Reply
Mon 10 Apr, 2006 04:42 pm
**I was watching THE GODFATHER on TV a few months ago, and
it didn't START until 10 or 11PM, usually an hour when little kiddies
are in bed, yet I noticed that when Michael gets married while hiding
in Sicily the censors blurred out his new wife's breasts in the wedding
night scene. As I recall from earlier viewing of the movie, this
woman had nice breasts, nothing offensive or abnormal about them,
in fact you could say that they were very attractive.
**My failure in comprehension of TV censorship and "WHOEVER"(or
is it "WHOMEVER") ? decides what can & can't be seen on TV lies
in the fact that a few scenes later the TV viewer sees the jumping,
writhing corpse of Michael's older brother, Sonny while his body is
riddled with about 1000 bullets. Personally I am not sure if that
much violence was really necessary, however, I feel sure that if I
had to choose between the two, the breasts were FAR less
offensive; to child or adult.
**Yesterday they showed SAVING PRIVATE RYAN at about 4PM and
NOTHING WAS BLURRED OUT. This has probably one of the most
spectacularly gory (maybe perfectly accurate however) of some of
the American troops landing on D-Day on a beach in France.
While there WAS a brief warning (2 seconds) after each
commercial about the extremely violent nature of the film,
that was all.
**This is a film that I felt would be far more appropriately
aired ONLY at 10 or 11 PM. My suspicion is - due to the "PATRIOTIC"??
nature of the movie, it sneaks in over the line. We WANT our kids to
grow up knowing that for 2 perfect strangers to be killing each other
in a field in the middle of nowhere, VERY FAR from their homes, and
VERY far from protecting their homes, is a valuable, and an honorable
act.
**One scene in particular shows a man whose left arm had been
completely severed from his body & while in shock -he's looking
and wandering about LOOKING FOR IT. Then, he finds it, he picks
it up; and he is looking at it as if he suddenly realized that unlike Ken
& Barbie dolls, the parts can't be popped back in or re-attached.
Then he falls down and I guess he was dead.
**I think about the natural beauty of the human body (perhaps
not so beautiful when it has aged 60+ years) 
When I think
about MY 9 year old grandson, what would I want him to see?
I know that I would far prefer him giggling with his cousin over
a woman's breasts than be violated in the way that only a movie
like Saving Private Ryan could do.
I can see censorship on free TV during hours children are likely to watch, but on paid TV I can't agree with it at all.
I think that there is something perverse about a society which views sex as inappopriate for audiences, while sadism, blood and guts are ok.
You neglected to mention which channels these were broadcast on. Cable-only channels have a lot more leeway in what and when they can broadcast than channels that are broadcast over-the-air.
but god can play on any channel at any hour, talk about blood and guts for the kiddies, I would much prefer they watched tits and ass.
btw, the times you list don't really seem to mean to much. AMC is airing The Godfather and The Godfather II and depnding on the specific day you choose you can catch them starting anywhere between 4:15PM and 11PM.
Did I forget to mention, these were BOTH shown on channels
with PLENTY OF SPONSORSHIP, like Ch 46 TNT something
like that, in fact Saving Private Ryan was sponsored by some
huge conglomerate corporation, darned, I wish I could
remember who...because it occurred to me, that it was odd.
Not shown on cable channels or what USED to be called
advertising free television.
I seem to remember that even cable channels once upon a
time used to refrain from showing too much T & A during the
day, while blood, gore and more was OK anytime, night or
day.
It worries me. What in Heaven's name is wrong with a society
that glorifies violence, where nightly news is ALWAYS about
violence or it's considered BORING.
Where NEWS IS BASED ON THE RATINGS????? What
does that mean? How is there any sense in that?
Someone out there please TRY to explain to me how NEWS IS
BASED ON RATINGS, because I have a very hard time here.
News is not a show, but we have MADE THE NEWS A TV SHOW.
You see an occassional neighborhood feature on the news that is
actually NOT about violence, just so the news station can say
ALL of their news isn't bad.
Yet, watching the news serves no purpose but to bring the
horror(and THAT particular horror is real...I guess unless maybe
they spice it up for the ratings.) it brings the horrors into MY
LIFE if I watch it and it changes my concept of reality so very
drastically that I just don't do it anymore. I try to see life as
I see it based on what happens within MY OWN LIFE AND MY
EXPERIENCE. I do not want to know what ignorant 15 year
old boy beat an infant to death then put it in a dumpster.
MEANWHILE PEOPLE ARE PROTESTING AGAINST ABORTION.
Good grief, if this is OUR society, and WE are a part of it,
shouldn't we take care of the children already here and in
danger, before we worry about whether or not some woman
wants to stay pregnant?
It is a sickening thought that one short exposure of the breast of some silly singer should throw a nation into hysterics.
.
At the same time millions of children play violent video games or watch gory violence wherever they go.
.
Actors who make dumb movies with hundreds of oozing corpses become governors, lol.
.
Making love is good, killing is not.
.
http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm
There is the element of sex mixed in the sadism and violence, often, in the form of half clad women and musclemen, who are themselves violent or else victims of violence. All based in cruelty and power abuse, not in acts of lovemaking.
Now THAT is a whole different issue, EGB (BTY,how ARE you?)
S & M is not at all like the scene I was referring to in The
Godfather, and should no doubt be kept on the porn channels
but Americans seem to love movies about some of the most
horrible criminals ever. The worse they are, the more money
a book or a movie about them will earn here in America.
Ted Bundy, Gacy, Dahmer, they are all household names in
our country. We kept looking for someone who put Charles
Manson to shame and we sure found them. These criminals
should be ..... should be WHAT??? I don't even know what.
Should be UN-popular.
babsatamelia wrote:Did I forget to mention, these were BOTH shown on channels
with PLENTY OF SPONSORSHIP, like Ch 46 TNT something
like that, in fact Saving Private Ryan was sponsored by some
huge conglomerate corporation, darned, I wish I could
remember who...because it occurred to me, that it was odd.
Not shown on cable channels or what USED to be called
advertising free television.
Sponsorship is fairly insignificant. The over-the-air channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and the PBS Networks) have different rules to play by.
If the version of The Godfather you saw had things censored out then they must have been broadcasting the "made-for-TV" version that was originally made to be show on the over-the-air networks.
I remember an older film about the Mexican Revolution that
Jane Fonda and Gregory Peck (aging, but very good) and, I
think Antonio Banderas were in. Gregory Peck had been a writer,
a journalist, apparently for his entire career. At his retirement
party, he made a dreadful row ALL ABOUT HEARST AND ABOUT
CENSORSHIP, telling everyone that no one who lives in this
country READS A SINGLE WORD THAT HEARST DOESN'T WANT THEM
TO READ. Going on and on about how we've been totally &
systematically brainwashed by this CENSORED, ONE-SIDED view
of every aspect of history in the world. I remember when
Pittsburgh actually had two rival newspapers. When was the last
time something like that HONESTLY existed? Recently I've been
trying to find other newspapers from Great Britain, Canada,
from ANYWHERE else written in English because I want to hear
what the rest of the world hears, believes & what do they
think of Americans? What do they say about us? What does
the rest of the world consider vitally important world issues &
objectives as compared to our country. Where sadly, the
Almighty Dollar seems to be the single, primary, solitary issue
& objective that this country gets motivated by. This war, this
money being spent THIS IS NOT about terrorism, it's about oil
& money. Why do I feel so apathetic even though I know that
this country I was born in, is no longer any kind of democracy.
Actually, I would have GREATER PERSONAL FREEDOM living in
England, in Mexico or any number of places offering more
freedom, and far more personal privacy.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace