Censorship: Thoughts On The MPAA

[Brad Grimmett]

The thing you have to remember is, the MPAA use a handfull of "typical Americans" to watch these movies and make their own judgements, so it's really a subjective thing, based on the opinions of a pretty small group of individuals, consisting of housewives, schoolteachers, etc.

Are there different people chosen to watch each film, or do they have a panel that watches all films? Seems like randomly picking a few people could result in very wild swings in ratings if a few of the people happened to have the same religious beliefs or some other affiliation. I'm just curious how this works.

Very interesting thread by the way.

[Matt Pacini]

Brad, I don't remember exactly how it works, but I've read a few really good articles about it in the past, and if I remember right, it's about a dozen people, they all watch all the films and vote, and they have the post for something like 2 or 3 years before they rotate.

I don't know how much they get paid or anything like that, but they get people from all over the country, to be sort of a cross section.

Amazing that just a dozen people are deciding this, huh?

 

I refuse to ever rent from Blockbuster, since I found out they edit LOTS of movies.

Go there and do a random sampling yourself, it's right on the box.

Look for films you know are pretty racy, like The Lover, Requim for a Dream, etc.

It will say something like "Rated R - edited version".

They chop up a lot of films, and nobody likes it, but they go along with it, just because the distributors would basically be screwed if they didn't distribute through Blockbuster, because they're so huge.

I immediately switched to Hollywood Video when I found this out, and now I just do NetFlix.

 

I just can't believe there's never been any outrage on the part of the industry to Blockbuster doing this, and believe me, this isn't an urban legend. I thought maybe it was, until I looked into it myself, checked out the actual boxes in the store and asked clerks there if it was true.

It seems hypocritical to me, that there's so much whining about the government threats to censor, and then here's the largest retailer of video rentals, and the industry (and all of us who rent), just quietly continue to do business with Blockbuster, when we all could easily force them to stop.

 

Matt Pacini

[Max Jacoby]

Censorship is when the government bans something, and I hope this isn't considered a cheap shot, but the French ban American films all the time  by putting a ration on how many can screen in France,  for the sole reason that the French government thinks we're corrupting their culture.

So the French casting insults about the US censoring and being fascists is quite laughable.

What the French do is NOT censorship. They believe that cinema is not just a business, but also an art form. They want to ensure the cultural diversity of their cinema by helping to give smaller films a chance against the big Hollwood popcorn flicks. Anyone who has ever been to Paris will know that the amount of movies getting screened there every week is simply mindboggling. This pluralistic approach which supports minorities is something that is sorely lacking in the US where most foreign films only get a very limited release, if they get distributed at all.

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't rent from Blockbuster for that very reason. But I have options where I live; some people don't (other than maybe Netflix online...)

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Chortle, our Blockbuster just closed down - I think they were forced out by a large rent increase, going by intelligence from someone I know who works in the same shopping centre. Now we have the much smaller, much friendlier, much more diverse small-chain outlet - unfortunately their cheap DVD deals are not as good!

 

Phil

[Brad Grimmett]

Just as a point of interest.....Blockbuster is apparently in VERY bad shape right now. Have been for a few years. There are just too many options out there right now. Netflix has gotta be the best thing ever for someone who rents a lot of movies.

[Tenolian Bell]

Anyone who has ever been to Paris will know that the amount of movies getting screened there every week is simply mindboggling. This pluralistic approach which supports minorities is something that is sorely lacking in the US where most foreign films only get a very limited release, if they get distributed at all.

New York is probably the most pluralistic cinema market in the US. The NY cinema palate is more about the small idiosyncratic, counter culture, foreign film.

 

I've been working around LA mostly this summer, and feel a bit disconnected from the happenings in the smaller foreign cinema world.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I can kind of understand the French perspective on this. It's bad enough when you get no foreign films, as in the US, but it's even worse when you get no local films, as here.

 

Phil

[Matt Pacini]

True, but at least it's not the government that's controlling this, it's the taste of the audience.

 

And I disagree, I think it IS censorship, and I don't know how you could possibly say it isn't.

A government banning films for ANY reason, (even if you happen to agree with that reason), is the very definition of censorship.

 

And it's a bit silly to say that it's a good thing for the French to ban American films, then whine about how few foreign films we show here.

American films in France ARE FOREIGN FILMS!!!

So what they're doing is exactly what we'd be doing, if this government put a limit on how many foreign films were screened here.

They don't.

The fact that not many foreign films are shown here, is because most Americans don't like them, and the reason France has to limit the number of American films shown in France, is apparently because the French (like most of the world) like American films more than their own!

If that's not true, then why would they have to limit them?

 

As for Blockbuster, good riddance!

The other reason I stopped renting from Blockbuster, was that I could almost never find what I wanted to watch, because they only seem to rent.... blockbusters!

 

Matt Pacini

[Max Jacoby]

And I disagree, I think it IS censorship, and I don't know how you could possibly say it isn't.

A government banning films for ANY reason, (even if you happen to agree with that reason), is the very definition of censorship.

What they are doing is not BANNING. They still screen all the American films that are shown in the US as well, they are just limiting the number of screens these films can be shown. Is is called 'Exemption Culturelle'. Like I said it is based on the attitude that films are art and not just there to make money. Smaller films are given a chance, so what is not to applaud about that?

 

The same is true for South Korea and their film industry has really beneficted by that.

[Marty Hamrick]

I really don't have a problem with the rating system,as David said,it's self censorship which is better than government mandated censorship.As for American culture being OK with violence and squeamish about sex,I never will understand that so I quit trying.Despite the 60's,free love and alternative lifestyles,nothing much in that arena really changed.We're just as screwed up as we ever were.

It's my opinion that entertainment should be censored,but that should come from the artist and the distributor,not from a government agency.I don't always agree with the trating system,but what else are we to do?I have a real problem with films being altered as in the case of Eyes Wide Shut.

Censoring the news for the sake of political correctness bothers me more though than anything else.In an election we had here,the former sherriff,an African American was running for mayor.Some vandals wrote racial slurs on the outside of his campaign headquarters.We were not allowed to show the dreaded "N" word in it's entirety in our video for fear it would offend someone.Now censoring a fictional film for fear of offending some folks is one thing.To censor a news event because the event might offend someone is tantamount to just pretending it didn't happen.

Marty

[Tenolian Bell]

I wonder if that's what happened in Mulholland Drive?

 

There is a scene where the two lead ladies are going to bed. One is climbing into the bed and there is full frontal nudity. She was backlit by a window and it sort of wasn't that big of a deal, the shot was only a second if not less.

 

Later on when I saw it on DVD, they had a little black box covering her lower regions as she climbed into bed. I thought that was the most ridiculous thing ever. It called more attention to the fact that she was nude than her even being nude.

 

Maybe full frontal nudity and assumed lesbianism is too much for us to handle.

[Alvin Pingol]

Later on when I saw it on DVD, they had a little balck box covering her lower regions as she climbed into bed.

My god, a black box? I didn't even think they did that anymore... :huh:

[nykvist_fan]

So, they had a box covering her box? :P

[Matt Pacini]

Just curious.

Where did you get your DVD of Mulholland Drive?

Is this a Blockbuster video rental, or has the DVd version officially been "black-box-the box'ed"?

 

That's bizarre. They might as well put a big red and white target over it.

 

Seriously, kids, we all need to stop renting from Blockbuster, or we're just enabling this sort of thing. Get netlix, rent at Hollywood video or some mom&pop rental, or whatever.

 

Matt Pacini

[Tenolian Bell]

A friend had it. He bought it that way, I'm not sure from where. Probably Walmart or somewhere like that.

[Brad Grimmett]

A friend had it. He bought it that way, I'm not sure from where. Probably Walmart or somewhere like that.

Oh, jeez, Walmart! Figures....

[nykvist_fan]

Quite frankly, Matt, if you need a target, you definetly need to come to france...at once. :lol:

[John Pytlak RIP]

WalMart:

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp...duct_id=2598456

 

The new DVD player that allows everyone to watch movies without feeling uncomfortable. Comes with built-in ClearPlay technology, the revolutionary way to filter out graphic violence, suggestive scenes, strong language and more. Easy to use, with no special hookups required. The ideal family DVD player at a very attractive price.

 

http://marketplace.forum.publicradio.org/a...4/04/13/1026206

 

Would you buy a self-censoring DVD player?

Created by Julia Schrenkler on 4/13/04 at 10:19 AM

 

A Thinking DVD :Wal-Mart and Kmart are reported to be just a few weeks away from selling a self-censoring DVD player. Insert your R-rated DVD, and the movie plays minus the sex, violence and dirty language. But some directors are suing over what they call ... a bitter cut. - from the Marketplace: Friday, April 9, 2004 archive.

 

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=21595&category=main

 

The U.S. Congress is considering removing scenes parents don't want their kids to see. This editing of movies won't require the consent of studios or directors reports The Inquirer.

 

The U.S. Congress is finally taking a step forward and speaking out against lewd, unnecessary smut in DVDs. Children will no longer be scarred by sex scenes, extreme violence and swear words in movies their parents shouldn?t let them be watching anyway. Well, that's what some seem to think. Congress is endorsing a legislation that would allow DVDs to be "sanitised" ? or "boringised" ? removing scenes parents don't want their kids to see. The editing of movies wouldn?t require the consent of studios or directors.

 

For movie studios and the large majority of the sane public, this is a horrible idea. According to the LA Times, the bill was spurred by Janet Jackson's slightly fleshy appearance at the Super Bowl. Thanks to a crackdown on indecency, the Senate attached a decency provision to its annual defence bill. This measure increases penalties for broadcasters who break indecency rules tenfold, and was approved 99 to 1, just one of the few steps against "indecency".

 

http://www.blogcritics.org/archives/2003/05/06/102605.php

[Brad Grimmett]

Wow! Scary stuff.

[Tenolian Bell]

It's kinda wierd with American's, because in all actuality we do relish in watching sex and violence as much as anyone. The most perverse of it ends up underground. And often you are surprised to see the people who openly champion puritan values are the same people behind closed doors indulging themselves.

 

There should be a difference associated as David said earlier between exploitive sex/ violence vs realistic sex/violence. Because there are films inwhere the sex/violence are a real experience of those characters and their lives. Usually when done this way the sex/violence is portrayed in a realistic and mature fashion that reveals human's are complex beings. Showing the true reward or punishment for characters choices and actions. Which mirror in reality what real people are going through everyday.

 

But exploitive sex/violence is in the spirit of using these concepts as a hook to get people to come see the movie. They are often more cartoonish and very unrealistic. They do more to distort true reward or punishment, as well as simplify the complexities and outcomes of dealing with life, love, and death.

 

It's amazing as to how educated we pride ourselves on being, but we bring such 4th grade maturity in dealing with complexities of sex and violence in the arts. We can't distinguish between two real adults who love each other making love, to porn which has nothing to do with real sex, real adults, or love.

[nykvist_fan]

There is a three-prong solution: (1) Sue them all, (2) Boycott Walmart, (3) Boycott Blockbuster. I still love spending time in the U.S, but, at some point, enough is enough.

[jef bryant]

For the record, The Mulholland Drive alterations of the nude scene(s) were done by David Lynch himself out of concern for his actress. He said they agreed that it was fine for theaters, but for the home release they didn't want people capturing frames and posting them all over the internet.

[John Pytlak RIP]

The Mulholland Drive alterations of the nude scene(s) were done by David Lynch himself out of concern for his actress. He said they agreed that it was fine for theaters, but for the home release they didn't want people capturing frames and posting them all over the internet.

 

If that was the case, it is understandable. Although if it was a concern, it would have been better to have shot the scene with an extra take having more discrete coverage, which could have been used for the video release.

[Dan Salzmann]

Personally I don't understand what the big fuss is about. The love scene in Mulholland Drive was very tastefully done and its contribution to the film clear to anyone with even half a brain.

Why do people continue to have such childish fixations and hangups in the 21st century?

It's a sad state of affairs that a director of David Lynch's stature should even have to be concerned about dimwits circulating frame grabs on the Net.

One of the fundamental founding principles of America is freedom of expression and it's a shame that a minority of uptight, frustrated, ignorant individuals make this expression difficult.

Seek and ye shall find.

I believe it's possible to find some kind of problem with just about anything if you look hard enough and twist the facts to fit that opinion.

It is my (perhaps foolish) hope that America will evolve and be able to achieve more of its incredibly vast potential.

Arrogance and ignorance is the most crippling cocktail which IMHO is behind the majority of world problems.

The idea of auto-censoring DVD players is horrifying. This sounds straight out of Orwell's "1984".

Just more stupid consumer electronics that no one in their right mind needs but the marketing people just market away.

Why not make art museums with all body parts airbrushed out of the world's masterpieces?

Technological prowess would be better off if used to develop self-recycling car tires and batteries.

The Janet Jackson breast thing makes America look really foolish.

Junior saw a few seconds of titty. Now he's sure to become a sex-crazed psycho killer!

Shouldn't babies wear blindfolds while being breast fed?

Just censor and triple pasteurize everything so that things regress and become as bland as possible, that's the solution.

Bring back the inquisition. If Congress decides the world is flat then it's flat.

Who needs art and science anyway? They make people think.

Just pass the freedom fries...