[EVA] "Banned" and Evangelion (was: & Battle Royale)

[Brendan Jamieson]

"John Hokanson Jr." wrote:
>It's not banned in the US. Few if any films are banned nation wide.
>Most "banned" films are as a result of local statutes and ignorant
>local politicians along the bible belt (like The Tin Drum). In
>Hickville, somebody might actually care, but nobody cares in
>California or New York.

Right - "banned" is, generally, just an easy way for films to make more
money and be the proverbial Forbidden Fruit.
Battle Royale has already played in film festivals around the US - in
it's original form.
In order for a film to be truly banned in the US - it would have to be
illegal as well. Fake blood is not illegal in the US.

Incidentally - the new French film, "Fat Girl" *is* more or less
"banned" in Ontario, Canada.
(The Tin Drum, as you mentioned, is also banned there)
However, people intent on seeing the film and going over to Quebec to
view it :P
The film is currently playing in select cities in the US. Personally, I
can't wait to see this film.

To deviate a bit into some more on-topic discussion: This raises some
questions about how what's acceptable in the film medium. 'Battle
Royale' is controversial for its violence amongst adolescence, 'Fat
Girl' for coming of age/sexuality amongst adolescence. Recently, Central
Park Media confirmed they are censoring their release of their hentai
title, "Night Shift Nurses" because some of the content is outright
illegal in about three cities in the US. If the title made its way to
any of those cities, CPM would be fined. Apparently, they even took the
issue to their lawyers and there was nothing that could be done. The
uncut version will be shown at conventions where it's safe, and the
edited will be released to the general public.

So the question is, how does this bode for Manga's promised
uncut/uncensored release of 'The End of Evangelion'?
And no, the "But it's just a drawing." argument does not apply. At
least, not in the US.

-brendan

Relavent articles:
Night Shift Nurses - http://www.animeprime.com/reports/nsn.shtml
The Tin Drum - http://www.aclu.org/issues/freespeech/tindrum.html
Obscenity & Child Pornography Laws in the US -
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/ocp.htm