Irish Censorship Board Censors Out "Censor" From its Name

Irish Censorship Board Censors Out "Censor" From its Name

January 7, 2008
When last seen by readers of GamePolitics, the Irish Film Censor's Office was in the process of banning Manhunt 2 from the Emerald Isle.

But the Irish Independent reports a name change is in the works for the IFCO, which feels it no longer does much censoring. Said IFCO head John Kelleher:
The Minister (for Justice) is planning to change, at my request, the name of the office. I understand that an amendment is in the pipeline which will change our name from the Irish Film Censor's Office to the Irish Film Classification Office. I think for most people, that would be a very welcome change.

In 2007 the IFCO reviewed more than 8,000 items and only Manhunt 2 and four porn films got the chop. Speaking of the Manhunt 2 ban, Kelleher said:
You are doing the stabbing, the mutilation and the killing. With this particular game it's non-stop.

Films banned or forced into edits by the IFCO over the years include Casablanca, Woody Allen's  Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers...

Comments

This is the same thing the tax and war departments do, calling themselves "revenue" and "defense" to hide their true objectives.
To be fair, Kelleher has been pretty good as the head of IFCO, taking a very moderate line when it comes to most things. I remember him being interviewed when that film Nine Songs was released (that psuedo-arty one with all the actual sex scenes between a music loving couple.) He released it without an edit if I recall correctly, taking the position that over-18s (i.e. Adults) could basically watch what they wanted.

Tbh I'm glad Manhunt 2 was banned - not only does it give anti-game lobbyists another stick to beat us about the head with but it's also a REALLY bad game. But then again I'm painfully aware of the precedent banning it sets, which doesn't sit too easy.

Thanks for taking an interest in us over this side of the pond GP.
The fact that Manhunt 2 was banned did not have any effect on me. I wasn't going to be buying the game, nor were any of my friends.

What did get me very angry however, was the reasons they gave for it's banning. They stated that the reason it was banned was due to the violence having no context, where strong violence is sometimes permissable if it has a context within a story. Manhunt 2 was never going to win any fiction awards for story telling, but the fact remains, it did have a plot and story, no matter how trite or poorly done, and therefore a context within that story. It seemed to me that they had banned it simply because Britain had, perhaps to make it seem like "If it's unacceptable to them, it must be the same to us".

What made me even angrier still was the response I got from them when i enquired about the ban and the reasons behind it. I quoted their reasons for the ban, and pointed out that the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had very little plot (just like Manhunt 2), featured callous and gruesome violence (just like Manhunt 2) and was an example of violence out of context (just like Manhunt 2), yet the IFCO saw fit to release it with an 18's certificate. I asked them why had Manhunt 2, which is very similar in many ways to this movie, not been released with the same, appropriate 18's rating.

In answer, they repeated to me the very same reasons I had already brought up and quoted in my mail. No explanation of why one example of violence with little or no context is given a pass while another is banned outright. No effort to explain further their reason. It felt like a form response letter which had been sent without reading mine and simply going by the subject header.

If a GOOD game had been banned, I would still be writing to them. But even though it was a pretty poor game, their reasons and replies to me has made me see them in a very bad light.
And here I thought we were making progress. They have begun allowing Playboy and contraceptives without a prescription in Ireland. The cover girl from an issue a while back is actually from my hometown.
My thoughts:

When you change the name of a pile of crap to 'fluffy marshmallow pies' it's still a pile of crap.
Ministry of Truth, anyone?
I somewhat feel it, that They seem to aim for some kind of revisionism, don't you think?
i'll only take it seriously if they actually classify everything.
refusing to classify something is practically a ban (though not in theory). therefore, so long as they do their job of 'classifying' stuff properly, i've no problem with this change.
though the moment they refuse to classify something, then its a lie.
Censorship is still censorship no matter what terms you want to use.
Censorship is still censorship no matter what terms you want to use.

I agree wholeheartedly. There is no reason to ban Free Speech on the sole basis that it is offensive and nothing else. I despise censorship and i am glad that where i live in Ontario the film ratings board here can no longer outright ban films, just classify them.
It seems to me that the main reason they're changing the name is that having "Censor" in the title causes people to have a knee-jerk negative reaction. Exhibit A: the comments here by CyberSkull, E. Zachary Knight, Benji, The_None and Zerodash. Despite the name, IFCO does precisely the same work as PEGI and the ESRB, two organisations that seem to enjoy a considerable amount of goodwill from gamers.
Incidentally, I love underhanded spin as much as the next guy, but the three films mentioned at the end of GP's post are freely available in unedited form in Ireland and have been for many many years. Putting them there is the equivalent of ending an article about contemporary US politics with "Groups who have had elementary civil rights withheld by the American people include Negroes, women, homosexuals..."
"Casablanca, Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers"

I'm sure by now we can get this movies uncut, I mean Casablanca came out in the 40's around the time Ireland was beyond prudish, Any bans and edits that where placed than are long and truely dead.

I bet I can go to the local Xtra Vision and rent any of them films without edits. And was the banning of Manhunt 2 really that bad you can still buy the original game for 15euro in Virgin.
@ emordino

The ESRB and the PEGI have never refused to classify a game nor do they have the ability. That is the difference. The BBFC and the IFCO have the ability to refuse classification and have used that to bar the games from release.

So to say that all these organizations have the same function is a little naive on your part.
To follow your point EZK. The ESRB is NOT government run or sponsored. I think this is a concept many people both domestically and abroad have trouble understanding. The government CAN'T dictate content either by creation or omission. Any and all attempts to bring government control over media content have been ruled unconstitutional. If I'm reading this right then the IFCO is a government body and that makes a very big difference.
So does this mean they are going to stop censoring stuff and actually give it a rating?
If you call a horse a monkey... it's still a horse.
This whole thing reminds me of some music exec or something who said they should change the name of 'Digital Rights Management' to 'Digital Consumer Enablement'.

Crap by any other name is still crap.
Casablanca? In need of an edit? BS.
@ Blackadvent

I guess, "Here's looking at you kid." was simply to tasteless for them.
Changing the name makes it all better?

Sorry Zach, gotta steal your idea.

Paint a turd pink and stick flowers in it, it's still a turd.
@ Laughing man

Well, if you then cloak it with a SEP field, then no one will notice.
I agree with everyone...

A spade is a spade. Change the name all you want it still doesn't change what you're doing it just confuses what you do. For those who disagree I ask this, what exactly does a Sanitation Engineer (aka garbage collector), engineer?
@ E. Z. Knight

god bless you for the Douglas Adams ref. I had to mouse over the link to verify that was what you were really talking about :)
Films banned or forced into edits by the IFCO over the years include Casablanca, Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers…

Oh come on, our own MPAA was a lot stricter early on and has gradually grown less strict (or so it seems), and I've heard the BBFC was the same way.
I bought Manhunt 2, and it's crap.
The BBFC used to make LOTS of cuts to movies so they could get an 18 rating. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is banned in the UK.
@ emordino: Well, the ESRB has a degree of goodwill because they will not refuse to classify anything submitted to them.
I love PCness lets change the name but not the game...er definition.

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