Californication - the dirtiest program to grace TV??

[HAL]

Sometimes.

[Syd_Magpies_Girl]

[David]

The common argument here seems to be "there are worse things than the viewing of sex that are permitted in this society".

Guess what. I agree. If I had my way, films that glorify violence (such as Saw and Hostel) would never even get a release here.

That doesn't mean, however, that there shouldn't also be restraints on sexual content. Simone, you seem to be the one most fiercely engaged in the debate against censorship in this thread, and yet even you said in an earlier post that you would not approve of hardcore porn on FTA. Why not? Because it would be inappropriate.

All I see is that different people have different views on what and what isn't inappropriate. You think hardcore porn is inappropriate for general viewing, Christian groups think shows like this are inappropriate, the proponents of the 1930s Hays Code thought showing a couple sleeping in the same bed was inappropriate. It's all relative.

So, where do we draw the line? I'm not sure. If we can agree that there is some point when depiction of sex becomes somehow damaging to children (would you sit your 5 year old kid down in front of hardcore porn? why or why not?) then we need to look at the reasons why, and from there decide what should or should not be censored.

Here's my take on it. I think sex would be bloody awesome. Well duh. If love is the most intimate feeling you can have with someone else, and sex is the most intimate way of expressing love, well I can see why it's viewed by some as being so sanctified. For that reason, it's hard not to be cynical at the way sex is used and manipulated by the media. Sex = money for them, and in using it thus, there is a real degradation and cheapening of the whole thing. As for the effect on children - it's hard to say, but we know that exposure to sex at an early age can have a negative emotional impact on children (otherwise, why would child molestation cases be such a big deal?).

Of course, as some will say, it's the parent's responsibility to monitor what their children watch on TV, and I agree completely. Children shouldn't be watching television unattended at 10pm anyhow, and it's seriously not that hard to monitor it (my parents have 8 kids and none of us were ever allowed to turn on the TV ourselves and watch what we felt like until a certain age). Thus, a TV program that has a certain level of justified sexual content (and this show may well fall into that category), should be fine if its shown at a certain timeslot, and given a certain rating.

If the sex in the show is used in a purely cynical manner, well - what can you do. You can appeal to a desire for quality programming on television, but most tv these days is so utterly crap that that would be pointless. What it says about the mindset of society and attitude towards sex is another matter, and I guess that is an issue that is deeper than the question of whether Ten decides to show Californication or not.

[The Prototype]

Another option is to show it while the kids are at school then there is no way they can watch it, but it's not suitable for that time of the day, so either way there is no real solution to this argument. I guess if people are really offended by this they can form a group to have it removed from our Television sets. I mean I have yet to watch it, and I am not sure I would be interested and it's not the whole sex thing and shit like that it could come down to the script and the quality of the shows.

I mean are we going to censor everything because a minority are going to be offended? There are always going to be people that are going to be offended I mean there are still parents that are trying to get some other programming removed from the air, and most of it is shown when their kids should be in bed.

A lot of it would come down to the parents deciding on what to do I mean surely they can decide to tell their kids what is or isn't appropriate? I am sorry to say we are living in a society now that has the ability to gain access to a lot of things without their parents knowing about it, so unless you stop them from going to their friends houses and their parents stop them from using the internet and ban television in their rooms there is not much else you can do.

There are some TV shows that are in poor taste, granted but with the ratings wars there is no way that any network is ever going to listen to get them removed from the air. Unless there is a lot of protest and the ratings start to suffer.

I will try and view this show next week and give a bigger opinion on it, it's on Tasmanian Digital Television for anyone in Tasmania that has a digital box.

[Dale61]

[Syd_Magpies_Girl]

I agree Dale. It appears that these days, everyone appears to be complaining more and more about the smallest things, when there are bigger issues at hand.

I used to work in the beer industry, and everytime we realised a new ad, we would get complaints flowing in from people over the age of 55 claiming it was inappropriate for children. However, surveying proved that parents weren't being offended, and these had commercials had no negative affect on younger generations.

David, I wouldn't be protesting against Hardcore Pornography on TV because I believe that every one has the ability to control what is watched in the privacy in their own home. Same goes for Californication, if people want to watch it, then they should be allowed to. If this program, showed an attack on the Christian minority, then yes, I'd be concerned. I've gotta admit though, at least they're not going around burning effigies of people

Movies like Wolf Creek and stuff are more offensive than pornography. Sorry, but that's my opinion people. In all seriousness, has anyone ever stopped to think that these movies, or tv shows like Law and Order, sometimes glorify violence, and can possibly put ideas into peoples heads that want to plan crimes ie: Columbine School Massacre.

What a lot of older people, especially, need to start realising that the younger generations want to watch something a bit more rawer, yet a lot of these people do have the brains to be accepting of other peoples choices. Times have changed, and I do not forsee anything going backwards either.

I respect everyones right to an opinion, but please, don't push your beliefs on me, and I will do the same for you. There's no way I'd strap someone to a chair and force them to watch Californication, or Wolf Creek against their will, same goes for porn if they didn't like it.

[The Prototype]

[Syd_Magpies_Girl]

It wasn't a lot of sexual humor, but nothing bad, yeesh. It did have an M rating.

[The Prototype]

Trade a "lot" for a "bit" That was my typo of the day

[Syd_Magpies_Girl]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22352257-5007132,00.html

This has made my day!

ANGRY Catholics have pledged to hold candlelit vigils outside Channel Ten headquarters whenever the steamy new show Californication is on air.

The first vigil was overnight, with more than 30 people praying away their concerns about the louche new dramedy billed as "the filthiest show on television".

"It's a spiritual battle," said Father John Fongemie, who led last night's demonstration outside the Pyrmont building.

"We're concerned with the programming that's being shown on channel Ten, which is crassly immoral, and which casts the Catholic church in a bad light."

Ronan Reilly, 16, said he was shocked by a clip he saw on the internet of the show's star David Duchovny having "sexual relations" with a nun inside a church.

"If Muslims saw it in a mosque they'd be equally outraged," he said.

"We're just standing up for our faith."

Neither Ronan nor Father Fongemie had seen an episode of Californication, which debuted last week and drew almost one million viewers.



How can you hold Channel 10 responsible when they are just airing what their viewers want? Where's the condemnation on the viewers and the people who actually made the program? Bahahahaha!!!

[David]

One point seems to have been missed through all this.

Rather than being upset at the sex/nudity in the program, most Christians simply seem offended about the scene in the church.

Now, think about this. Do they have a right to protest against something which depicts 'mockery' of their religion?

[Before you answer that, think back to the Muslim cartoons controversy and recall your opinions on that particular news story.]

Edit: I just watched the clip myself on youtube, it's almost as inoffensive as the aforementioned cartoons. Looks like this is going to be one of those "Life of Brian" things where none of the protestors actually watches the show, just goes by what they heard about it.

[Syd_Magpies_Girl]

That was the point I was trying to make David. People are getting their tits in a twist over nothing, because they are basing their opinions on what they have read in the papers. My mum is a christian, my dad is an orthodox, my grandmother who is 91 and orthodox, watched it, and were in no way offended by it.

And for the record, the outrage between the Muslim Cartoon and this is a bit different. For a start, these Christians aren't burning effegies and stoning almost every white person they see.

[Dale61]

Funnily enough, Christians don't find this offensive!



Whereas some will be aghast at this:

[HAL]

My brain pattern set does not have a response for that. Do you still say was that we are entitled to free speech and the right to watch it? Did you know that you can download your own chat robot and create your own robot personality? Is the holding of hands a symbolic gesture for humans?

[The Prototype]