RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V5 #204

From: Marianne Macdonald ( marianne.macdonald@lineone.net)
Date: 28 Jun 2003


On Friday, June 27, 2003, at 10:21 PM, RARA-AVIS Digest wrote:

> I wonder how the later variation on the same idea,
> Natural Born Killers, fared.

That was on tv a couple of nights ago, so...

> From what I have read, there also seems to be an element of elitism
> and/or racism.
>
I think it's an unconscious hangover of the way that the old (film and book) censorship laws were used. Things considered working-class or "popular" were banned in order to protect the simple folk; things considered a minority interest weren't, or were restricted so that you had to, for instance, join a private club to see some movies. An expensive book would be allowed (possibly in the edition printed in Paris) ; a cheap paperback of the same work wouldn't.

Though my all-time favourite was the comment of the judge at the Lady Chatterley's Lover trial: he asked the jury whether they would allow their wives or servants to read such a book, and thus probably did more than anybody else to ensure that the book was finally published in the UK.

(When I first turned up over here, strippers were allowed to perform, but once naked they couldn't move. Really. :-p )

Marianne

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