I have written before about how strange some of the decisions about what gets censored and what doesn't on TV here can be. That post was about the profanity that does and doesn't get broadcast, but the other big thing that gets cut from many channels is not just sex, but kissing. Tonight I saw the funniest example of this yet.
We bought a VHS tape of Chicken Run when we were still in the US and the kids watched it so much that we all pretty much have the movie memorized. We left the tape at home, so I haven't seen it in a couple of years. Tonight I came across it on MBC3 and decided to watch it.
If you haven't seen it, the movie is an Ardman (the same people who make Wallace and Grommet) movie, so everything is done with claymation. There is a scene near the end where the main male chicken character pulls the main female chicken character onto the plane and there is what seems like an obvious build up to a kiss. Instead, she hits him (for leaving), and then she kisses him, though it is shown from behind, so all you see is the back of a claymation chicken head.
Well, in the MBC3 version, he pulls her onto the plane and boom, in a really awkward jump, then we are on to the next scene. I really do try to be open minded and understanding of different cultures, but I can't really see the threat from showing the back of a cartoon chicken head that is being kissed by another cartoon chicken. It did give me a good laugh though.
This blog began as a description of our life in Al Ain, UAE (United Arab Emirates). Brn worked at the UAE University Libraries Deanship for three years and Bss homeschooled our four children, D, B, P, and O. After returning to the the USA for five years, we are living in Abu Dhabi now.
2 comments:
I don't know what you're arguing for. But oppressed feelings wait for the slightest thing to burst out. Try as hard as you can not to stimulate them.
It's common sense; chickens kissing scene brings about dirty thoughts. We don't want that.
Seriously now... anything that shows intimacy, skin, or body figure should be banned from the media. You're American, you don't know how horny Arabs get. I'm serious.
Hi anonymous,
I'm not sure that I'm arguing for anything, I was just making an observation. I actually am in favor of modesty in the media, so I don't think that we disagree as much as you think that we do.I wouldn't go so far as to say "anything that shows intimacy, skin, or body figure should be banned", but the Western media definitely go way too far in showing such things.
I would also say that getting aroused by erotic images is hardly unique to Arabs. But I have to say, if the image of two claymation chickens with their beaks pressed together makes someone so horny that they cannot control themselves, then I think that that person has some pretty serious issues.
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