Filmmaker, Filmmaker make me A film

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Read the second page of the wired article

The creator is quoted in the Wired article as wanting at least some control.

Molyneux won't allow any machinima to appear on The Movies Online that might be perceived as obscene. "If somebody tries to remake Star Wars and has Han Solo doing something disgusting, that's a problem," he said. Modder Ashton echoed Molyneaux's sentiments, adding that anti-video-game attorney Jack Thompson's lawsuits have him spooked. "Our mods won't let you do anything explicit, like create naked characters," he said. "It's all very proper."

I personally believe the license is not a fluke but rather the creators purposely wanted to control what gets distributed with their game.

What is obscene varies between various local communities. There isn't any one set codified rule on this. And even when there are semi-codified rules on this, take the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book_code]Comics Code Authority (CCA)[/url] the rules are out of whack with most of society.

This was also noted when the [url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=00-795]Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA)[/url], an act that was written to ban depictions of those appearing under 18 even if they are over 18 including computer generated depictions, by classifying them as child porn got overturned.

The CPPA prohibits speech despite its serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. The statute proscribes the visual depiction of an idea--that of teenagers engaging in sexual activity--that is a fact of modern society and has been a theme in art and literature throughout the ages. Under the CPPA, images are prohibited so long as the persons appear to be under 18 years of age. 18 U. S. C. ?2256(1). This is higher than the legal age for marriage in many States, as well as the age at which persons may consent to sexual relations. See ?2243(a) (age of consent in the federal maritime and territorial jurisdiction is 16); U. S. National Survey of State Laws 384-388 (R. Leiter ed., 3d ed. 1999) (48 States permit 16-year-olds to marry with parental consent); W. Eskridge & N. Hunter, Sexuality, Gender, and the Law 1021-1022 (1997) (in 39 States and the District of Columbia, the age of consent is 16 or younger). It is, of course, undeniable that some youths engage in sexual activity before the legal age, either on their own inclination or because they are victims of sexual abuse.

Both themes--teenage sexual activity and the sexual abuse of children--have inspired countless literary works. William Shakespeare created the most famous pair of teenage lovers, one of whom is just 13 years of age. See Romeo and Juliet, act I, sc. 2, l. 9 ("She hath not seen the change of fourteen years"). In the drama, Shakespeare portrays the relationship as something splendid and innocent, but not juvenile. The work has inspired no less than 40 motion pictures, some of which suggest that the teenagers consummated their relationship. E.g., Romeo and Juliet (B. Luhrmann director, 1996). Shakespeare may not have written sexually explicit scenes for the Elizabethean audience, but were modern directors to adopt a less conventional approach, that fact alone would not compel the conclusion that the work was obscene.

Contemporary movies pursue similar themes. Last year's Academy Awards featured the movie, Traffic, which was nominated for Best Picture. See Predictable and Less So, the Academy Award Contenders, N. Y. Times, Feb. 14, 2001, p. E11. The film portrays a teenager, identified as a 16-year-old, who becomes addicted to drugs. The viewer sees the degradation of her addiction, which in the end leads her to a filthy room to trade sex for drugs. The year before, American Beauty won the Academy Award for Best Picture. See "American Beauty" Tops the Oscars, N. Y. Times, Mar. 27, 2000, p. E1. In the course of the movie, a teenage girl engages in sexual relations with her teenage boyfriend, and another yields herself to the gratification of a middle-aged man. The film also contains a scene where, although the movie audience understands the act is not taking place, one character believes he is watching a teenage boy performing a sexual act on an older man.

Actually this law was aimed mostly at foreign comic books and animations, particularly those from Japan, Which routinely depict high school students (typically aged around 14-17 years old) engaged in sexual activities or depicting them in various states of undress and/or contain images of upskirt [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_service] "fanservice"[/url] shots.

Posted by: Edward Meyers   Posted on: 09/27/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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