Censorship in the news

Reuters: Censors sued for cut steamy sex scenes
Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:09am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese moviegoer is suing China's film watchdog in frustration with the censored version of Ang Lee's steamy World War Two drama "Lust, Caution," Beijing media reported Wednesday.

The Golden Lion award-winning film opened in China last month minus much of the on-screen sex and other scenes that Taiwan-born director Lee cut himself at the behest of local censors.

Dong Yanbin, a Ph.D student at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, had filed a suit against the nation's film censor, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), for infringing upon his "consumer rights," the Beijing Times said.

"I felt greatly disappointed after seeing the movie," the paper quoted Dong as saying.

"Compared to Eileen Chang's original, the incomplete structure of 'Lust, Caution' and fragmented portrayal of the female lead's psyche makes it hard for the audience to appreciate the movie's art," Dong said.

Dong was seeking apologies and 500 yuan ($67) in "psychological damages" from both SARFT and UME, the cinema chain showing the movie, the paper said.

The court had yet to accept the case, it added.

UME had violated the audience's "fair trade rights," while SARFT had infringed upon "society's public interest" by failing to implement a rating system that would allow adults to see the film, it quoted Dong as saying.

"Lust, Caution" is open to children and adults alike in China, where academics and film-goers have been calling on authorities to implement a rating system for several years.

Despite the cuts, the movie has proved popular in China, reaping 90 million yuan ($12 million) in its first two weeks and being tipped by some to be the year's biggest box office success.

But some filmgoers in the southern province of Guangdong have opted to cross the border into Hong Kong to watch the full, uncut version, local media have reported.

© Reuters2007All rights reserved

Who wants to try that in Malaysia against our Film Censorhip Board? G'won... do it do it do it.

Reuters: Singapore bans Microsoft's video game for sex scene: paper
Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:48pm ET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore has banned a Microsoft Corp video game which contains a scene showing a human woman and an alien woman kissing and caressing each other, a local newspaper reported on Thursday. The Straits Times said "Mass Effect" -- a highly anticipated futuristic space adventure game from Microsoft -- was banned by Singapore's Media Development Authority.

In October, Singapore's parliament decided to keep a ban on sex between men, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the city-state should keep its conservative values and not allow special rights for homosexuals.

Singapore is the only country to have banned the game, so far, and it is the first Microsoft video game to be banned in the city-state, The Straits Times said.

The move has caused an outcry among local and international gamers who said the decision was too strict, the newspaper said.

The report said Singapore has in the past, banned at least two other video games -- Sony Corp's "God Of War 2", for nudity, and unlisted Top Cow Productions' "The Darkness", for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.

(Reporting by Ovais Subhani; Editing by Valerie Lee)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved

Good to see that sometimes, Singapore isn't that much better off. Nobody'd better tell them that you can make same-sex characters kiss (and make whoopie) on the Sims.