
think of the children?  Worst of all, I was shocked to read that
Trousers is *still* allowed out after dark, and regularly attends
gatherings where young ladies may be present.  Ban this filth.

Love,
Tag xx
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