Buried clause could tag films, TV shows as porn

[LynneSin]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051012/film_nm/porn_dc

Buried clause could tag films, TV shows as porn

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - Tucked deep inside a massive bill designed to track sex offenders and prevent children from being victimized by sex crimes is language that could put many Hollywood movies in the same category as hard-core, X-rated films.

The provision added to the Children's Safety Act of 2005 would require any film, TV show or digital image that contains a sex scene to come under the same government filing requirements that adult films must meet.

Currently, any filmed sexual activity requires an affidavit that lists the names and ages of the actors who engage in the act. The film is required to have a video label that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found. The record-keeping requirement is known as Section 2257, for its citation in federal law. Violators could spend five years in jail.

<<<<<snip>>>>>>

The provision, written by Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind., could have ramifications beyond simply requiring someone to ensure that the names and ages of actors who partake in pretend lovemaking as compliance with Section 2257 in effect defines a movie or TV show as a pornographic work under federal law. Industry sources say the provision was included in the bill at the behest of the Justice Department. Calls to Pence's office and the Justice Department went unreturned Tuesday.

<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>

Industry executives worry that the provision, which is retroactive to 1995, will have a chilling effect on filmmakers. Faced with the choice of filing a 2257 certificate or editing out a scene, a filmmaker might decide it's not worth getting entangled with the federal government and let the scene fall to the cutting-room floor, the executives said.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Notice how they're attaching it to a bill that will probably pass pretty easily in Congress. Geez what is it with repukes from Indiana trying to control every aspect of our lives

:shrug:

[texas1928]

1. Not republicans

They are against Government control, and big government.

:sarcasm:

[GalleryGod]

2. Gawd !!!! When will they cease! ?

Not until they've turned our nation in to "JesusLand":puke:

[underpants]

3. So THAT'S what Section 2257 means

I had wondered.

[AllegroRondo]

8. I usually fast forward past that section

[mongo]

4. And the other day a DU'er was extolling

how reasonable the laws against obscenity and the Miller test are.


Geesh.

[miss_kitty]

5. Oh, let's just dig up the Hays Code

and put those rules in place...they're tried and true

The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code)

General Principles

1. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.

2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.

3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

Particular Applications

I. Crimes Against the Law
These shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime as against law and justice or to inspire others with a desire for imitation.

1. Murder

a. The technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation.

b. Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail.

c. Revenge in modern times shall not be justified.

2. Methods of Crime should not be explicitly presented.

a. Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc., should not be detailed in method.

b. Arson must subject to the same safeguards.

c. The use of firearms should be restricted to the essentials.

d. Methods of smuggling should not be presented.

3. Illegal drug traffic must never be presented.

4. The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown.

II. Sex
The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing.

1. Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated, or justified, or presented attractively.

2. Scenes of Passion

a. They should not be introduced when not essential to the plot.

b. Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.

c. In general passion should so be treated that these scenes do not stimulate the lower and baser element.

3. Seduction or Rape

a. They should never be more than suggested, and only when essential for the plot, and even then never shown by explicit method.

b. They are never the proper subject for comedy.

4. Sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden.

5. White slavery shall not be treated.

6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races) is forbidden.

7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases are not subjects for motion pictures.

8. Scenes of actual child birth, in fact or in silhouette, are never to be presented.

9. Children's sex organs are never to be exposed.

III. Vulgarity
The treatment of low, disgusting, unpleasant, though not necessarily evil, subjects should always be subject to the dictates of good taste and a regard for the sensibilities of the audience.

IV. Obscenity
Obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, joke, or by suggestion (even when likely to be understood only by part of the audience) is forbidden.

V. Profanity
Pointed profanity (this includes the words, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ - unless used reverently - Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd), or every other profane or vulgar expression however used, is forbidden.

VI. Costume
1. Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette, or any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture.

2. Undressing scenes should be avoided, and never used save where essential to the plot.

3. Indecent or undue exposure is forbidden.

4. Dancing or costumes intended to permit undue exposure or indecent movements in the dance are forbidden.

VII. Dances
1. Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passions are forbidden.

2. Dances which emphasize indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene.

VIII. Religion
1. No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.

2. Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains.

3. Ceremonies of any definite religion should be carefully and respectfully handled.

IX. Locations
The treatment of bedrooms must be governed by good taste and delicacy.

X. National Feelings
1. The use of the Flag shall be consistently respectful.

2. The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly.

XI. Titles
Salacious, indecent, or obscene titles shall not be used.

XII. Repellent Subjects
The following subjects must be treated within the careful limits of good taste:
1. Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishments for crime.
2. Third degree methods.
3. Brutality and possible gruesomeness.
4. Branding of people or animals.
5. Apparent cruelty to children or animals.
6. The sale of women, or a woman selling her virtue.
7. Surgical operations.


If you can believe it, more here: http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html

[Initech]

12. So religious people cant be used as villains?

Does this make Falwell above the law now? :grr:

[RedCloud]

6. When will they ever learn?

You are supposed to keep the masses doped on religion and sex and tv...

Looks like another hippie revolution is just around the corner for those that missed the last one!

[jmowreader]

7. This is going to kill the bodystocking industry

It's also going to kill the video industry, but that's okay by the holier-than-thou Republicans.

Look close at the original post: Should this pass, every movie made since 1995 and sold to the public that contains a sex scene will be required to have a 2257 certificate filed on it and have a label embedded in the video stream that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found.

Read that again. Every movie made since 1995 and sold to the public that contains a sex scene.

How many thousands of movies have been made since 1995 that have sex scenes in them? Maybe half the PG-13 films and almost all of the R movies? Not even the Hays Code was this unrealistic--it admitted that sex scenes and violence could be a necessary part of a movie's plot. The Pence Code doesn't--it equates a tender sex scene in a romantic movie with the sex scenes in "Gang Bang Follies 23."

So let me see: I'm a producer. I'm making a movie that has a sex scene in it. The way the film is written, it has to be in there, and there's no believable way to write around it. According to the Pence Code, even if I show a closed bedroom door I'm still required to file and label if the public is led to believe people are having sex on the other side of the door. Well...the hell with this pretend sex shit. I'm going to cast either two unmarried people who like each other, or a married couple, and have them have real sex.

[Fox Mulder]

9. This is just bullshit.

Fuckin' a...I hate fundies! :grr:

[taterguy]

10. Now I'm angry

What about the OC? Will they have to get a new cast? None of those folks are over 18 are they?

[Initech]

11. To use a classic George Carlin quote:

"I'd much rather have people use the word "fuck" than the word kill. It would make western movies a lot more interesting."

Really, these people are seriously freaking crazy. This is one more attempt at controlling what we watch on TV because the fundies just dont get it.

[fudge stripe cookays]

13. There goes my "Nip/Tuck" fix.

:eyes:

FSC