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Enjoy your ninety days of porn and violence

August 26th, 2009 Posted in Culture by

driller-killerThe legislative screw-up surrounding the Video Recordings Act (they forgot to send the European Commission a copy), opens a narrow window (about three months before the government “sorts everything out”) of cinematic freedom.  We should be able to measure whether there is an enormous upswing in violence, rape and murder in that time. Or whether there isn’t.

As Julian Petley points out in the Guardian, the overwhelming bulk of the censorship work in Britain is to prevent adults seeing things. In 2007, the BBFC made cuts to 25% of the films in the 18 and R18 categories.

Fans of Quentin Tarantino’s sublime Reservoir Dogs, might recall that it took two years for a video release to be sanctioned (the fact that Tarantino himself was delighted, because it allowed repeat viewings at cinemas, is hardly the point!)

This enormous Whitehall cock-up provides an opportunity to properly liberalise the censorship regime that exists in this country. But don’t expect our politicians to seize it. Far better to engage in whipping up some moral panic and to drone on relentlessly about child protection.

14 Responses to “Enjoy your ninety days of porn and violence”

  1. Angela Harbutt Says:

    Worry not Mark – We certainly WONT see an upswing in violence, rape or murder ………in London at least… (not in the figures anyway) as we have seen the Met Police report that they need to “show that they are taking ation on serious crime” – (err to the Tories at least).

    Its all come together very nicely mayhem in the cinemas, peace and tranquility on the streets. Who said Britain was not a great place to live!


  2. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    Cool anybody up to watching some snuff films lol


  3. Mark Littlewood Says:

    I’ve watched the Abraham Zapruda footage of the murder of John Kennedy. That’s a snuff film. And was also a major reason for the non-release of the footage for several years (even decades?). Am v glad it’s in the public domain though (even if there are some people who still don’t believe Oswald did it).


  4. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    Nah the reason it weren’t released for thirteen years was because the government didn’t want anybody to figure out that no fucking was it Oswald


  5. Mark Littlewood Says:

    Hmmm. Maybe. I’m a bit of a nerd about the JFK murder. I actually think it’s almost certain that Lee Harvey Oswald was indeed the lone gunman.


  6. Niklas Smith Says:

    I agree, it’s time to question the idea that films exclusively for adults should be censored at all. A couple of years ago the Swedish government’s film censor resigned on the grounds that her job was not consistent with freedom of speech. Interestingly her colleagues agreed with her and wanted the censorship law to be scrapped: http://www.johannorberg.net/?page=displayblog&month=08&year=2007#2328


  7. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    ‘Hmmm. Maybe. I’m a bit of a nerd about the JFK murder. I actually think it’s almost certain that Lee Harvey Oswald was indeed the lone gunman.’

    You know in Dallas at the book Depositary they’ve got this tourist exhibit entitled ‘The Snipers Nest’ & it’s really accurate as it were the day of the assignation because Oswald ain’t there.

    The other thing is they’ve kind of obstructed the window where Oswald was alleged to of fired with boxes etc, because they don’t want anybody leaning out & going no fucking way did Oswald kill JFK from this angle.

    Okay circa Bill Hicks but even a stand up comic can be right just listen to what he has to say about Waco & The Catholic Church.

    Kennedy was bumped off by the military industrial complex because he wasn’t going to give the war in Vietnam.

    Maybe one day Mark you’ll wake up to the ‘corporatist interest’ & the damage it does too our liberty but until your willing to step thorough the looking glass you will remain but a slave.


  8. Mark Littlewood Says:

    What a load of tosh about the JFK assassination. You sound like the UFO lobby, who sometimes seem to argue if you don’t believe Truman oversaw the autopsy of the Roswell aliens, then you’re blind to the great conspiracy that makes planet Earth tick.

    The overwhelming evidence is that Oswald was the lone gunman and shot Kennedy from the sixth floor Texas Book Depository.

    Whilst the Bill Hicks routine is very funny, it’s not accurate. You can see perfectly clearly from the window in question.

    The best debunking of the conspiracy theories I’ve seen was a BBC documentary from, I think, November 2003, presented by Gavin Esler. The piece de resistance was the use of a modern software package of the sort used in computer and console games. This allowed them to watch a reconstruction of the footage (principally, the Zappruder footage) from any angle – and to disprove many of the traditional theories about magic bullets, the grassy knoll etc.

    For example, a 2-D overheard view of the President’s car makes it seem impossible that a bullet could have gone through Governor Connolly’s shoulder and go on to hit JFK. That’s until you realise that the Governor’s seat was substantially higher than that of the President.

    The BBC’s 3-D imagery, which they showed from endless angles, makes it pretty plain that all the shots came from the book depository. I strongly recommend the documentary if you can find it. And as far as I can ascertain, none of the conspiracy theorists have managed to rebut teh documentary’s conclusions in the six years since it was broadcast.

    Of course believing that Oswald was the lone assassin in no way precludes one from also believing that the military industrial complex can and do order assassinations. It’s just that in JFK’s case, they didn’t.


  9. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    As I say your a slave & will be until you’re prepared to steo thorough the looking glass

    Anyways Liberal Vision & yourself got a mention on US radio last night

    http://www.ziggyencaoua.org/audio/FTL2009-08-27.mp3

    Your free to respond by phoning into the show yourself


  10. Mark Littlewood Says:

    Hmmm…..

    That’s not really an articulate reply, is it?

    Inserting the words “As I say” and then cutting in and pasting your previous assertion is just…well…odd, frankly.

    Thanks for the tip on US radio. When I’m fighting a marginal seat in Idaho and the sixteen listeners of the show are crucial to my prospects, I might even phone in with my thoughts.

    Until then…..


  11. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    BY THE WAY WHO THE FUCK HAS BEEN TELLING MARK L THAT I’M HAVING A SEX CHANGE?

    I KNOW PEEPS GOSSIP ABOUT ME ETC BUT CAN I JUST SAY HERE & NOW THAT IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF BOLLOCK I’VE HEARD ABOUT ME RECENTLY

    YOU WANT TO FIND A SEX CHANGE LIBERTARIAN GO ASK FOR BECKY BATTY


  12. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    ‘Thanks for the tip on US radio. When I’m fighting a marginal seat in Idaho and the sixteen listeners of the show are crucial to my prospects, I might even phone in with my thoughts.’

    Yeah its only the most popular libertarian podcast & I’d not know you if hadn’t been for Gavin hearing me on it, anyways they’d tear the likes of you to shreds if you ever did phone in.


  13. Mark Littlewood Says:

    I’m terrified. The most populat libertarian podcast? many more than 16 listeners then. At least ten times that.

    Well, I guess you’re a considerably more experienced media performer than me, so I bow to your judgement. I hear Paxman’s far too scared to interview you, or you’d otherise be a regular on Newsnight.


  14. Ziggy Encaoua Says:

    ‘I’m terrified. The most populat libertarian podcast? many more than 16 listeners then’

    Try near a million thorough the live radio show & podcast downloads