Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Household Censorship

Those who have been to Malaysia would have the same complaints about this. Censorship. It's a dirty word over here. Look, I'm not about to stand on a soapbox to rant and rave about the overzealous censors in my country with their scissors ever-ready to snip any scenes ready to corrupt our easily swayed youth with immoral sex, gratuitous violence and undemocratic politics. OK, so I do have a foot on that damned soapbox.

My ISO, my faithful corrupter, came by with some episodes of Desperate Housewives a few days back and we delighted in every salacious antic - although we couldn't indulge in any antics of our own due to parental supervision - and also my own miserable code of ethics. What is there not to like? Hot barechested guys cavorting in a Stepford community riddled with scandals? So it was with some anticipation that I greeted the arrival of this deliciously wicked series locally.

Unfortunately, there were snips. And cuts. And slashes. Something akin to a movie edited by Freddy Krueger on Prozac.

I do know that censorship laws are there for a good reason - although on certain times like tonight, the reason eludes me. But Desperate Housewives is being shown late in evenings. By theory, most kids should be asleep by then ( and if they're not, I bet those naughty kids would have better things to do than watch the telly! ) so why was the series censored? How could it possibly corrupt? Are the adults abnormally titillated by the sight of Jesse Metcalfe's impossibly hard abs? Do they find themselves stricken with an irresistible urge to run their tongue down James Denton's square jaw?

OK, that's all just me but then again I'm an irredeemable pervert who gropes men in the dark. Like the wicked secrets hidden behind the picture-perfect image of Wisteria Lane, there's always been something dark in me ( hidden deep inside my conservative, bookish exterior ) that loves to bend rules - and occasionally break them. :) I seriously doubt anyone else feels the need to jump Jesse Metcalfe and fuck him senseless against the wall.

Assuming everyone else is relatively normal without any borderline psychotic impulses, so why the need to censor?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading your post, I reckon, I would be at Low Yat Plaza to get the complete set of Desperate Housewives!

It is simply no fun watching this series, with snips here and there.
Hey, 8TV and Astro, what happen to all the hot scenes????? Are Malaysians simply not matured enough?

Kitjar

Jay said...

Yes. Yes, I AM abnormally titillated by the sight of Jesse Metcalfe's impossibly hard abs.

And yes, I AM stricken with an irresistible urge to run my tongue down James Denton's square jaw.

These censorship guys, they piss me off.

Francis Ford Faggola said...

I am with Kitjar... I'd rather wait for the DVDs, it's not fun to watch something snipped (and I mean TV shows :P)

Also, I am on board with Jay, Jesse Metcalfe and James Denton are hot! *drools*

Anonymous said...

I have seen about half of the episodes of Desperate Housewives (d/loaded from the Net of course at my old workplace), and watching it being snipped almost to pieces on the local telly is simply horrendous.

I'm with Kitjar and Holden on this one, am just gonna get the DVD at Low Yat to watch the rest of the episodes. Jesse Metcalfe is simply too delish to be left on the cutting floor :D

AJ said...

Ahhem... I'm usually not childish but what the heck,

Ngeee~ Ngee~ Ngeee~ :oP

I have a somewhat complete collection of DH unsencored!

Think about it... If they didnt censor, noone would but the pirated crap. A good investigation will uncover that the head of the censorship board is also the tai ko (big brother) of the illegal DVD/VCD trade.

savante said...

Androjane, I really think you might be on to something there. I think it's a time a full investigation is done on the lives of the Censorship Board, boring as it is. Who knows what skeletons we might find?

Trust me, guys, even with the snips, it's still worth watching. But I'd love to see the uncensored parts too. Gotta beat a path to Low Yat too.

Paul

Anonymous said...

If you think DH got it bad how about Sex in the City? Did it got cut a lot? I heard some HBO guy doing an interview about this program's final season launch and he said that the censorship board of each country in Asia got to see it first and then listed out which scenes to be cut and and which cursed word need to be taken out. Perhaps you should bought the SITC DVD as well? :)

Will said...

Terrestrial TV is so 80's, honeys, and Satellite TV is so 90's.

I never watch shows on the telly anymore unless it's safe stuff like American Idol, one because of my odd hours, and two, because of the censorship. You actually lose a LOT, especially for sexually explicit shows like DH and SATC.

It gets worse later in the series, guys! And more more more yummy yummy Jesse!

Sven said...

I seriously doubt anyone else feels the need to jump Jesse Metcalfe and fuck him senseless against the wall - you are not alone Paul, I can relate to that too..

savante said...

Sex and the CIty got sliced up pretty badly too but I did manage to get the DVDs... so it wasn't a total loss.

Paul