Emancipation

A few days ago I went to watch The Expandables. You know, that movie with a star-studded cast of stars? Yeah that one. Now even before watching we know it's going to be a violent action movie. They won't compile that many action stars in one movie to film a chick flick now would they? While queuing to get tickets, I noticed something. The movie is rated "18". Now not that it's weird or anything but movies in Malaysia so far has been subjected to be rated using either "U", "PG13" (this rating has only been enforced since the last few years), "18SG", "18SX", "18PA" or "18PL". The rating for this movie however was just "18". Looking around other posters, any movie with adult content is also rated with just an "18". Looks like they're simplifying the ratings with just an "18". They're also now more strict with minors trying to watch 18+ movies. I saw the lady in front of me being halted by the ticket receptionist to make sure that she's over 18 because she looks like she's not. Luckily she was. Now, before this, the censorship in Malaysia was pretty strict. Any kind of cursed word is usually cut out except for "damn" and "shit". But the thing is I think it was ran by careless people because they censor out all of the F-bombs but if that word is infused with some other word, it was allowed to pass. Hilarious I know but true.

With the new simplified ratings system enforced, I would love to see if it was just a simple ratings change or was the censorship board has a new kind of approach to censoring. Now before getting to my point I would like to say that I think ratings are important. It's a tool for parents and guardians so that they won't allow the children under their care to view inappropriate content. This applies to all sorts of media be it movie, music, video games, books or anything at all. The only downside of it currently is that all of this ratings is being disregarded by some parents and guardians who would then lead to blaming the government for "weak enforcement". Parent and guardians, I know by all means I am not in the position to say defy you but the government is not the parent/guardian to the child under your care. It is not their responsibility to completely monitor what they are viewing. To these few ignorant parent/guardian, clean up your act and step up to the plate.

Now, onto the movie. I can gladly say that this new rating system somehow is up to the par of many other censorship board around Asia. The F-bombs are not censored (well, at least initially) and can clearly be audible in the movie. The violence is there for the most part. Violent gunshot blood squirt and dismemberment are aplenty in this movie and they seem to be left out untouched; though most of the violence in this movie is so fake and unconvincing, at least to your truly. There are a few parts of the movie that has been noticeably left out, in which I predict the scenes were of obscene vulgarity in words. They might be still a few parts that was left out but not that I notice any. The censorship in this didn't break the movie. They were few and insignificant to the media. I would say the current censorship is heading the right way.

Before some of you go guns ablaze on me, I would like to say that I am not for violence and profanity. But I am all for dynamic thinking. I think the new censorship guidelines are heading the right way because it's not trying to babysit the viewers. They have been informed earlier that the movie will contain adult content and if they happen to disregard the remark and still bring the minors to watch it (or be it the minors went themselves), every single social impact is to be carried along on their own. By not censoring the movie to a certain degree, the movie will be conveyed closer to how they intended to be viewed by the creators of the movie and the viewers won't feel like they're being monitored about all the time. Adult viewers should uphold to their own responsibility as an adult and be responsible about what they are viewing by not condoning it or even try to imitate it. The new censorship board expects the viewer to be smart enough to take care of their own well being. Well, unless you are not then you might need to bring a few friends that are, just in case. How do you measure whether you are or not is up to you. The censorship board are also being smart because they know no matter how much they censor every mundane scenes in the movie, they are still accessible to other media by anyone of any age. It'll be better if they just leave it as it is in order to preserve the authenticity of the movie because, like I said, the viewers were informed of the adult content. Just don't watch it if you are just going to complain later.

This is the internet age where media are spread easily around the net. For every single sexual, violence and profanity content that are on the movie, a similar level or maybe even worse; far far worse are accessible on the internet. I believe that at the end of the day the success of censorship is governed by the parents and guardians themselves and how they enforce it to their young lings. All of this adult contents will be around permanently. It ain't nice and I'm not supporting it but we know there's nothing we can do to prevent it from being here. Be a smart viewer; a smart citizen and evaluate everything that has been presented to you, not just media but everything. That way no matter what is the issue at hand it can be evaluated as optimal as it should be.

*Everything here is purely my opinion and everyone has their right to object conditionally. There might be mistakes here and there but I am human after all.