“Film censorship is motivated by fears about audiences and technologies.” Discuss this statement in reference to the concerns expressed about uncensored and unregulated video content in Britain in the early 1980s. [30 marks]
I feel that film censorship is strongly motivated by fears about audiences and technologies however there are some other factors that motivate film censorship which do not fall into either of the above categories. Through improvements in technologies such as VHS players which were now present in many British homes the public could easily get easy access to unregulated and uncensored films known as video nasties, these led to fears that the quality of society in Britain could fall if they were allowed to remain being easily obtainable to the public. These video nasties were a sort of scapegoat for any troubles within the country possibly arguing that film censorship could be motivated by personal ideals but i will explore this later in the essay. These VHS tapes and video nasties also presented a great threat to the multiplexes as the viewers could now view previously unobtainable footage from the comfort of their homes, leading to fears of an even greater economic decline.
Through the technological improvements that took place throughout the 1970s the public now had the option of both Betamax and VHS on which to watch films at home. Despite its better quality betamax was soon defeated as VHS not only allowed for a longer recording but had also become a social trend throughout Britain as visiting the multiplexes had been in the past. It did however have a darker side which played a large role in its triumph over betamax which was that VHS tapes were easier to copy and therefore pirate. It was this piracy that led to unregulated tapes being produced in mass numbers and therefore widely distributed across the country. This piracy of tapes allowed prices to fall therefore making it a much more appealing option for the public than to visit their nearest multiplex creating a fall in cinema attendance.
The main fears of what audiences of watching came with the introduction of the video nasties.These tapes allowed the viewers to see content that had been deemed either to horrific or obscene for the screens of the cinemas. The films focused on the genres of horror and pornography. Through being uncensored they were able to explore much darker concepts than anything before them had been, such as the idea of rape or extremely gory deaths. Through these new themes came a certain sense of intrigue which appealed in the main to teenage audiences as it was new and captured their attention and curiosity. This led to great levels of fear in parents as they no longer had any control over what their children were watching and no guarantee that the film was appropriate as it was unregulated. This created a great sense of moral panic as many adults felt that what their children were watching was wrong and should be banned altogether.
Amidst this moral panic the government saw a window for them to take advantage and use this for their gain. This argues that film censorship was not motivated by fears about audiences and technologies but rather as a tool to defeat the scapegoat which took the blame for a broken Britain. Under Margaret Thatcher the conservative government claimed that it was the fault of these video nasties for the state of some of the problems in Britain, Her government held very traditional views and felt that these tapes were not appropriate for viewing by anybody and should be gotten rid of. Through the media the government pushed the idea and created a larger sense of fear that it was these films damaging youth and the morals of the country, therefore rallying greater support for their disposal or censorship and also taking more blame away from Margaret Thatcher for the violence and poorness of the country. This gives the idea that it was not fear of how the audiences react but rather through the use of power to create a fear that had previously not been there in force for a governments own gains.
Eventually in the year of 1985 the regulation of home video came to be through an organisation called the BBFC meaning the British Board of Film Censorship. After being given permission by the conservative government the BBFC was allowed to apply age ratings to home video allowing the videos with the worst content to be flagged warning any potential viewers of what they would be watching. This shows that film censorship was done for the benefit of the audiences as they now knew what they were viewing and the country could have proper control over what was being distributed.
In conclusion i agree with my original point that film censorship is strongly motivated by fears about audience and technologies. It is the fear of the kind of content audiences are exposed to and through improved technologies the ease they can obtain it which pushed censorship forward as a major issue and led to home video being censored so strongly. Although other factors like the governments traditional conservative views affected censorship i still feel that fears for the audience and the advancements of technologies were more significant. The same issues of piracy causing film censorship to be difficult are still around today but in the form of internet movie piracy rather than VHS piracy, the audience however are now 30 years on a lot more desensitized to what they see it is almost as if films need to be extremely horrific just to capture our attention and become popular. An example of this is the human centipede a film viewed by many teenagers despite almost all of them being disgusted and horrified. All viewing however knew what they were about to watch which leads me to the conclusion that films should have age ratings and content warnings but that films should never be censored as it is the viewers choice if they are sufficiently warned to undertake the viewing of the film.
Martin Stewart.
