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Does the UK overcensor things?

Started by KEK Inc., September 09, 2010, 03:33:01 AM

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KEK Inc.

A friend linked me the new Maroon 5 music video, and I was actually sort of surprised that the UK version was censored.  I always thought the US was the biggest country for violence/language censorship... 

(Both videos are clean, but the US version has mild violence and slight slight sexual themes, but it's not as bad as the thumbnail looks...)
US Version:


UK Version:


I've seen plenty of Top Gear episodes that get censored, but when I watch them on YouTube, they're uncensored.
And please don't derail this thread to diss on Maroon 5.  I don't particularly care for the group myself... 
Take the road less traveled.


J N Winkler

To my mind, a more/less comparison doesn't really fit the situation.  It is more a case of the UK and the US being sensitive about different things.  In the UK, for example, any visual representation of children is more likely to lead to anxieties about child pornography than in the US, and this resulted in a scandal when several UK ISPs quietly redirected a Wikipedia page dealing with a 1970's music group which was illustrated with an album cover which was (incorrectly) thought to come under the purview of child pornography laws.  On the other hand, a lot of UK TV imports seen in the US on PBS anthology programs such as Masterpiece Theatre or Mystery! come with "Viewer discretion advised" warnings.  Baise-Moi was seen uncensored in the US; in the UK it had to be cut in order to avoid distribution being limited to licensed sex shops.  Lady Chatterley's Lover (quite powerful but fairly tame by today's standards) was available in France and the US long before it appeared in the UK (in the 1960's after the government department responsible for decency standards--Home Office?--very spectacularly lost the Chatterley case, allegedly by making the tactical error of asking a mostly working-class jury, "Would you allow your servants to read this book?").  Back in the late 1980's, before the Thatcher government spectacularly lost the Spycatcher case, you could buy a copy of Spycatcher in the US, pack it in your luggage on a flight to the UK, and then be arrested on arrival in London for violations of the Official Secrets Act.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

english si

That seems a little over-censored.

Knives (we have a large knife crime problem) are a big no no before the watershed (9pm), and the censors here look down on violence for pre-watershed stuff more strongly than in America. However bad language and nudity on TV is a bit more lax here than in America, especially after 9 (and after 11 it's pretty much anything goes up to hard-core pornography).

Top Gear recently moved to a later timeslot to allow there to be more swearing getting past the censors - still pre-watershed, so there is the occasional beep.

When it comes to cinema, we used to have U (Universal - suitable for all), PG (Parental Guidance - parental discretion advised), 12 (no under 12s), 15 and 18. We since have conflated PG and 12 into a 12A category for the cinema, that means that under 12s need to be accompanied by an adult (I think PGs might still exist at the cinema, but it's a pointless category with 12A). Many of these films would have been at the lower end of 15-rated 10 years ago. 15s are now rare - basically anything with copious strong swearing or some gratuitous nudity that doesn't warrant an 18 gets this rating. 18 is pretty much anything not hardcore goes.

jgb191

#3
I thought everyone overreacted in the Super Bowl XXXVIII in the so-called "Wardrobe Malfunction.  I mean, no one could have noticed in real time, yet everyone had to play it out over and over.  And then all these lawsuits claiming some kind of damage against the performers, organizers, or broadcasters.  When it comes to live telecasts, you have to expect the unexpected.  I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I think it was no big deal, and then the FCC had to come down on NBC.  It's not just over-censoring, but people here also tend to overreact afterwards and make it a big deal.
We're so far south that we're not even considered "The South"

english si

The wardrobe malfunction would have been declared comedic accident over here, and a small fine and laughter, not outrage would have taken place. The Superbowl is also in the evening - if the UK was on Eastern time, then the wardrobe malfunction wouldn't have even been fined a token amount. As it is, half time is about 1am here, so it didn't matter here (yes we do have it, live and without ads - which sucks when they explain some basic rule for the umpteenth time to fill the time) - most of our media coverage was going "those American prudes can't take accidental nudity - lol at their outrage".

jgb191

#5
Bless those of you in Europe, you all know how to appreciate the human body in any way and know how to just dust it off without getting all offended and stuff.  I'm not against censoring, but I'm not strongly for it either; whatever happens, it happens.  (I do think that the hardcore stuff, even during overnight, is taking it too far though on TV.)

It's not just outrage, but I think it's also greed; they are after the massive amounts of money to be made when the FCC and others try to set these fines and lawsuits on broadcast networks and celebrities.  
We're so far south that we're not even considered "The South"

Chris

In the Netherlands we use "All ages", 6 years, 12 years and 16 years classifications. 16+ years stuff is generally not before 9 or 10 pm. Nudity isn't a big problem, but pornography is not broadcast on Dutch television as far as I'm aware.

The American attitude towards censorship for small-scale nudity and strong language is generally seen as over-the-top in the Netherlands.

Duke87

#7
The general rule of thumb, from my understanding, is that Europe is squeamish about violence but comparatively lax about sex and profanity, while America is squeamish about sex and profanity but comparatively lax about violence. You want another example, look at HBO's Rome: the European version was modified to tone down the blood and guts.


The UK is interesting, though, in that they actually have laws on the books which allow for the outright banning of books/movies/games/etc. merely on the basis of them being considered indecent. So, from an American perspective (where the first amendment renders any such bans unconstitutional), yeah, it would seem as though the UK overcensors things. But it isn't my country, so what I think doesn't really matter.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.



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