Should films be banned?

Should films be banned?

BIG MANS GAV VIEW.

Back when we recorded the last podcast we had a conversation around the sequel to Human Centipede and how we thought it might continue from the first film. As I recall none of the Jonnys cult films team were even close to what the director had in mind, which is quite comforting considering how twisted it is actually going to be! For those who don’t yet know the sequel is supposed to exist in our own reality where the original Human Centipede is just a movie. A lonely man, abused by his parents and down trodden by life in general develops a nasty obsession with the film and dreams of re-creating his own Human Centipede with all the wrong doers. He collects his victims together in a warehouse and attempts to join them all up, ass to mouth and without any prior medical experience. It’s definitely not light Saturday night entertainment by anyone’s standards and it might not come as a surprise to know that the original cut has been banned in the UK. A revised cut with 90 seconds of omissions has been passed by the film board but Jonny T and I are asking the question should films be banned? In today’s nanny culture who, if anybody, should get to decide what we as individuals get to watch? Here are our feelings on the issue.

The British board of film classification or BBFC has been regulating the content of cinema and home video for almost a century. They were set up and funded by the film industry after local governments and authorities were given legal right to grant or refuse licences to cinemas according to the content they displayed. Whilst the BBFC have a legal obligation to classify content local councils have final say. In nearly all cases they agree but there have been some discrepancies of note. The Exorcist and Last Tango in Paris were both granted ‘X’ certificates by the BBFC but both were banned by many authorities regardless and more recently Spider-man, when some local council’s allowed under 12’s to see it. Shortly afterward a new 12A certificate was established that would allow adults to take children of any age to see a 12 certificate film.

I have to agree that all films or related media need to carry some form of classification. It is absolutely necessary to know what to expect from a title before you view, particularly if you are exposing the medium to a younger audience. What I don’t like is that there is a variance between local authorities, the BBFC and the designated film boards in other countries. What might be a 15 rated movie in one country might turn out to be a 12A or even less in another country. Surely there needs to be a universal guide for everyone otherwise what is the point? Time also seems to alter the opinions of film censors. What might have been inappropriate years ago is usually quite tame in this ever changing society.

I do disagree with any board or committee telling me that I simply cannot watch a film. I should be allowed to make up my own mind. Granted there is never going to be a time when it is okay to see children being compromised and I don’t do ‘snuff’ but I would expect the film companies to eliminate issues like this before the film is even shot. I understand that not everybody is the same and we are affected differently by experiences but banning a film will not stop it from not being seen, particularly with today’s far reaching technology. Maybe the answer lies in bringing back the ‘X’ certificate for extreme media?



The views of Jonny T.

Should films be banned? Now there's a loaded question if if ever i heard it, when Gav initially ran this idea past me i had a million and one things i wanted to rant about, censorship, freedom of choice and the bad old BBFC, But then i calmed down and thought about it, as i said it's such a loaded question and there is very much yes and No's on both sides that would depend on peoples train of thoughts and there own personal perception in to what would be perceived as offensive, For example, the Catholic church hammered The Exorcist when it came out, did it no harm in the publicity stakes and now to think of a mainstream film coming out in the 70's from a big budget studio such as Warner that featured a teenage girl jabbing a crucifix into her ladie parts is shocking in the fact that all the studio heads let it take place,like i said, it did it no harm.

Now me personally i find offensive the way that cinema has come, i like most people do love a good throw away popcorn movie, but the multiplex in my eyes just breeds mindless film going public, i mean to me a film with Jennifer Aniston in such as Marley and me and Marley and me 2 the puppy years should be banned for no merit brain dead unfunny fuck wits there mobile phones and a ton of food to annoy the piss out of everyone around them, you see i wouldn't go and see that kind of film anyway, but the trouble is the public have nothing better to do and cinema nowadays is so throw away that the mighty morphin movie fucks sometimes find there way into a cinema that me and my wife are in because they've seen the poster and "DAT Looks Good Innit, well gory guy" so ban Marley and me and anyway that See's that kind of film should be branded on the foreheads and refuses entry into any cinema that we are in, ah well, you can dream!

But on a serious note, I'm with Gav, Films should not be banned, of course with the exception of child porn, i have always felt uncomfortable watching Rape scenes and scenes like in most of the Cannibal films that depict animal torture, it's not big and who ever get off on that stuff is a Friday the 13th short of the full collection in my eyes, now saying that i have see both version of i spit on your grave, straw dogs and some others that depict the rape so brutal that you have to get through them just to see the heroin get her revenge, but is it necessary?

The Internet as opened up a whole new world where everything is available i guess, from sites like live leak with uncensored new stories and very graphic gore vids to everyone laughing on you tube when some guys face plants off a skateboard, so should films be banned?

Final answer, no, the more the media go on about for example The Human Centipede 2 being shocking the more i wanna see it, if it looks interesting to me I'll watch it, if it turns out shit I'll turn it off, if a video on live like says "Man beheaded live on Iraq TV" it's down to ME if i want to watch or not i now my limits but unfortunately with the world growing increasingly in population and people breeding like rabbits to get more government money i fear for these children that are left to there own devices to watch what they want without parental guidance, wether it be Beheadings or even worse Marley and me 2 the puppy years, we're all doomed!!!

Jonny T.