Steve and Harry's "Conversations With My Dummy" podcast
I had an epiphany a while ago that I wanted to share with my readers. Like any good liberal I was always incensed with the hypocrisy that sex was rated X in the movies and violence was rated R. As Jack Nicholson supposedly said (but was probably apocryphal) If you kiss a tit, it's rated X, if you cut it off, it's rated R.
My epiphany hit me one day while watching the Daily Show. They were showing these horrible scenes from Law and Order SVU. And they are pretty gruesome but guess what? EVERY SCENE WAS SIMULATED! All those dead bodies were posed with make-up. There was no real violence being perpetrated and we all know it. When the bodies pile up in an action feature the viewer can be assured they're paid actors and the blood is ketchup.
But sex! That can't be simulated. If Janet Jackson shows her breast at half time at the Super Bowl, it's really a breast we're looking at. If you see nudity in a movie or on TV, that's real nudity. No way around it. You can hide nudity with blankets and camera angles, but once it's there, it's there. A kiss is a kiss. But a stab is not a stab.
We know this on the deepest level. Look at kids. They know the difference better than adults.
If an actor is killed on TV, the kid has little reaction (unless they're really young of course) but if someone is killed in their living room, they will be traumatized for life (this applies to adults too of course).
In fact, if a real tit was cut off or if someone was really killed on screen, you would see how fast it would be headline news. The network or movie company would be in serious trouble. People would talk about it for weeks if not years.
To argue with Jack Nicholson, if you kiss a tit on TV, that's really a tit being kissed, cut it off, and it's faked.
Here's another example. At the end of movies it often says "No animal has been harmed in the making of this film." Why don't they say "No humans have been harmed in the making of this film"?
Because it's self-evident.
Once I realized that, I was a lot more comfortable with the rating system. I mean, shouldn't children be protected from seeing boobs, tushies and penises in action?
You decide for yourself if that last sentence was sarcastic. Comments welcome.
Just like cablevision vs. broadcast tv. Except in one case you pay for it, and in the other you are being sold product. If you pay for it, they can put whatever they want, if they are selling to you, they have to watch their tushi. It is almost all paid for now, so the sky is the limit. xxx- whatever.
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