Like many of you out there who made V for Vendetta the number one box office hit when it opened in Singapore, I was all hyped about getting the DVD upon release. So I headed down to my favourite DVD store, and was subsequently told that it was banned in Singapore for language that was anti-Christian.Tribolum
24 Aug 2006
V for Vendetta banned in Singapore?
Can someone out there confirm this?
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Trey Parker's "Team America" would probably be banned too.
Banning V, if it were really true, doesn't surprise me.
I think the "unChristian language" is a strawman. Any govt with the power would like this film banned, if they could. S'pore's govt "acts" when a member or members of the public complain... which is just about any excuse to create strawmen.
"Un Christian" language is used everyday by normal people. When they are having a good-old fashioned wild fuck, no one screams "Amitaba Buddha" or "Allah Ak-bar" or "Hare Krishna" or "Hail Satan" when they have an orgasm.
They moan and scream OH GOD!... and slimy bodily fluids are emitted into the immediate environment.
Can someone out there confirm this?
http://tomorrow.sg/archives/2006/08/24/v_for_vendetta_dvd_banned_in_sin.html#comment
D- to Singabloodypore and matilah for mindlessly repeating obvious conspiracy theories that are so easily disproved by the good people at tommorrow.sg. No fact checking, no sense of disbelief, you two are a disgrace to the reality based community of liberals.
I count myself lucky then, that I'm not a "liberal". You claim that "liberals" are "reality based"? Therein lies your first false premise.
BTW, I don't go for silly "conspiracy thoeries", like many liberals do — people like Michael Moore et al. The Singapore govt will act if a member of the public complains that something is morally, racially or religiously "offensive". This is a fact, but the ultimate decision to ban something always rests with the state, and they can always say "we banned suc-and-such because members of the public —fearing for their childrens' 'moral growth'— complained".
Voila, a Strawman!
In the 70's the sg.gov banned "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell" becasue of complaints from Christians. They relented on Superstar because other people complained, but the ban on Godspell stood, although the play was allowed by "special permission".
The situation in S'pore is this: the govt decides what is good or bad for public consumption. The police enforce the executive's decision.
Wanna try an experiment? Next time you see JBJ or CSJ selling books, ring up and complain citing "public nuisance", then hang around and watch. I guarantee you will see the power of the Totalitarian State at work. We all know that the govt would rather not have a CSJ or a JBJ to deal with. By complaining as a member of the public, the govt has a "legitimate reason" to do what it not-so-secretly wants to do.
"Reality based" liberals? Bullshit. Fucken bullshit mate! You guys are still dreaming, and the totalitarian state is still here, fucking with everyone's life!
...but, since I'm not a liberal, I don't have to wait for do anything to change things ("let's have a democracy!") so that I can "be happy and free".
I'm free because I don't give a shit about the state and its apparatchiks, and stay clear of the Orwellian juggernaut.
Since I am not a fan of political democracy (I prefer my private property intact), I'm quite "comfortable" with the totalitarian state — which shits off a lot of people — those incapable of generating their own "freedom and happiness" (like Liberals). I'm still able to do whatever the fuck I like, and speak however the fuck I choose.
So far, so very good!
Anonymous,
I have been to at least 5 DVD shops, none of which have the DVD. If you know where I can purchase the DVD, the least you could do is tell us.
so now "tommorrow.sg" is suddenly the voice of authority on all matters related to Sg?
Can someone take a picture of the DVD on sale in Sg and post the picture online?
people, the film has apparently only been passed for film release by mda - http://www.mda.gov.sg/wms.www/resources_result.aspx?search=V%20for%20Vendetta&actor=&producer=&rating=&language=&decision=
wud that not rule out vcd and dvd?
why not try getting a torrent, if you really must watch. the whole story sounds very intersting, though - a partial scenario of what's happenning now, here, and a plausible scenario of the near future?
One Progress Pacakage: $400
One HDB upgrade paid by voting for the PAP member: $1000
The prospect of parliament blowing up on Guy Fawkes Day?
PRICELESS!
SlaveCard.
watched it on a plane. Don't think much of it was censored, since it was Qantas.
its a movie about one man's fight against a totalitarian state. Of course, there is violence, since it includes anti-social acts such as killing government puppet representatives (gestapo equivalents!) to save the female love interest right at the very start.
From what I read online, the movie-stage income wasn't terribly exciting, but its a hit in the dvd market overseas. So its one of those movies that doesn't work on the big screen, but gains a long after-screen life.
If we want to be conspiracy-theorists, we could argue that the movie has not been 'approved' because of its subversive theme. At the rate they are going, they may have banned the film for being seditious. For it is about this one man, creating a sense of rebellion against a totalitarian state (a post-apocalyptic england/UK) and how the mystique of his 'secret identity' becomes one which galvanizes the people to rise up against the gestapo.
I found a bit of it too dark, and too similar to what happens in SG, so only caught the opening bits, and most of the end part (with the plot synopsis in the tv guide, the story still held water, making me wonder just how much story there was?!)
As for whether it was the vocal fundamentalist Christian minority that protested the movie, people might want to think more about the political ideology of the SG state.
V for vendetta is a story about the people feeling powerless under a super-invasive state that manages the media to ensure that they stay pliant and submissive, and finding a ralllying point to express their powerlessness in the identity of "V", and how that leads to a 'better' world. (including heroic matyrdom by the original 'V')
How much of that rings true in SG, it is scary. The only difference is that we don't have a hyper-active "gestapo" running around creating fear and terror to cowe the people, but we do have an Internal Security Department to protect the government's existence from seditious threats. Where is the difference?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
[Who guards the guardians?]
E.o.M.
Hi guys,
I saw Vendetta selling at Carrefour Plaza Singapura. So, I was wondering if these are already sensored or is what u guys are looking for. :D
kiweto: >>How much of that rings true in SG, it is scary. The only difference is that we don't have a hyper-active "gestapo" running around creating fear and terror to cowe the people<<
Oh yes, Singapore has the "gestapo" equivalent. Lee Kuan Yew learned about this during the Jap Occupation (read his books), and has never been indecisive about using the big stick of the state.
In the 70's, communists were weeded out of the community. In the 80's a "Marxist Conspiracy" was crafted by the govt, many people rounded up interrogated and subjected to physical and psychological torture.
The mechanisms are in place. It is only that they remain dormant at the present time.
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