Comments on: Suicide Squirrel: Sony and Ofcom http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/ Politics, Commentary, Culture, Technology. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:07:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: MattWardman http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8209 MattWardman Thu, 01 May 2008 09:33:55 +0000 http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8209 Good questions. I wonder if the real difference is that Disney tells a story, rather than cartoons an incident. There are I think occasions of suicidal cartoon characters (Tom the Cat walking in front of a car). OTOH - and returning to a traditional theme - fairy tales *do* involve people getting "killed" and "eaten by wolves", and one of their roles was (iirc) is a way of coping with danger by talking about it obliquely. Why should this be different? The thing that I found most difficult to watch recently was the "killing the population" scenes in "28 Weeks Later" set in London - but that is exactly the type of violence that goes on all the time elsewhere transposed into a very familiar landscape. How would you react to the current spate of "in yer face" "public information" adverts (<a href="http://mreugenides.blogspot.com/2008/03/burden-of-proof.html" rel="nofollow">example</a>, or the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7lSPA9g8s" rel="nofollow">Amnesty Waterboarding Video</a>", or even the current TV Licensing campaign that uses Database State imagery to scare people into paying up (seems to me to be calculated to lose our support for the License Fee). Good questions.

I wonder if the real difference is that Disney tells a story, rather than cartoons an incident. There are I think occasions of suicidal cartoon characters (Tom the Cat walking in front of a car).

OTOH - and returning to a traditional theme - fairy tales *do* involve people getting “killed” and “eaten by wolves”, and one of their roles was (iirc) is a way of coping with danger by talking about it obliquely. Why should this be different?

The thing that I found most difficult to watch recently was the “killing the population” scenes in “28 Weeks Later” set in London - but that is exactly the type of violence that goes on all the time elsewhere transposed into a very familiar landscape.

How would you react to the current spate of “in yer face” “public information” adverts (example, or the Amnesty Waterboarding Video“, or even the current TV Licensing campaign that uses Database State imagery to scare people into paying up (seems to me to be calculated to lose our support for the License Fee).

]]> By: David Keen http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8204 David Keen Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:09:55 +0000 http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8204 There's probably not much difference in terms of what happens - bugs bunny would probably have the 'anvil for a parachute' thing, except a) there'd be no blood b) nobody would die c) it wouldn't be called 'suicide squirrel', which is somewhere on the spectrum between tasteless and sick. Somehow Bugs Bunny etc. is far enough into unrealistic territory for the cartoon violence to seem tolerable. I guess the key question is how much blood, gore, etc. is a cartoon allowed to depict before the 'it's only a cartoon' defence stops applying? Would it still be funny if the squirrel landed on a cartoon baby and crushed it? Or if it flew into a tower block in an airplane? South Park would have been post watershed for content, even without all the swearing. I'll stop now, Liverpool have just scored to make it 3-2 David Keens last blog post..<a href="http://davidkeen.blogspot.com/2008/04/evangelism-discipleship-and-faith.html" rel="nofollow">Evangelism, Discipleship and Faith Sharing Resources</a> There’s probably not much difference in terms of what happens - bugs bunny would probably have the ‘anvil for a parachute’ thing, except a) there’d be no blood b) nobody would die c) it wouldn’t be called ’suicide squirrel’, which is somewhere on the spectrum between tasteless and sick. Somehow Bugs Bunny etc. is far enough into unrealistic territory for the cartoon violence to seem tolerable. I guess the key question is how much blood, gore, etc. is a cartoon allowed to depict before the ‘it’s only a cartoon’ defence stops applying? Would it still be funny if the squirrel landed on a cartoon baby and crushed it? Or if it flew into a tower block in an airplane?

South Park would have been post watershed for content, even without all the swearing.

I’ll stop now, Liverpool have just scored to make it 3-2

David Keens last blog post..Evangelism, Discipleship and Faith Sharing Resources

]]> By: admin http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8195 admin Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:58:18 +0000 http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8195 I don't agree on that one, David. There's not really that much difference from Disney (e.g., bugs bunny) in my opinion here as far as I can see. Perhaps the voluntary euthanasia people should sponsor them. I find the Sony apology and limiting the broadcasts an interesting contrast to their lack of action of the Manchester Cathedral episode. I don’t agree on that one, David.

There’s not really that much difference from Disney (e.g., bugs bunny) in my opinion here as far as I can see.

Perhaps the voluntary euthanasia people should sponsor them.

I find the Sony apology and limiting the broadcasts an interesting contrast to their lack of action of the Manchester Cathedral episode.

]]> By: David Keen http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8190 David Keen Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:22:05 +0000 http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2008/04/30/suicide-squirrel-sony-and-ofcom/#comment-8190 ugh, horrible. Ofcom are right. But that means that they'll have to say the same thing about the Simpsons whenever it shows the Itchy and Scratchy show. Drat, if only the Simpsons was rubbish it wouldn't be a problem. David Keens last blog post..<a href="http://davidkeen.blogspot.com/2008/04/scholes-goal.html" rel="nofollow">Scholes goal</a> ugh, horrible. Ofcom are right. But that means that they’ll have to say the same thing about the Simpsons whenever it shows the Itchy and Scratchy show. Drat, if only the Simpsons was rubbish it wouldn’t be a problem.

David Keens last blog post..Scholes goal

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