Censorship, take two

James Mehr · July 5, 2007

Stumbled upon this old post, after trying to find some info on the Dreamers. This is classical case of stupidity from both the old world and the new world, and a naivete about what happens in either country/countries:

1. The MPAA was formed as a way to self-regulate Hollywood films and keep Government oversight to a minimum. It's much like the Video Game Industry's ESRB.

2. The Catholic is indeed a radical organization (speaking as a Catholic myself). They had a lot of influence in the creation of the Code. One must remember that the Code fell by the wayside after the MPAA introduced the X rating (later as NC-17).

3. The NC-17 rating is considered to be death for distribution. And as we all know, distribution is an extremely important element of filmmaking. It doesn't mean that your film will be banned, but it will be extremely hard to exhibit it.

4. Yes, we all know that Americans are more sensitive to sex than to violence, and yes, religion has an influence on that. Personally, I also think it has to do with our constant drive to success and money, which overrides everything, including sex.

5. Americans like to be "straightforward" and "blunt" in their assertions, as with the case with Matt, which europeans find extremely stupids. Europeans are calm and confident about their assertions, which americans find sneaky.

I studied film production in the Czech Republic. It is an atheist state, so there any religious prudence is not there. Actually, under communism, it was much more strict, hence the sexual revolution in the 90's. Anyway, I made a short film with a sexually explicit scene. It's not meant to titillate so much as to initiate the story. The film wasn't very popular in the States. Partly, it was because of the sex, but also how it dealt with the subject matter. I consider it my best work to date, so it has a closeness to me. As an American, though, I understand the reaction. I find it prudish and unnecessary. Older americans have more of a problem with younger ones because young people are generally more open.

This topic reminds me of what happened to the videogame "Manhunt 2." It was given an AO rating (like an NC17), and now Nintendo and Sony dropped the title from their platforms. To be honest, in this case, I think it's good. While Rockstar does make sophisticated works, I personally think they're pushing for attention. And if they get bad attention, the kind that hurts them (like Hot Coffee), it might make them a bit more inventive with their works, instead of simply highlighting the shock value. For the Americans :this is just my opinion.

Orson Welles once said that he disliked nudity in films. I think films can be sexier without nudity, personally. I think if filmmakers tried to be sexy without sex, that would make them better filmmakers. That was one of the unintentional benefits to the Code - films were filled with sexual innuendo, and more clever for it.

American society changes at an absurd pace. I haven't watch TV for ten years and I'm like an alien to everyone around me. For example, I find reality shows disgusting because ten years I think people would have found them disgusting.

All this "intellectual thought" from the swedes is mental masturbation - it is a pretense to assert their beliefs. I know this well - I went to a small liberal arts college. The americans predictably acted in a reactionary form. A never ending cycle. Of course, Europe know as much about America as America knows about Europe.

As one once said "Can't we all just get along?"

Jacob Van Balen · July 6, 2007

I am way, way, way, way to late on this one.

The NC-17 rating, in today's modern and reletivley open society,(yes no matter what the parents do short of locking us up) is just simply meaningless. One fake ID for 50 dollars and you're in anyway. I only know of a few kids in any middle and higher school in my life that aren't allowed to see R rated movies. I do agree with some of the posters in that only highly intulectuall beings should be allowed to rate ANY FORM OF ART ON THE PLANET. Highly religous people should not be allowed either. No form of any religous, racist, violent, etc. bism should be allowed into rating anything.

As well, in TIME recently, Hillary Clinton is pushing for an even higher rating than M, saying that M is not broad enough, mind you she pushed to come up with the M rating, and that there needs to be a ban on certain things. I know that this is video games, but the exact same principle applies.

Also, whatever happened to the 1st Ammendment in this country? It has been circumvented far too many times by politicians, law-makers, and the government over all. Censorship in general is wrong and anti-freedom. Why shelter the young, so that when they do learn it is behind their parent's backs, and if they don't learn when they're kids, it will only hit them 10 times harder when they are adults! So many parent's complain about their kids turning into a horrible little monster, why not turn to the parents? Chances are that the parents tried to protect them from everything bad in the world and keep them perfect.

Very, very, very concerned for freedom,

Jacob.

James Mehr · July 6, 2007

Jacob,

You must remember, not everyone views freedom the same way as they do in the States. It would be quite complicated to talk about it in one posting. In America, freedom means you have the freedom to stupid and horrible things as well as the freedom to do wonderful things. In europe, they are more adverse to giving the option to do something horrible, even if it means giving up some freedom, because to them that kind of freedom shouldn't really exist anyway. There's more to it, a lot more, but trust me when I say that it's difficult to get an even point of view between europeans and americans.

For example, I was talking to a friend of mine in Prague about the differences between the Democrat and Republican parties. I told him that Republicans generally favor state's rights over federal laws (for the sake of argument, let's hold this generality). He said that in Europe, that would be considered leftist. See where this could go?

As far as videogames, I think retailers and distributors shouldn't be afraid to sell AO games. Even if it were under the counter like in Germany, I think there should be an option. With unrated/NC17 movies, one can often buy them on DVD, even via Amazon. Though it's not the same as watching it in a theater, at least it can be watched somehow. I was a little disappointed to find out that "Ken Park" never got an NTSC DVD release. However, you can still buy a PAL version, which should look better anyway.

For me, it's more a question of whether the public would be open to more sophisticated films. Despite what I've seen, I still think so. Personally I think we're at a nadir in American filmmaking. Sundance is second Hollywood, and the "Independent Scene" is either is a springboard to Hollywood, or an obscure haven for niche artists (like Matthew Barney). That, to me, is a far more pressing question that about the MPAA or censorship.