myrnaloyisdope wrote:I'm not sure that guy knows what being a libertarian entails. Shouldn't a libertarian be opposed to censorship? Particularly government ordered censorship?
Just to clarify, the BBFC isn't a government body: it's an independent organisation funded solely by the film industry. In fact, the British government has no legal power to ban a film from theatrical release without a change in the law (as Cabinet minister Virginia Bottomley pretty much admitted during the
Crash row), though individual local authorities can impose geographically-restricted bans.
Which means that it's not absolutely inconceivable that all the (several dozen) local authorities could band together and effectively ban a film nationally, but this has never happened and I'd be astounded if it ever did. Not least because many local authorities (my own personal experience is with Camden, north London, who never once questioned what I did) just don't want to get involved with artistic censorship. It's too much of an electoral hot potato, especially in a liberal and arts-orientated area - Glenda Jackson is a Camden MP.
Which is why all this huffing and puffing is so entertaining - the BBFC knows that it's effectively impossible to restrict a film from circulation these days, and in any case they're not about to start banning or cutting Cannes competition entries by major auteurs unless they actually break the law (usually unsimulated animal cruelty or child sex, not much else).
