Post
by SS5_Majin_Bebi » Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:35 am
What Rorschach mentioned about the Shrek films was 100% correct - i remember sitting there watching the first one and thinking "Oh that is so not for kids..." a sentiment that was only strengthened by the amount of adult humour in the second one.
To steal a line from the movie Van Wilder, however "...censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself." This statement is quite true.
But what irritates me is when an anime title is released on DVD (which means, at least in my book, that it should be uncut exclusively), cut, and then several months or years later they release the uncut version. Evangelion is a good example, as is the first and second season of dragonball Z, and Ninja Scroll as well (the "10th anniversary special edition" should be renamed the "Uncut edition you should have got 10 years ago"). DVD media is expensive to by (if not to produce - its still hilarious the amount you pay vs the amount it cost to authour), so who wants to have to buy a second copy of every DVD they have just to see what they should have been given in the first place? All it does is cater to the back pocket of the executives while promoting pirace, as no-one likes spending on something they by all rights should own anyway.
On the flip side, there are a fair few anime titles out there that seem to have escaped the eye of the censors somehow - Armitage III Polymatrix and Fist Of The North Star are 2 perfect examples. FoTNS is one of the most bloody and violent movies I have ever seen, and Armitage contains scenes that the censors would have had fits over. But somehow they escaped the wrath of censorship. Censorship as a form of protection is fine, for example changing or editing out scenes in what is quite obviously a childrens show to avoid badly influencing the viewers - ON TELEVISION. As TV is more or less free-to-air, then censorship is a must for it. However censoring things that you have to pay good money for is an absolute joke. As you buy the title, you obviously have some idea of what it contains due to its rating. And as its your money, you should have the right and the pleasure to be able to dictate what it is you do and do not want to watch.
But when expensive material is repeatedly uncensored, it is insulting and unfair to the viewers, the fact that even in a so called "free society", prattish, tight-mouth, whinging fuckpigs of the like that staff national censorship boards, have gotten their ragged dirty teeth into the material you so crave and desire for your own - its just not on. Censors should be able to judge what everyone can watch on television, and not to be allowed to touch those items that you buy for yourself. it isnt their place to dictate the things you choose to watch.