Human Centipede 2 (idiotically) BANNED in Australia: A Guest Contributor
Even Martin laughs at the Classification Board & thinks they're crazy!!
Now, I must admit, I found the original HUMAN CENTIPEDE to be rather boring (co-incidentally, I watched it online the same weekend as the far more disturbing, and better made, A SERBIAN FILM) and could not really muster the enthusiasm to bother with HCII. However, once I heard that the Classification Board was going to review the R18+ classification, along with the acquired knowledge that FULL SEQUENCE was far more visceral than thematic (emphasised by the UK ban/censorship chapter), I though I’d watch it on VOD before it could be banned and see what all the fuss was about.
1. Australia does not have a constitutionally protected right to free speech, unlike the US Constitution’s First Amendment. A significant court case in 1992 established free political speech in common law, but cases like this example of film censorship generally fall out of that decision’s scope.
There are pros and cons to this: it gives states and federal governments greater ability to prosecute people who distribute materials that incite violence or discrimination against others (because of race, religion etc.), but it also gives the state powers to ‘watch what we watch’; i.e. make arbitrary decisions about art, such as films. Irrespective of whether you think it’s shit or not, FULL SEQUENCE is a work of art, and the refused classification principles applied to it in the National Classification Scheme are largely premised on the mostly discredited notions of transmission and effects-based models of communication; y’know, the ones used to start moral panics and those “think of the children” catch-cries. 2. Secondly, surely this and other cases of film censorship are a waste of resources in the digital age! I had no issues finding (legally and illegally) FULL SEQUENCE on the internet. Indeed, all banning does (and always has done) is drive the die-hard viewers underground, gives free publicity to the film in question, and does nothing to protect children from imagery and material that will warp their world view; the internet only makes the banning even more futile.
Excellent rant my friend, and I must say that you were very level-headed and rather nice to the douchy powers-that-be. And I couldn’t agree with you more, Nick … banning the film only makes it more popular and makes people wanna see it more. And in this digital age, it ain’t too hard to find it for free online (unfortunately. I’m still a firm supporter of paying for watching films, especially indie films, so the filmmakers don’t get screwed). Australia’s Classification Board gets the official anythinghorror.com’s Seal of Bullshit!!Guest contributor, Nick Green
Nick Green lives in Sydney, Australia has been a horror film fan since seeing A Nightmare on Elm St on late-night TV when he was 11. At age 13 he begged his father to buy him an R18+ VHS copy of Evil Dead II, which was confiscated soon after. He studies Arts (Communications) at Monash University and Economics at University of New England, performs in geek rock band Heartbreak Club and writes about wine and other shit on another blog, The Journal of Sparkling Shiraz.
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[...] UPDATE: And, also in a writing mood, I wrote a post about the banning of The Human Centipede: Full Sequence by the powers that be over at AnythingHorror. [...]
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[...] posted on Anything Horror: News about Australia’s ban of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II (FULL SEQUENCE) earlier this week spread [...]
Reblogged this on Vasile Roata.
Thanks so much for the Reblog!!