That said I think film censorship is a load of crap and wish my own country was more relaxed about sex and violence in films like Japan and some European countries seem to be. (This is making allowances for the fogged-pubes stuff Japan used to put up with, but I still find what they allow in their films to be more wild and extreme than most western countries).
politically, I suppose censorship is often more a kind of political statement rather than an effective method of fighting extremism. which somehow is no contradiction, to me at least. How you judge censorship probably depends on what you define as its purpose. Here in Germany, for instance, swastikas, SS-Signs and Hitlers "Mein Kampf" are strictly banned, which is a clear case of censorship, and I'm not exactly unhappy about that. Sure, it won't end Anti-Semitism or fascist idiocies, but it makes life a bit more difficult for those who wish to promote such ideologies.
But to get back to films, the point I was trying to make is that somehow and sometimes it seems to be part of the game, doesn't it? I mean, exploitation films do consciously push boundaries and often the directors clearly intend to break a taboo and trigger censorship which in turn gives the fim some sort of notoriety. Therefore, the usual reaction of bans and outrage seems an integral part of the whole idea of exploitation films. Lenzi, for one, definitely benefited from the controversy surrounding his cannibal flicks. and it adds to the fun of watching this stuff, doesn't it? Just think how boring it would be if you could just walk into the next HMV or whatever store and pick up the totally uncut version of "New York Ripper"... it's so much more attractive having to get it from the "specialized dealer"...
the Japanese pubes-blurring-mania is of course a different matter, cause it's basically like saying that the human body as such is offensive. Or perhaps you have to be Asian to understand this.
