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The Big [Censored] Theory

(pudding.cool)
1444 points feross | 1 comments | 29 Aug 22 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.24s | source
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sudhirj ◴[29 Aug 22 18:52 UTC] No.32641992[source]▶
We have this kind of censorship in India as well, even the in weirdly innocous places. In James Bond movies, and I think Gone Girl as well, scenes were by zooming into character's faces or just straight cuts.

This is probably the only reason I maintain a US iTunes accounts (used to have to buy gift cards from sketchy sites online to keep this going, but I recently discovered that my Indian Amex card works fine with a US address).

Also trivia for those who are wondering how cuts are made, at least for cinema content: all video and audio assets are usually sent to theatres in full, but there's an XML file called the CPL (composition playlist) that specifies which file is played from which to which frame / timestamp in what sequence. Pure cuts or audio censorship can be handled by just adding an entry to skip the relevant frames or timestamp, or by specifying a censor beep as the audio track for a particular time range.

https://cinepedia.com/packaging/composition/

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ginger2016 ◴[29 Aug 22 21:36 UTC] No.32643886[source]▶
Given the racist protrayal of Indian American Raj Kuthrapalli, I am of the opinion Indians are magnanimous in allowing this show to be aired there.
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clouddrover ◴[29 Aug 22 21:49 UTC] No.32643998[source]▶
What in particular is racist about it?
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ginger2016 ◴[29 Aug 22 21:55 UTC] No.32644064[source]▶
If you have watched the show and failed see why it is racist, then we need to give some anti-racist education.

It is affirming the stereotype Indian males lack confidence with women. Raj can’t speak with women without the use of alcohol, the show constantly mocks his accent, worshipping of cows etc.

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1. II2II ◴[30 Aug 22 00:48 UTC] No.32645418[source]▶
> If you have watched the show and failed see why it is racist, then we need to give some anti-racist education.

I will both agree and disagree. The show frequently oversteps what can be thought of as parody, so calling it racist is a fair assessment.

On the other hand, we also have to be careful. Think of the video clip in the article, the one with Sheldon's mom. The article makes it sound like it was censored since it was disrespectful to the Chinese people. While I can understand how that interpretation can be made, it is far more likely a commentary on racists tendrils that infest parts of America. Of course, Chinese viewers may not realize that so their interpretation would likely be different.

As for affirming the stereotype of Indian males lacking confidence with women, I didn't know that such a stereotype existed. If it does, I can see how it could (perhaps should) be labelled as racist. The "joke" runs too deeply throughout the show and it rarely appeared to be handled critically.

I believe the ultimate bar for judgment should be: does the joke reinforce stereotypes or does the joke force the viewer to reexamine their beliefs. Humour shouldn't be used as a carte blanche justification for racism. On the other hand, a lack of a sense of humour shouldn't be used as an excuse to label everything as racism.