At 5/11/07 09:31 AM, Incognitus wrote:
Wai-wai-wait. Someone explain this to me. Is it that:
A) These lines get censored on certain American channels so they can be shown earlier?
Yeah, they make edited versions for network television. The problem is that they edit almost everything just to be safe. You might assume a PG-13 movie would be able to be played uncut and get a TV-14 rating, you'd be wrong. Consider this line from Dumb and Dumber:
Original:
Where do I sign?
Right on my ass after you kiss it.
Edited:
Right on my sandwich after you kiss it.
The line is perfectly TV safe, they edit it none-the-less. It would be fine if they just bleeped or silenced it, or even if they took the time to realstically dub over it. They do a quick crappy job and they don't even get the original actor most of the time.
B) These channels show the films late enough but censor the bad language anyway?
On network television (what you get for free by just plugging your TV into the electrical socket) they have to follow FCC guidelines so 'shit' and worse words are always edited. Cable TV technically doesn't have to edit anything since you pay for it and should know what you're getting into. They do it anyways though because America's conservative about things like that and the FCC will find a way to fuck them if they go to far. Some channels do let the curses fly at night, but sex/nudity is always out.
Ironically enough violence has always been somewhat more obscene than the cursing. I remember watching an episode of The X-files when I was a lad and wondering how they could show a corpse covered in maggots, but they couldn't say fuck. : /