Comments on: Movie Night at the Big House http://ztoe.net/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Comments+on+Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fztoe.net%2F2006%2F04%2Fmovie-night-at-the-big-house%2F%23comment-&seed_title=Movie+Night+at+the+Big+House by Adrian Cooke Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:56:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ads http://ztoe.net/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Comments+on+Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fztoe.net%2F2006%2F04%2Fmovie-night-at-the-big-house%2F%23comment-33&seed_title=Movie+Night+at+the+Big+House#comment-33 Ads Sat, 15 Apr 2006 19:48:41 +0000 http://ztoe.net/?p=44#comment-33 You're right, and I intentionally avoided messing with what graphic meant, though I did think about it. Elena and I were trying to recall all of the potentially offending scenes from the movie, and we came up with two categories also: scenes that were "rough" or "vulgar" and scenes depicting naked intimacy. Amazingly, we forgot the scenes between the husbands and wives! It was as though all we could recall from <em>Brokeback</em> was what happened between Jack and Ennis on their trips to the Mountain. Now this is probably a point in favour of my general argument, which is that the media response was delving into anxieties about a gay movie. In the light of your comments Jefe (thanks for the timely reminder!) it seems most likely that it was the <em>heterosexual</em> sex scenes that clearly contravened the Department of Correction's guidelines. An interesting addendum to this is that the New York Times later reported the story in a backwater part of their site (and without the whiff of scandal, I might add). Their report claimed that the officer in question wandered into the room while there was only a quarter-hour of the film remaining and asked the inmates what they were watching. When the officer realised that it was almost over, he or she allowed the inmates to finish the movie. This makes it sound even more clearly like a case of negligence than overt heterosexual politics (notwithstanding the sexual politics of having such a policy in the first place, which I addressed briefly in the post). You’re right, and I intentionally avoided messing with what graphic meant, though I did think about it. Elena and I were trying to recall all of the potentially offending scenes from the movie, and we came up with two categories also: scenes that were “rough” or “vulgar” and scenes depicting naked intimacy. Amazingly, we forgot the scenes between the husbands and wives! It was as though all we could recall from Brokeback was what happened between Jack and Ennis on their trips to the Mountain. Now this is probably a point in favour of my general argument, which is that the media response was delving into anxieties about a gay movie. In the light of your comments Jefe (thanks for the timely reminder!) it seems most likely that it was the heterosexual sex scenes that clearly contravened the Department of Correction’s guidelines.

An interesting addendum to this is that the New York Times later reported the story in a backwater part of their site (and without the whiff of scandal, I might add). Their report claimed that the officer in question wandered into the room while there was only a quarter-hour of the film remaining and asked the inmates what they were watching. When the officer realised that it was almost over, he or she allowed the inmates to finish the movie. This makes it sound even more clearly like a case of negligence than overt heterosexual politics (notwithstanding the sexual politics of having such a policy in the first place, which I addressed briefly in the post).

]]> By: Jefe http://ztoe.net/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Comments+on+Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fztoe.net%2F2006%2F04%2Fmovie-night-at-the-big-house%2F%23comment-31&seed_title=Movie+Night+at+the+Big+House#comment-31 Jefe Thu, 13 Apr 2006 06:41:55 +0000 http://ztoe.net/?p=44#comment-31 Underlining your point is a certain ambiguity in the word "graphic." If it's meant to connote "rough" or something like it, then the problematic scene is the one in the tent between the two men. If it's meant to connote the direct depiction of nudity, then the problematic scenes are the ones of heterosexual marital bedrooms in which women are repeatedly shown nekkid. There's a lot of tittie in that there gay movie, and based on your explanation it sounds like that's the reason for the punishment. The spit-lube moment may not have helped, but it seems doubtful it alone was what triggered the censors by the standards you've described. Underlining your point is a certain ambiguity in the word “graphic.” If it’s meant to connote “rough” or something like it, then the problematic scene is the one in the tent between the two men. If it’s meant to connote the direct depiction of nudity, then the problematic scenes are the ones of heterosexual marital bedrooms in which women are repeatedly shown nekkid. There’s a lot of tittie in that there gay movie, and based on your explanation it sounds like that’s the reason for the punishment. The spit-lube moment may not have helped, but it seems doubtful it alone was what triggered the censors by the standards you’ve described.

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