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WTF is going on in Australia?
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| josh4 |
| quote: | Industry alarm at R-rated cover-up
FILM distributors are alarmed by new laws that quietly came into effect in South Australia this week restricting the promotion and display of R-rated movies.
Adults aged over 18 seeking to buy or borrow a copy of Mad Max, the acclaimed desert war drama Three Kings, starring George Clooney, the Brad Pitt classic Fight Club or the 2009 Blu Ray release of Sasha Baron Cohen's fashion parody Bruno will now find them in plain packaging displaying nothing more than the film's title.
The rule will apply to titles for sale or rent unless those titles are quarantined from all other audiovisual materials, in an area signposted with a warning.
Under changes to the state's classification act, which came into effect on Sunday, businesses will face fines of up to $5000 for displaying a "poster, pamphlet or other printed material" for films classified R18+.
The new law applies to general outlets containing films with classifications lower than R18+, and not adult-only premises.
Several distributors expressed surprise at the announcement of the law coming into effect, saying they had learned of it only yesterday. Potential Films managing director Mark Spratt, who has distributed numerous R-rated titles, including the contentious French drama Romance, said he was "gobsmacked".
"It's gone completely under the radar," Mr Spratt said.
Plain packaging would prevent consumers making informed decisions about these films, including critically acclaimed titles such as Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now, he said.
"It's certainly discouraging people to look for these films, discouraging shops from stocking them and (creates) an extra hassle for (distributors)," Mr Spratt said. It also had the potential to harm retailers in South Australia as consumers who wanted to buy the titles with their packaging intact would shop interstate or online.
The law was announced by the office of South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, whose conservative campaigning is well known to the film industry.
Foyer stands and posters, cinema ads and billboards for R-rated films are unaffected.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...f-1225819431495 |
First Internet censorship and now this. WTF Aussies? |
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| Sushipunk |
That's ing pathetic.
I honestly don't understand why a government would think we need 'protection' like this. Even though it's just in one state, it paves the way for other states to follow the idiocy.
Even sadder is the fact that they did it on the sly. I'm sure they knew very well that everyone would have called them out for proposing something like this, and that the film industry would have lobbied them fairly heavily about it.
Ffs :rolleyes: |
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| ziptnf |
| Wanna meet up for some shags around 8pm tomorrow, Stu? |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
Gee, south Australia huh? Im going to guess this was the brainstorming work of AG Michael Atkinson. Coz he really is that big a tosser.
edit: oops, didnt see him mentioned in the OP. i hope he gets arse cancer. |
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| Sushipunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by ziptnf
Wanna meet up for some shags around 8pm tomorrow, Stu? |
lol |
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| Capitalizt |
| WTF Austrailia...I thought America was the X-tian capital of the world... Whats up with the movie/internet/videogame censorship of the past few years? |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
What movie censorship?
There hasn’t been any game censorship. I wish you people would get a handle on whats what before saying silly things. |
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| HardTranceProd |
| quote: | Originally posted by Capitalizt
WTF Austrailia...I thought America was the X-tian capital of the world... Whats up with the movie/internet/videogame censorship of the past few years? |
yup. Same reaction. Weird.... |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| Australia doesn’t have a rating above 15+ for games. That’s not censorship. That’s antiquated legislation. |
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| Fpcookie |
| Atkinson is the ing worst |
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| Sunsnail |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
There hasn’t been any game censorship. I wish you people would get a handle on whats what before saying silly things. |
What? L4D2 had to take out practically every cool zombie dismemberment/explosion in its australian release.
edit: oh i should read the rest of the thread
edit: ok, so the laws aren't censoring, but have the same effect.
edit: they had to take out the zombie riot cops because there cant be "violence against authoritarian figures" as well |
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