Censorship at the movies (or the lack of) A few days ago I watched a swashbuckling comic book style movie called "300" which is showing in the cinemas here. I didn't go to the cinemas but borrowed an illegal copy from a friend. It is a visual feast, with very little dialogue or plot which can be termed intellectually stimulating. It's one of those movies that puts a premium on form rather than substance to capture the audience. With the movie based on a graphic comic artist's work, this is not surprising. An explosion of blood arising from torn chest cavities and lopped off limbs, spraying artistically in a perfect arc is a familiar theme in this movie.

These scenes, i was told, was graphically displayed in the public movie rooms. Apparently, it was considered by our censors as suitable for a local audience. There were even a couple of decapitations in the movie, heads sliced clean off in slow motion, the lifeless eyes of the unfortunate targets staring into space, as the bloodied heads fly through space. These macabre scenes were considered "clean" for public viewing by the national censors. After all, unlike ideas which may profligerate and make people think and (heaven forbid, question), mindless violence in full gore is mere visual entertainment, which can lull a viewer into nothingness.

Just a few weeks ago, I caught another movie on the big screen which I think for the first time since I was a kid, featured female nudity including frontal scenes. Nudity on the big screen in Malaysia with all its Muslim sensibilities? Either the censors were sleeping or it was deliberately allowed to filter through to the masses. After all, we all live in a country where the masses are slowly being lulled into a opiatic dream, as the rulers fiddle away.  ¶ 11:56 AM