censorship

[NIGHTCOW]

It has always puzzled me why censorship exists in films intended for adults i.e those rated for 18 and over in the UK. Surely it is our choice to be able to see what we want to see without a intermediary group being able to change the directors original intentions or cut out sequences which may be powerful. Even if they only cut gratuitous scenes, then it should still be our right to see them as part of the whole and decide if we think they are gratuitous.

Obviously there should be censorship or checks in place for films rated less than 18+ but for people who have the rights of adults, then we should be able to choose wha we see.

Your thoughts please

[Evilone]

In a perfect world, all films would be rated PG, and parents could decide what was suitible for their own children. However, this isnt a perfect world, so I think the current system, while maybe a tad harsh nowadays, is a reasonably good attempt at preventing younger children seeing things that could disturb or corrupt them in some way.

[NIGHTCOW]

By law shops arent allowed to sell PG videos to under 18's (or at least werent a couple of years ago). That just seems a little silly to me.

Kids are hardly averse to swearing and violence and an episode of eastenders is likely to contain more violence than a 12 rated film

[vampiress]

well there needs to be some control so they do not start showing snuff films in theaters.
but... in general i think censorship is crap. ovie theaters here require id to go see an r film.
i think a bit of self-censorship is good for movies. recently i have purchased some director cuts of movies and they added scenes of violence or sex just distract from the story.

btw, has anyone else noticed the amusing desription they give movies now? "rated r for cartoon violence" as one i saw recently.

[Ferret Pie]

Rated "r" for retarded.

Well censorship is not always a bad thing. I mean, if they could show anything to over 18's there might be a public outroar.
However, if all films with excessive violence/ sex were given a XXX in their description or as a subtitle themn that would be alright.

[eleanor]

Just because I'm over 18 doesn't mean I want all 18-rated films to be extreme violence (like Japanese films etc.) I think we need a separate rating for extreme violence etc. - maybe 18+ or something.

I think censorship is useful when it comes to films - people are protected. I know we probably all knew a full dictionary of swear words and knew all about the birds and the bees by the age of 14, but I for one wouldn't have wanted to watch a violent/sexually explicit 18 at that age. So, film censorship protects the kids when the parents don't bother.

I think the censors are becoming much more permissive - things that are rated 12A now would have had an 18 rating twenty years ago, and I don't like this change.

[Shave]

i think censorship should be more like guidelines than enforced laws. they should just tell you the content of the film, etc., and let you decide whether you feel you can handle it.

[Ferret Pie]

knew all about the birds and the bees by the age of 14

wait, you didn't know until you were 14???

Well the thing is, anyone over 18 can still go to a movie under 18, the whole idea of the "18" is that it includes violence or sex. What i find rather stupid is the way that people can have sex at 16 but they can't watch it until they are 18. Am i the only one who thinks this a little odd?

[Markeh]

censorship is something that really gets on my tits, for example in the film 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' part of the film had to be show in black and white to get past the censorship. also blanking swearing even after the watershed is really stupid, it happens on all music channels just about.

[MUG]

What the fucking fuck is this fucking censorship shit?

All kidding aside, I think that censorship is good for some things, like I don't want to see some guy get his...uh...area...cut off. But, its fine if I get the idea of what's going on. However the swearing thing is bullshit (here in America). How come we're allowed to say ass and damn, but we can't say asshole or god damn. Who set these standards on how bad certain words are? If you're going to censor something, censor all the bad words. And, the only time censoring language should occur is when its a childrens show or something. Although I believe the C word, should be censored, because it offends a lot of women.

[el_diablo5711]

I honestly dont understand cencorship... if you are thinking about it, you know what words are bleeped out, so whats the hurt in saying it? also with porn scenes, bllod, gore, etc. If you cant handle it then dont come. Perfect example: Titanic

[Twatybollocks]

We cannot be trusted to know what we like, what is decent and what we can watch. So someone has to tell us. Don't you feel warm and cozy knowing you are still an adult, yet somone is protecting you from any possible harm? I know I am! :twisted:

[NIGHTCOW]

Originally posted by vampiress

btw, has anyone else noticed the amusing desription they give movies now? "rated r for cartoon violence" as one i saw recently.

I remember the wild thornberry's movie said it contained 'mild peril'

I would love to know what that exactly means

[mini_ninja_pir8]

censorship sucks,

i mean,most little kids can swear by the time theyre ten, and most kids know about sex before theyre 13,atleast



porn is basically looked up by 11 year olds(over the internet)
so why cant kids(14-17) go see a r18 if they have seen it all before???

[Spoo]

The British Board of Film Clasification (http://www.bbfc.co.uk)

Usefull info on censorship in the UK...

[Arky]

I think we need some kind of censorship when it comes to certain types of graphic images/scenes, but I cannot stand the way that they censor the swear words on tv, it's so stupid, the problem being that if someone managed to say the word "fuck" during a daytime show the amount of letters the broadcasters would recive from busy bodies would be immense.

[plattbridger]

we need to be protected from free thinking and radical new ideas and anything generally that a group of 50yr old civil servants or whoever they are deem too much

but any censorship has to be the same as anything else in the media really if someone released a film book or artical about how hitler was the son of god and etc then there would be a fair bit of public outrage


which is a shame that that happens i suppose but there you are people are not prepared to put up with other people in life

[NIGHTCOW]

i cant even see the point of film censorship for under 18's because if a film is too sweary to be a 15 or too sexually explicit then they simply shouldnt make it a 15 but not censor some of the content to fit it into their guidelines of what a 15 should not contain

For people of legal adult status who can legally go and buy explicit pornographic materials from sex shops, it seems a bit much that we need a middleman (person?) to decide that anything is unsuitable. Mainstream cinemas arent likely to show anything pornographic or involving 'worrying' content, ie all those things that you arent allowed to buy, even in licensed sex shops because they probably wouldnt make any money out of them. But for what i would term legitimate films, that is to say films with a purpose, or a point, likely to be enjoyed by most people, then there should be no watering down of the film maker's original intent.