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The Big [Censored] Theory

(pudding.cool)
1444 points feross | 2 comments | 29 Aug 22 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.481s | source
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ALittleLight ◴[29 Aug 22 18:22 UTC] No.32641619[source]▶
I can see how this might backfire. You notice a censored jump and start to feel the itch of curiosity as to what it concealed. I had to watch several of the censored scenes whereas I would have never just randomly watched clips of the show.

Also, love the presentation on this page.

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andruby ◴[29 Aug 22 19:32 UTC] No.32642481[source]▶
We (the HN crowd, often living in less-censored societies) would be very curious.

I’d like to know how curious this would make non-HN people, and those living in more censored places.

My assumption is that they take it for granted and just continue to watch the show. It might be hard for them to even find the uncensored clips.

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Agentlien ◴[30 Aug 22 05:17 UTC] No.32646867[source]▶
Growing up in Sweden, I mainly watched Swedish (original or dubbed) shows as a kid.

Once we got satellite and I started watching American channels I had my first encounter with censorship. Bleeps and blurs and random spots where audio cuts out. It was very jarring. I couldn't understand it at all and still can't. It really stands out, breaks the flow, makes everything feel cheap and ugly. In real life people swear and sometimes there is nudity. That never bothered me. But the jarring edits "protecting" me from these? Those certainly do.

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1. gpt5 ◴[30 Aug 22 08:13 UTC] No.32647912[source]▶
This relates to PG rating and the way national TV works. In order to secure prime time spots, the show must hit a certain "family friendly" rating that matches the audience of the TV network. They chose the beeps as a way to cater for both adults and kids together. FWIW, these are far less common today.
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2. Agentlien ◴[30 Aug 22 08:29 UTC] No.32647993[source]▶
I'm quite familiar with PG ratings. Not just because it's mentioned everywhere, but also because we had some passionate discussions about which to go for during the making of one of the Need for Speed games. Honestly, I feel they warp a lot of not just how media is presented but even how it is produced, sometimes in ways which make things feel very weird and inauthentic.

However, when I first started seeing this stuff as a kid I had no idea why and it really struck me as odd.

I think the funniest thing I've heard about censorship was Magnus Uggla, a Swedish artist, complaining that because he had a UK firm produce one of his music videos it was a real struggle getting them not to blur a scene where they're drinking shots.