Censorship: What the fuck?

[PlumpRump]

I'm really confused as to what constitutes censorable material on television these days. For example, last night I was watching "Gangs of New York" on AMC, and there is a scene where Bill the Butcher is standing over a dying man who just tried to take his life, screaming "Who do you work for?! Answer me, you mother-whoring Irish ******!" (Along with 10 or 15 other incidences in the movie where they use the "N" word) And then in the moments following, they edit out the word "fuck."

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of censorship, but if it were up to me, and I had to choose one of those two sequences to edit out, I probably would find the "mother-whoring Irish ******" bit to be a bit more excessive than the word "fuck." I mean, a sentence that contains two derogatory references to race, along with the more than slightly misogynistic "mother-whoring" thing, spoken in the film out of sheer anger and hatred, seems far more egregious to my mind than the word "fuck."

Am I wrong here? What do you all think? Anyone else have specific references to a movie or show in which some "vanilla vulgarity" is edited out, but other, contextually more vulgar terminology is not? Or things like dead bodies riddled with bullet holes or a slashed neck kept in while naked breasts are edited out?

Probably already a thread on censorship here, but couldn't find it. Apologies if it already exists and I missed it.

 

[Member442]

I don't think your wrong.

Not from a movie or tv show but I was listening to the radio on some rap station (I so wish I could remember what the song was but I'm not the biggest fan of rap that's my daughters thing). They beeped out the words shit and bomb in the song but left in fuck. I personally think censoring words is just plan stupid but of all things to beep out shit and bomb. Even my daughter thought it was ridiculous and she's not even a teenager yet. Though the next time we heard it on that radio station all 3 were.Someone must have called in about it lol.

 

[PirateKing]

Censorship often ruins a good movie. :2 cents:

 

[Lust]

Television often ruins a good movie. :2 cents:

fixed it for ya, pk

example: advertising snipes

 

[LukeEl]

I never understood censorship, fuck our dad took us to our first drive in movie to see the original Dawn of The Dead, which in all reality taught me a very valuable lesson in zombie outbreak survival. As for porn I made the mistake of walking in on my parents fucking where the fuck was censorship then huh!???

 

[Legzman]

I've heard this song censor the lyrics that normally go
:singulled out his chrome 45, talked some shit and wound up dead.:sing:
ended up as:
:singulled out his ... , talked some dish and wound up dead:sing:

I really can't stand censorship. Especially this day and age where kids are exposed to more foul language at school than anywhere else.
Never mind the fact if you don't know what a chrome 45 is, your not gonna know from a fuckin song!

 

[domshooter]

dude i was watching Gangs of New York last night too. nice

anywho, i think AMC in all their glory was trying to take the "historical" approach when they played is. kinda fucked, but hey, thats show business.

 

[Doc Scurlock]

TV never taught me swears. I learned it all in the schoolyard.

 

[Mayhem]

As absurd as it sounds, "cable" tv is censored much looser than "network" tv. It's ridiculous because no one has just the networks anymore.

 

[Joorpe]

Irritates me to no end that happens.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Fuck is my favorite word, even if it isn't a word at all. Not a lot of people know this but fuck is an acronym.

For
Unlawful
Carnal
Knowledge

I argue with my mom all the time when she tells me to stop saying that awful "word".

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

It's not technically "censorship" as it's cable and therefor voluntary. The FCC has no influence. The cable channels try to edit out profanity because that's what upsets the uptight masses and those uptight masses will write letters to sponsors if they hear bad words or see nipples or butt cheeks. Thankfully it's getting better these days and that's largely because adults who act like adults want to see adult programming on the channels they pay for. FX kind of led that charge.

It's odd to see "******" kept in something these days. I guess they kept it in for "historical context". But I've seen most mentions of the word edited out. Watch Pulp Fiction on TBS next time it's on...Tarantino asks, "Do you see a sign that says, 'Dead BROTHER Strorage?" :rofl:

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

I was once watching Silence of the Lambs. They censored the part where Buffalo Bill dances to Goodbye Horses. He says "Would you have me? I'd have me. I'd have me hard."

Oddly enough, they didn't censor the shot where he tucks his dick back and pretends he is a woman.

 

[amawitapa]

What I've ever understood is why TV censors the "hole" in asshole but not "ass". What the heck?

 

[Smallville417]

I avoid movies on network television completely, and rarely watch any movie on cable television. With the censoring and editing, it makes for a bad movie experience.

 

[Doc Scurlock]

I avoid movies on network television completely, and rarely watch any movie on cable television. With the censoring and editing, it makes for a bad movie experience.

No kidding. I don't even get why networks show R-rated movies as they're going to be chopped up all to hell. I mean have you ever tried to watch Old School on TBS. All the funny is gone.

 

[calpoon]

What I've ever understood is why TV censors the "hole" in asshole but not "ass". What the heck?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of, and that one always stumped me. You can call someone an "ass" as a derogatory term, but you can't refer to a person's buttocks or anus as "ass" and you can't say "asshole" in any context.

I'd recommend to anyone the documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" on the Motion Picture Association of America and their crazy ass ratings.

The best part is when the director tries to appeal his NC-17 (formerly X) rating that he got for the movie from the MPAA, and they deny his appeal because he asked them why they wouldn't tell him who the people on the appeals board are.

 

[AlexanderAvery]

Fuck is my favorite word, even if it isn't a word at all. Not a lot of people know this but fuck is an acronym.

For
Unlawful
Carnal
Knowledge

I argue with my mom all the time when she tells me to stop saying that awful "word".

I'm pretty sure that is an urban legend. I always heard it was derived from the Germanic Fukkan which means "to fornicate"

I have also heard it was Nordic for "To Forcefully Bore a Hole"

But it is unanimous that it is not an acronym. Sorry to burst your bubble.

For more on Fuck check Wikipedia.


I also hate censorship. Censorship ruins artistic visions. I mean the word Darn does not have the impact of Damn. And when they just cut words it is straight up jarring.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

I love it when "The Usual Suspects" appears on channels like Bravo or AMC. "Give me the keys you cork scratching mortar forker!"

We see violence every day on television and I think that's infinitely more damaging to a young person's psyche than a few well placed cuss words.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

Fuck is my favorite word, even if it isn't a word at all. Not a lot of people know this but fuck is an acronym.

For
Unlawful
Carnal
Knowledge

I argue with my mom all the time when she tells me to stop saying that awful "word".

I think it's common knowledge. The other acronym it is alleged to represent is:

Fornication
Under
Consent of the
King.