Banned films
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Overview
For nearly the entire history of film and movie production, certain films have been either boycotted by political and religious groups or literally banned by a regime for political or moral reasons. Paradoxically, banning a movie often completely fails to achieve its intention of preventing a movie from being seen—the publicity given worldwide to banned movies often results in it being given attention it might not otherwise receive.
With the advent of the Internet, the ability of groups or governments to ban a film is hindered. High-speed Internet access and better file compression give more people access to digital copies of movies that might not be available for viewing in theaters. Obvious problems with using the Internet as a distribution system include the inability for a producer to profit from his or her film. Recently, Michael Moore stirred up controversy by encouraging people who were curious about but didn't want to financially support his film, Fahrenheit 9/11, to download it and watch it on their computers.
Banning versus censoring
Many governments have commissions to censor and/or rate productions for film and television exhibition. For example, the United States has MPAA Ratings to protect children from questionable content. (Though it's worth noting that the MPAA system is purely voluntary, for both movie makers and theaters. However, almost all theaters in the U.S. use the MPAA system, and many will refuse to show films which are unrated.) From 1930 to 1968, most films produced in the United States were subject to the Motion Picture Production Code. Independent film distributors that tried to get around the code often ran into trouble with state or local censorships boards. From a government standpoint, the censoring of films is more effective than banning, because it limits the scope of potentially dangerous or subversive cinema without overtly limiting freedom of speech.
Timeline
Australia
Historically, possibly the country with the most banned films. The Queensland Film Office, for example, has banned at least 174 films since 1974. Australia's OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification, can be blamed for much of the censorship, however each state and territory is free to make additional legislation. See also Censorship In Australia.
In recent years, only films claimed to glorify rape and paedophilia are banned, and in practice even these get a short cinematic run before the legality kicks in. Of course, broadband Internet access allows people who want to watch such films to do so.
- 1907 Victorian Chief Secretary bans screenings of The Kelly Gang in Benalla and Wangarratta.
- 1912 New South Wales police department banned the production of bushranger films.
- 1928 to 1941: Chief Censor Creswell O'Reilly and his board ban many movies in this period, including Dawn, Klondike Annie (starring Mae West), Applause (it contained chorus girls), Compulsory Hands, Cape Forlorn, The Ladies Man (sexual overtones), White Cargo (interracial theme), The Five Year Plan (discussed communism), All Quiet on the Western Front, Gang Bullets, Each Dawn I Die, Hell's Kitchen (three US gangster films), The King and the Chorus Girl, The Brith of a Baby ("not in the public interest"), Green Pastures, Susan and God (blasphemy), Reefer Madness and Of Mice and Men (sex and violence in combination).
- 1942 - The Monster and the Girl, The Man with two Lives, The Invisible Ghost, and King Kong, Frankenstein, Dracula plus their respective sequels.
- 1964 to 1970: Mr. R. J. Prowse is appointed Chief Censor and Campbell goes into the Appeals Board. During the liberal 1960s many more films were being banned including The Miracle, Viridiana, La Dolce Vita, Satyricon, The Silence, Blow Up and Zabriskie Point.
- 1971: Customs Minister Don Chip begins the development of a new classification system, which includes the much-needed R rating for adult content. Movies that were once banned are gradually released. The X rating is later introduced to cope with the upsurge in hardcore pornographic films.
- 1976 Pasolini's Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma banned in Australia.
- 1984 (?): A governmental conference is held, resulting in the later abolition of X rated material in most Australian states. Ownership of hardcore porn remains legal.
- 1990: Gail Malone and the Queensland Film Board of Review, which had banned 174 films since 1974 (including Dawn of the Dead, Near Dark, Prison, Day of the Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Re-Animator and the M rated A Nightmare on Elm Street III) are abolished when the new Labour State Premier Wayne Goss is outraged that the Board banned an already censored version of Bad Taste after a three-week run in cinemas.
- 1992 The previously banned 1981 Chinese gore film Dr. Lamb is released with 11 minutes cut; its poster is banned.
- 1993 Australian ban on Pasolini's Salò is lifted.
- 1995 Twelve queer films banned from Tasmania's Queer film festival, including Spikes and Heels (about the Gay Games in New York, broadcast on French, Swiss, Belgian and US TV), and Coming Out Under Fire (about the discrimination faced by US lesbian and gay personnel during World War II, which SBS has just bought to screen on SBS TV). Other titles include What a Lesbian Looks Like, Mad About the Boy, 21st Century Nuns and Sex Fish.
- 1996 Pasolini's Salò again banned in Australia
Other films reportedly banned in Australia, but of unclear date:
Canada
- 1980: The Tin Drum is first cut, and then banned as child pornography by the Ontario Censorship Board.
- 1994: Exit to Eden is temporarily banned by the Saskatchewan Film and Video Classification Board.
- 1997: The theatrical and video releases of Bastard Out of Carolina are banned by the Maritime Film Classification Board.
China
Germany
- 1933 - 1945: Bronenosets Potyomkin (Battleship Potemkin), a film made by Sergei Eisenstein depicting the 1905 Revolution in Odessa, was banned during the period of the Third Reich.
- 1940s: The Great Dictator, starring Charlie Chaplin, was banned during Hitler's regime in Germany because of its satirical depictions of the dictator.
- Triumph of the Will, made in 1934 by Leni Riefenstahl, is nowadays only allowed to be shown in critical context, e.g. with introductory remarks.
Ireland
- 1967: Ulysses, based on the book by James Joyce was banned until September 2000.
- 1971: A Clockwork Orange - since unbanned.
- 1979: The Life of Brian was banned in Ireland for 8 years for blasphemy.
- 1983: The Meaning of Life, another Monty Python film. - since unbanned.
- 1994: Natural Born Killers - since unbanned.
- 1996: From Dusk Till Dawn - was banned until 2000.
Kuwait
Malaysia
- 2004: The Passion of the Christ - however, the ban was later lifted to only allow "Christians" to watch the movie. No checks were done at screenings but tickets were sold through churches.
The majority of films passed legal in Malaysia are extensively, heavily cut, thereby nearly are as good as being banned (note: no kissing is to be seen in films shown there). The films that are "officially" banned include:
- Saturday Night Fever (1977)
- Pet Sematary (1989)
- Schindler's List (1993)
- Babe (1995)
- Last Man Standing (1996)
- Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
- Blade (1998)
- The Prince of Egypt (1998)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
- Fiza (2001)
- Zoolander (2001)
- The Queen of the Damned (2002)
- Daredevil (2003)
- Homerun (2003)
- Underworld (2003)
- The Passion of Christ (2004) {prohibited from non-Christian viewers)
- The Punisher (2004)
United Kingdom
- 1971: While not actually banned by the government, the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange was pulled from distribution until Kubrick's death in 2000. This unusual move was implemented after Kubrick received death threats and copycat criminals perpetrated crimes mimicking scenes from the movie. See also British Board of Film Classification.
See also
External links
- Detailed description of the Australian Classification system, outlining reasons why many banned films do not show up in figures on banned films (http://libertus.net/censor/auscensor.html#fpcg)
- Comparable studies on International censorship strategies (http://www.serendipity.li/cda.html)