Film
BBFC censorship has changed – updates every 5 years to keep up with changes in society (beliefs and cultures). Discrimination was added recently (date?) to keep in line with society’s current issues.
Revenge of the Zombies (1943) released as X (18) but recently been re-released as a U – context/platform. Desensitisation theory- audiences are more accepting of violence. Tangled – could be higher, but still a PG because of the context – links to Revenge because of their declassification of the film based on its context. LAs can over-rule the BBFC (flaw?)
CGI/animators are making animated more realistic, does that blur the line between fantasy and reality?
Human Centipede 2 – BBFC doesn’t have control of films online. They can still watch the director’s cut online that hasn’t been censored. Due to high-demand and availability online they re-released the uncut version (2012). ‘Video nasties’ in 1980s were regulated and became difficult for children to access due to this – audience are now becoming active online and they can now view them easily. There is also the idea that people are now making their own content and uploading it online, and that can’t easily be regulated. BBFC created a system called ‘Watch and rate’ so that other audiences can view and rate if it’s an accurate age rating/ appropriate for audience. Link to Philo theory – 12 year boys Pulp Fiction – a third had already seen the film – 5 had seen it 2-3 times and 2 had seen 10-11 times. Children could almost recite it word-for-word. Tarantino “violence is good cinema”. James Ferman (BBFC director) – “too often…I worry violence has so little meaning, that young cinema goers take the views that violence is ‘cool’” – response Fight Club because it was concerned with copy-cat behaviour.
A Serbian Film (2010) was supposed to be part of a ‘fright fest’ – cut 49 times by 4mins 11secs and cut by council – very limited cinema release. The most censored cinema release in Britain but can be accessed by all. There is a law Digital Economy Act 2010 – Tougher boundaries for file sharing/streaming/online contact – the difficulty is that it’s difficult to enforce.
Hate Crime (2015) – was banned due to discrimination; however, it is available online.
It is increasingly difficult to regulate content online, due to online contributors. Although there is more available, we are more aware – as are parents.
Press
PCC – deemed the ‘toothless tiger’ due to its lack of legal power – this meant that in past papers went with the motto, ‘publish and be damned!’ as they could just publish an apology on the back page. Loop holes in guidelines. Ryan Giggs – super-injunction because of affair. Because of Twitter, it still stood but it didn’t matter. David Furnish scandal that has come to light in the last few weeks. Only applies to England and Wales – so they can still publish it in Scotland.
News of the World hacking scandal –
Digital – Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence etc. ****
Kate Middleton – topless photos over 200 photos published in French papers. Before marriage, William contacted the PCC about stalking/harassment but nothing could be done because no harm had been done to her. Theory – Robertson and Nichole believe that the PCC is not efficient – supported by less than 24% of complaints being dealt with in 2010.
Increase in social media – Dan Gilmore – citizen journalist where the readers become the writers. Blogs are a problem – in 2011 they regulated a blog due to accuracy law (Robert Liddle). He suggested the majority of violent crime in London was being committed by Afro-Caribbean males – they did begin to regulate. LINK to the fact PCC doesn’t exist (phone-hacking). IPSO Law Justice Levison suggested that the new system should have legal legislation and tighter regulations on accuracy and privacy. Where does this go from here? Harder to track online because people are anonymous.
PCC – 1990-2011; IPSO 2012-present.
Moral panics – lack of trust in the press due to phone-hacking, which is why they changed to new system.
Katie Hopkins – slur on twitter was being investigated?
Wednesday 18th May
Why is the regulation of media so complex?
- Web 2.0 – consumers as producers/comments and discussion/blogs
- Online streaming/Smart TVs/Netflix/Catch-up
- Social media – press
- BBFC
Web 2.0/streaming:
Difficult to regulate – more freedom. “Web 2.0 erodes the boundary between producer and audiences” (Gauntlett)
YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook: create own content – home videos, producers of content. Link to ‘watch and rate’ system attempts to regulate.
Streaming: BBFC regulate the release of films, but because of streaming they can’t remove the films being streamed, some of which are been ‘banned’. Most of this anonymous – no legal restrictions. Napster?
GroovyShark – no consent from existing artists when sampling their music. Sony, Warner and Universal Music Group all filed lawsuits against them (copyright infringement)
‘Blurred Lines’ – explicit video (they were all naked) it was taken down very quickly because was too accessible for a young audience. ***
Blogs: are not regulated – more freedom of speech. Rob Liddle – blog was shut down due to “breeches of accuracy law” – Afro-Caribbean males comment. Discrimination – not everything that is written is ‘breaking the law’, but doesn’t mean it’s not damaging.
It’s difficult to remove images from the web once they’re on there – people can download and save. iCloud – shows that it is possible. Kate Middleton, Elton John – Scotland.
Younger audience can access Netflix, catch-up, etc. without parental consent in some cases, despite the parental control features. Poses lots of problems – parental regulation? Case: Human Centipede 2 is available on Netflix USA – which is easy to get access to in the UK because ‘hola!’ blocks your IP.
Kids are growing up in tech world – web 2.0 era and they often know more than the adults. Philo – Pulp Fiction case.
Press/Social Media
Ryan Giggs – all the details were revealed on Twitter, but UK had an injunction against printing it. Dilemma of print press and online press. Regulation isn’t proficient Robertson and Nichole (theorists) – shown by the fact that less than 24% of complaints dealt with in 2010.
Facebook have introduced a ‘flag’ system to highlight comments that are inappropriate to be reviewed by moderators.
Complex because people think some subjects are within the public interest – e.g. Prince Charles and Camilla phone sex scandal (he was still married to Diana at the time). Chris Huhne (politician) had a car fine and was on the maximum number of points before a ban, so wife took the blame for the speeding fine. He had affair and she revealed his secret. With this, it could be argued that this was within the public’s interest as he is setting an example but should be adhering to the law (hypocrisy).
BBFC
The main problem is that it’s not a concrete decision, due to LAs having the authority to over-rule decisions made by the BBFC. Complex – because they’re trying to enforce regulation but it is not always consistent. Mark Kermode – ‘public responsibility to look out for themselves’. BBFC more liberal in art house classification – this is due to social class/context of audience. No standardised regulation.
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