Friday, January 17, 2014
Weekend Discussion: Censorship, the Plague (Revisited)
Anthony Comstock, Father of Modern Censorship |
- Growth of the Hispanic audience
- Friday night tends to be a sleeper time slot for English-language television
- Fewer Spanish-language networks means less fragmentation among the perceived potential viewers
- Gringos are getting more interested in telenovelas because of the exciting stories and hot actors. For Univision and Telemundo, those viewers are more salsa on the taco.
Labels: Alborada, bravio, no-podia, QBA, robo, telenovelas, weekend
I think this may have been said in the original discussion, but I am bothered by the fact that LOVE scenes will be edited while GUN VIOLENCE is not.
Why don't they put the advisory at the beginning of the episode like some other shows have when the content is going have more skin/suggestive language than normal? Rather than hacking to bits scenes that were at most PG-13 in the first place?
Well, now I'm mad. There is no reason to censor if there's a warning.
I want to point out that ratings have nothing to do with Uni's decision to use scissors to cut love scenes. MPV had plenty of love scenes cut, even the rape scene that was important. But that novela, while a high quality production, had the worst ratings at 10pm, averaging 2.5 million viewers or less weekly. Why do you think Uni moved it to 7pm?
Also, Amores had better ratings than Abismo, yet the edits weren't that severe. Sure, the love scenes were altered, but they kept some of them instead of axing EVERYTHING. For the latter, yes the edits were awful and the ratings were mediocre, but better than TalisMAL at least. All the love scenes with the protagonists and co-stars were cut, even that tawdry hotel scene with Sabrina and Paolo. As for La que no podia amar, top rated novela at 10pm and all love scenes were cut. They either choose to cut love scenes or condense them, regardless if said novela is a hit or flop. Plus, Uni's prime time lineup have terrible ratings now. Just saying.
TV-PG-D
TV-PG-VD
TV-PG-LD
TV-PG-VLD
TV-PG-VSD (used only once for one episode of LRDG, but a few movies on Unimas carry this rating)
TV-14-D
TV-14-VL (Replaced VD)
TV-14-SD
TV-14-LD
TV-14-VSD
TV-14-VSL (used only once for one episode of LRDG)
TV-14-VSLD
Some cuts are very arbitrary and that series also suffered the cutting of a scene or two that had key information. However, that was one evening. There was another evening with substantial cuts of "filler" material.
However, it's high time we got out of our Victorian mindset as a country. It really annoys me that sex is still such a forbidden subject here.
Does Univision have an office where complaints/questions can be submitted?
Have you had any experience recently in dealing with this type of department at Univision?
Do you think that Univision is even aware of our complaints/questions/concerns? I suspect that we are not the only ones wondering what the hey is going on here.
How does one make one's voice heard in order to effect change?
Fatima
P.S. I think we might be in danger of falling off the front page because one of the recaps doesn't have the usual page break.
I have heard that certain actresses (Ana Brenda, for one) do not want explicit love scenes and it's in their contract. There are American actresses who do the same and if the director wants something steamy, we know they use doubles--just to make us think the main protagonist is doing the deed.
Silvia Navarro is one who doesn't shy away from acting in her own sexual encounters or showing plenty of skin, when it's tastefully filmed. In this case it's what whoever wields the scissors that makes the decision of when and where to edit that is to blame for what the public gets to see.
I concur, thank goodness for on-line sites where we can get whole scenes, especially where the cut scenes are central to moving the story forward.
Fatima
There are also male actors in American TV who have restrictions on love scenes because of their religious beliefs or respect for their mates.
I agree with the why cut love scenes when violence gets to play out in horrific detail. LP was appalling violent and rape scenes was certainly not cut, actually rapes are almost never cut. LP also had a scene with a male actor and we almost saw everything he had to offer. Except in the old NYPD Blue days where we saw male rumps I've never seen anything close to the LP one.
It is odd that there is all this chopping of love scenes when in daytimes soaps presumably when children are around there are/were plenty of them.
I also find myself annoyed with bleeping. I guess full on Spanish speakers would get what is being said but we poor gringos are missing an opportunity to expand our vocabularies. LOL
I don't know if originally there were scenes that got cut because it was re-aired during the day or whether the writers just realized it wasn't necessary or what.
Just writing this made me realize that nearly every telenovela has at least one rape and multiple acts of violence toward women. WHY? I mean I know it happens in real life but these are supposed to be fantasies. Why so dark and disturbing?
Check their website and see if you can write e-mails to them. I don't know if they will take an e-mail in English seriously, though.
Sneaky Two Shoes, I have a real problem with the showing of rape but not consensual sex. The issue beyond that is how the rape is shown.
If they're going to get explicit about rape I'd rather they show it in all the ugliest the actors are capable of displaying. I certainly don't want it eroticized or toned down. It's a subject people often have problems getting real about.
It is still a crime, however, to curtail scenes of consensual sex when it can be given the glory it deserves.
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