
Cinematic obscenity in America: A hundred years of over-baring censors - tintinnabula
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/11/cinematic-obscenity-america
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Karunamon
The idea that there is such a thing called "obscenity law" always struck me as
profoundly backwards - the idea that someone can be so bothered by a piece of
media they chose to willingly consume that they can take away the right of
others to do the same.

This is one glaring inconsistency in the way courts have handled exclusions to
freedom of speech. Normally, any abridgement requires a strict scrutiny test,
and as far as I know, nobody has been able to articulate what, exactly, the
legitimate and narrow government interest in regulating "obscenity" is.

AFAICT, it's a vestige of the puritan roots of the country.

~~~
TeMPOraL
I think it's a codification of a quite natural and sometimes reasonable thing.

Imagine I said something completely disgusting in a HN comment. I'd have it
flagkilled faster than I could say "freedom of speech". We accept that because
a community needs to be curated and maintained. Now extend this sentiment to
the society at large, and you have an argument for some kind of obscenity
laws.

That those laws may have gone too far is another issue though.

~~~
Lawtonfogle
With hacker news you can leave and form your own community where that
sentiment can be expressed. One just needs to visit a website belonging to
some fringe group to see that. But with society's laws, you can't do that.
Those communities, because they are now illegal, will be hunted down and
destroyed. Instead of flag killing the opinion, imagine if the one who posted
it could be banned from the internet.

------
sp332
Still much better than the situation in Britain.
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/charlielyne/make-the-
ce...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/charlielyne/make-the-censors-
watch-paint-drying)

------
gambiting
"The nudity that was once "bold" and "daring" is now commonplace: hardly a
rom-com goes by without a sex scene. Sexually explicit films are released
without the batting of a censorial eyelid."

And yet, in one of the seasons of US Hell's Kitchen, one of the chefs is in a
T-Shirt and her breasts are covered by a blurring mask. I guess it's because
you could see her nipples? In a show where Ramsey calls people "fuckface"? US
censorship is really really weird.

~~~
vezzy-fnord
I don't agree with the author's characterization. Little of the sex scenes in
Hollywood films are "bold" or "daring" in the slightest. They're timid,
lifeless and quite often completely pointless. They're put in there more to
appease some informal filmmaking convention rather than to drive the film
itself. A few are explicit, most are comical and still suffer from puritan
tropes (like the infamous "his-and-hers bed sheets").

Lars von Trier is certainly controversial, too. _Antichrist_ received quite a
bit of opposition from ratings and censorship boards. Then, in the USA, even
if your film isn't censored, the NC-17 is a de facto death penalty.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Actually, from my personal observation, Hollywood seems to have toned down on
sex scenes significantly in the last decade or so. Actually, I can honest-to-
god say that Hollywood blockbusters are now higher culture than theatre in my
country is...

~~~
sp332
Simple math - more people will turn out to see a movie rated PG-13 instead of
R. So that's what the studios tend to shoot for.

~~~
TeMPOraL
It used to be that they were shooting for superfluous sex scenes, and a
similar argument could be made - sex sells. Theatre is apparently behind the
loop and it tries to exploit it now.

------
Oletros
I will never understand the taboo that is nudity in the USA society

~~~
nsxwolf
I don't know. Seems like we have plenty.

------
andyl
Think censorship is over? Express opposition to
feminists/muslims/blacks/gays/multiculturism/drugs etc. and watch the
fireworks. Neo-puritan morals police are stronger than ever.

~~~
olavk
What does "fireworks" mean here? Actual literal censorship, or just people
loudly complaining and criticising the expressed sentiment? Because that is
the opposite of censorship.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
A recent example:

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-
yorkshire-34...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-
yorkshire-34857143)

~~~
surge
Overheard three college students at the next table in a restaurant two days
ago talking about how free speech is outdated and the Constitution should be
changed to limit it so that you can't speak in anyway that was offensive to
others.

I was flabbergasted.

These are students who are supposed to be going to school to get exposure to
ideas different from their own and learn about the value of freedom of
expression especially when it comes to expressing views the majority might not
agree with.

I feel like an old man wondering what is wrong with kids today and I'm not
that old.

~~~
Lawtonfogle
I'm only a half decade out of college and I'm wanting all these
whippersnappers off my lawn.

------
HenryTheHorse
"Over-baring censors" \- Freudian slip, headline wordplay or typo?

Discuss.

~~~
maldusiecle
Bad headline wordplay. The Economist loves those, and it's too carefully-
edited otherwise for it to be accidental.

~~~
tillinghast
Terrible wordplay, if this is actually the case. The play exactly contradicts
the thesis.

~~~
HenryTheHorse
Which was what got my attention too. The Economist is usually very particular
about such choices.

