These 4 films were censored: find out why

Staff October 16, 2018

338 4 minutes read

Some are political, others simply do not make sense. You will not believe the reasons why they censored these movies around the world.

The seventh art has always been a mechanism used for power and, simultanously, against it. Nazism came to power, in part, for the films produced in favor of Hitler, but it has been parodied in other films as a form of resistance. So much is the power of cinematography, that many governments have seen it as a threat and have banned films they believe can influence the public.

Leer en español: Estas 4 películas fueron censuradas: descúbre por qué

E.T. the extraterrestrial (1982)

This film directed by Steven Spielberg was a great blockbuster in the year of its release. Not only the audience, but also the critics called it a new classic. Then, it would become a benchmark for eighties' cinema. Many other productions have been influenced by this film to reproduce a specific style of juvenile science fiction films. This tender story that revolves around the friendship between a child and an alien who has been abandoned by accident in a suburb of California, created a new genre film. However, according to the specialized magazine Taste of Cinema, despite being designed for children and young people, the film was not taken that way in the Scandinavian countries, known for their progressive ideas and open policies. These countries banned it for children under 12 years of age – that is, for the audience for which the tape was intended – arguing that ET showed adults as enemies of children and feared that this would promote a child revolution against adults.

The great dictator (1940)

A classic of classics. The film of Charles Chaplin was released in the middle of the rise of fascism in Europe. It is a political parody that strongly criticizes dictatorships, fascism and anti-Semitism. Starring Chaplin himself in the roles of the great dictator and the Jewish barber, this film was a big blockbuster. At the time of its premiere, the United States had not yet declared war on Germany. The United Kingdom wanted to censor it and not project it in any movie theater when what Chaplin's new film was about was announced, due to its policy of appeasement regarding Nazi Germany. However, by the time of its release the British government was already at war with Germany, so the tape ended up having a propaganda use and was projected in all British theaters. Fun fact: Chaplin's first sound film was very popular in European countries, while it was censored in some Latin Americans due to the sympathetic movements of Nazism that were beginning to form. Thus, the continent farthest geographically from the Second World War, was the one that was most offended by the film.

The Simpsons (2007)

Well known is the case of The Simpsons. This spin-off of the series created by Matt Groening seems to be an innocent movie. And without the jokes of the now famous family are sometimes black humor and sometimes political humor, this film was not especially controversial – except for the small drawing of Bart's penis, which is, in effect, a drawing and not a real penis. However, the animated film did not seem the same way for the government of Burma, now Myanmar, which censored and banned its release to the public in the year of its release. The reason? Repeated use of yellow and red colors. How can the colors of a film make it dangerous? According to film critic Russell Higham, it may be two reasons. The first is that these two colors can refer to the Thai conflict between the so-called 'red shirts' and the 'yellow shirts', which the government would like to avoid. On the other hand, it may also have to do with the fact that this is also the color palette used by the rebel movement of Burma. In any case, it seems crazy.

Back to the future (1985)

Another eighties classic that seemed perfectly innocent. In this film a teenager travels accidently in time from 1985 to 1955 and after changing the events of the past has prevented his parents from knowing each other and attempts against his own existence. Marty McFly, the boy's name, must then make his parents fall in love to save them and save himself. This sci-fi comedy was very well received by the public and critics and became a reference not only for cinema but also for fashion in the eighties. The film made fun of the time travel absurdities, such as the presidency of Ronald Reagan and also showed inventions like the time machine and the drones. According to Taste of cinema, in 2011 this film was withdrawn from the State of Press Administration, Publishing, Radio, Film and Television of China for its frivolous representation of serious historical events. It is not entirely a prohibition of the film but it is the way of the authorities of this country to not promote the projection and transmission of films that have to do with superstitions, time travel or mythologies.