I’m absolutely certain that this has annoyed you in one form or another.Now I know that I am not the only one that is really annoyed about this. But before I get all preachy about what I think the modern consumer has a right to see, let me qualify myself with this statement:”Censorship in itself is not a bad idea”Yes, I think that it is a good idea to keep inappropriate things away from children and sensitive people, the current system that PEGI and the BBFC uses work well and should be observed by everyone. This doesn’t mean that they won’t get their hands on it somehow. Now for anyone (especially those who are of the younger persuasion) who think that everything should be made one age so that eleven year olds can go and see the texas chainsaw massacre at the cinema, if this rule applies to films and other media then it must be applied to other products as well, such as alcohol and other drugs. And the question I ask you is:Do you want thirteen years olds smoking and drinking? No doubt there are some that do, but if all of them were told that it is okay, the mortality rates in this country would triplicate.Anyway, back onto why the current censorship standards are terrible.First, there is the way that films are censored;A 12A film is designed to be suitable for twelve year olds and their parents to watch, which gives the producers licence to add more swearing and explosions than a PG, so in other words it’s a mild fifteen. It is quite a good way of attracting new audiences, however for the rest of us who go to see these films, such as 2012, these can be quite lackluster because the actual violence is toned down and the way that they actually die is quite less bloody than you want it to be. This just be a bad reflection on my part, but I have found that the deaths and murders in most 12A’s are not satisfying enough to really get me liking the film. When I saw 2012, I was hoping to see nature taking its vengeance out on people close up, much like The Day After Tomorrow where you saw people freeze to death in seconds. But all we see is wide shots and no blood at all.Secondly, there is the way that television is censored;For those of you that don’t know, there is a law in this country (UK) that it is illegal to swear on tv before 9pm, this is called the nine o’clock watershed. This is fair enough, people don’t want swearing the second they wake up in the morning, but they feel that they should censor words which sound dirty, even when they are medical terms. Take ‘Scrubs’ for example, Channel 4 and Comedy Central have the rights to broadcast this particular program and for some stupid reason they censor words like ‘Urinate’ and ‘Vagina’. Now for those of you with a mental age above 12, you will not have giggled. These words are NOT rude, they are widely accepted medical terms which aren’t even remotely rude. And if anyone wants to shelter their children or loved ones from this ‘filth’ then you really need to come out of the dark ages of parenting.In summary, some parts of censorship are good, but the way that it is being executed is incorrect, if they would just look at the words in question and not give the control of the bleeped words to a ninety year old spinster from harrogate then we’ll all be much happier.Jamie Walshe
They censor Scrubs?!? I’m from the UK too but I thought our ridiculous 9pm-watershed rules had been eroded over the years. Mind you this is the same country which once had a ‘video nasties’ list and banned a bunch of tame films like Child’s Play 3 and The Exorcist for twenty years – pretty embarrassing for a country that claims to be liberal :(
I hate the BBFC classifications, they seem so Victorian. I like the ‘R’ system in America where you can get in to the movie with an adult. It seems incredible that a 17-year old has to hope they don’t get ID’d to go and watch some garbage film like Saw which is AIMED at teenagers. With the internet and illegal downloading, is there really much point in trying to stop people PAYING to watch these films anymore?!
Scrubs isn’t censored over here in the states. So that sucks that ya’ll have an Australia-esque ruling on your entertainment.
It must depend on the channel it’s on — I’ve seen stuff like Scrubs before and there’s nothing censored.
But it’s similar to the newspapers– in the trashy tabloids (e.g. The Sun) they bleep out swearing with stupid stuff like “F*** Off” or “And the accused called him a ****” so it becomes a goddam crossword puzzle just to work out what people are saying. But in the proper newspapers (broadsheets) none of the swearing or racial slurs are edited at all.
I’ve been to America and watched TV over there too, you have horrible censorship too (on network tv anyway)!! It’s actually hilarious how unwatchable some movies are. I remember having to give up on several movies because of the censorship, it just got ridiculous.
And remember the infamous “I’ve had it with these monkey fighting snakes on this monday to friday plane” line??
Well, yes, I remember the infamous line, and yes, our censorship is quite terrible, such as the movie on T.V. called The Big Lebowski, which they had to cut out 325 words from. So yeah, it is pretty funny.
I often watch Scrubs and other imported comedies on channels such as Comedy Central, and I’ve never been aware that they were censored. In fact, I’ve often wondered how they get away with a lot of the content and dialogue, given that the watershed is supposed to cover all accessible channels. Perhaps it can be affected by the various TV providers?
it could, maybe it is because the internationally shared shows are just lightly looked upon because of how many people see it. Comedy Central is pretty ballsy with the censorship they use, you can say bitch, damn and ass openly, but any time where a god or hole is thrown in it bleeps it. How that makes sense, I do not know.