Censoring the Classics

[Nostalgic]

Hold on to those simpsons dvds then! A great episode, sadly everything seems to be getting pulled if anybody is shown in a bad light.

Surprised they haven't burned all the films Harvey Weinstein produced & made people give all the oscars back (Kevin Spacey included).

Gonna walk away now, please don't hate, just feels like witch hunts, but only for people who have/had money.

[Demoncrat]

I've got it somewhere aye. It's a nice song

[iank]

Oh dear God. What a bunch of absolute wankers. No Mr Brooks, it's not yours. It belongs to the world, and to the viewers. Not you.

[Rob4]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Hold on to those simpsons dvds then! A great episode, sadly everything seems to be getting pulled if anybody is shown in a bad light.

Surprised they haven't burned all the films Harvey Weinstein produced & made people give all the oscars back (Kevin Spacey included).

Gonna walk away now, please don't hate, just feels like witch hunts, but only for people who have/had money.

movies and tv dramas don't tend to get pulled because of the collaborative nature of the art form. if all Weinstein movies were pulled think of the damage it would do to the innocent actors and directors filmographies. i know music is also produced collaboratively but in the minds of the public they are attached to the credited performer.

[gag]

About censoring films \ TV shows here a read that's gives a argument about keeping hold of things .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.5ec034b55036




Don’t throw out your DVDs. They’re your best protection against corporate censorship.


Samsung’s announcement last month that it was not producing any new 1080p or 4K players for the U.S. marketplace is troubling news for partisans of physical media. But anyone who worries about the impermanence of streaming and the ability of corporations to censor products with minimal effort should be equally concerned by the demise of discs.

I won’t even bother defending Blu-ray’s superiority in terms of picture and audio quality, as my friend Peter Suderman did at Vox a few years back. Yes, Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and the rest have made strides in terms of ensuring HD-quality persists throughout the streaming experience, but bad connections are bad connections and quality can still be spotty. That being said, given that so many people are content to watch movies on laptops or on phones — through tinny speakers or via weak earbuds — it’s safe to say that this is a battle that has been lost. People don’t care that much about audio or visual quality; they just want to see stuff in the most convenient manner possible.

Even if you’re not an obsessive who demands Criterion Collection-caliber 4K transfers from interpositives made from the original negatives,* there’s still reason to be concerned about digital’s total victory over physical in the media wars. If you don’t own a physical copy of the thing you want to watch, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to access it at any time you choose. Your ability to access these materials depends entirely upon the whims of our corporate overlords.

Take the response to the HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” a shocking look at Michael Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of children he befriended at the height of his stardom. After “Leaving Neverland” aired, “The Simpsons” executive producer James L. Brooks told the Wall Street Journal that “Stark Raving Dad,” an episode of the show that involves Homer Simpson sharing a mental hospital room with a man who claims to be Jackson, would be pulled from circulation.

“Getting the episode off all the platforms and outlets that carry the show — including streaming services, TV stations and Blu-ray/DVD box sets — won’t happen overnight,” Joe Flint reported, noting that Brooks had told him “the process has started.”

The ethical implications here are striking, given that this is little more than an effort to erase an embarrassment. Hiding the omnipresence of Jackson in our cultural milieu does nothing to help us understand how the singer, who was often surrounded by a coterie of young children, could operate with impunity right under all of our noses. Worse, it sets a precedent that anything that troubles or offends could wind up going down the memory hole alongside “Stark Raving Dad.” Given the troubles “Simpsons” producers have faced over the character of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon — whose voice, as performed by Hank Azaria, has been derided as grotesquely racist in recent years — can we really trust that access to classics like the “Pulp Fiction” parody “22 Short Films About Springfield” or “Homer and Apu,” with its classic tune “Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?” will remain accessible in perpetuity?

Then there are the corporate shenanigans that turn digital purchases into little more than long-term rentals. As John Archer noted in Forbes last year, customers who have purchased films through iTunes have found themselves unable to access those movies via iTunes. This happens because of global rights issues and the films being withdrawn from the service only to be offered in a new version that would have to be paid for all over again. Yes, if you download the file to a hard drive you’ll continue to have access to it — but isn’t the whole point of digital purchases to free up space, physical or otherwise?

Of course, downloading a product won’t always guarantee you have access to it. Ask the folks who picked up copies of “1984” and “Animal Farm” for their Kindles, only to have Amazon delete the books after it was discovered that they had been uploaded to the bookseller without rights permissions. In both this literally Orwellian circumstance and iTunes’s fumbling with distribution rights, there are legitimate commercial interests at stake — but the ease with which companies can make your bits and bytes inaccessible should still give pause.

Because here’s one thing that’s never going to happen: James L. Brooks is never going to march into my basement, rifle through my shelves and abscond with my DVD collection of the third season of “The Simpsons.” An attachment to physical media remains the best defense against corporate censorship in a world where making problematic products disappear is becoming easier than ever.

[Susan Foreman]

Disney Plus streaming site will not offer 'racist' Song of the South film | The Guardian

"When Disney’s streaming site launches in the US in November this year, fans will be able to watch the Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian and classic films. However, there will be a notable absence from Disney Plus: the 1946 film Song of the South, which has long been a controversial title for Disney because of how it depicts the lives of African-American plantation workers in the southern states after the civil war."

Also being cut is the original release of 'Dumbo'. "In the original animated version of the film a murder of cigar-smoking crows had a leader called Jim Crow – the Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in the south – and are largely considered to be thinly veiled racist caricatures."

'Fantasia' has already been censored by Disney. IMDB states: "For the 60th anniversary DVD, one scene on the Pastoral sequence was digitally altered to remove a black centaurette. In the scene, Bacchus is being lead to his throne, while the black centaurette rolls out a red carpet. The change now makes the carpet appear to be rolling by itself" and it is being suggested that Sebastian from 'The Little Mermaid' and the Siamese cat scene from 'The Aristocats' will also have to go due to their racial steroetypes

Me - I remember seeing 'Song Of The South' when it was broadcast on UK television, back in the 80's. There must have been a season of 'troublesome films' because, unbelievable as it seems now, I also saw the full and uncut version of 'Birth Of A Nation' on tv as well - probably BBC2 or channel 4

[Susan Foreman]

BANNED!

After being played on The Music Marathon programme on the radio station Gold, and receiving a single complaint about 'racist language', the song 'Melting Pot' by Blue Mink has now been banned!

The song, which is a plea for racial tolerance, reached #3 in the UK chart in 1970 and contains the following 'offensive' lyrics

"Take a pinch of white man,
Wrap him up in black skin,
Add a touch of blue blood,
And a little bitty bit of Red Indian boy.
Oh, Curly Latin kinkies,
Mixed with yellow Chinkies,
If you lump it all together
And you got a recipe for a get along scene;
Oh what a beautiful dream
If it could only come true, you know, you know.

What we need is a great big melting pot,
Big enough to take the world and all it’s got
And keep it stirring for a hundred years or more
And turn out coffee-coloured people by the score"

[Susan Foreman]

Not exactly censored...

[Susan Foreman]

Not exactly a classic!

Little Britain removed from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and more due to its abhorrent use of Blackface | Pink News

"Little Britain, the award-winning rapid-fire sketch show, has been pulled from all British streaming platforms due to concerns about the use of belittling Blackface by its two stars, David Walliams and Matt Lucas.

The show, which aired from 2003 to 2005, trafficked in racially-charged humour with its heavy use of prosthetics, drag, fat suits, thick layers of make-up or all of the above.

Its pantheon of characters ranged from a patronizing leader of a Weight Watchers-like organisation, a Thai bride called “Ting Tong”, to Desiree DeVere, a Black woman played by Walliams in full Blackface.

And as back-catalogue shows face renewed criticism in the throes of the Black Lives Matter protests, Walliams and Lucas’ vocal support for demonstrations has seen critics poke holes in their advocacy. Many noting how the actors were performing comedy routines just a decade prior in Blackface.

As a result, the BBC confirmed to the Daily Mail that the show alongside the pair’s other series, Come Fly With Me, was stripped from BBC iPlayer Monday (June 9).

It follows Netflix that ditched both shows last Friday (June 4). Britbox, the streaming service from ITV and BBC, also said it will take the shows off, too.
Little Britain use of Blackface not keeping with the ‘times’, says major British streamers.

A BBC spokesperson said: “There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review.

“Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”

Britbox echoed: “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BritBox.

“Come Fly With Me has not been available on the service for six months.”

Come Fly With Me has similarly simmered with criticism since it aired in 2010. The mockumentary about the lives of various airport staffers saw Lucas play an overweight Jamaican woman called Precious.

Lucas, 46, has previously expressed his “regret” at Little Britain‘s use of Blackface alongside anti-trans jokes, describing it more than a decade on as a “cruel kind of comedy”.

Nevertheless, the comedian teamed-up with Walliams in April 2020 for a revival of the “I’m a lady” sketch. It saw the duo play Emily and Florence, two transvestites who attempt – and fail – to pass as high-society ladies for BBC’s Big Night In.

The new routine saw Walliams and Lucas throw on ringleted wigs made of toilet roll holders and crude, bottom shelf makeup to recreate the roles from home.

While Walliams did not revive DeVere for the reprisal, the transphobic roles got the green light, we guess."

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Gone with the Wind - Pulled from HBO Max.