What should happen to old movies and TV shows that contain racist, sexist or homophobic content? One in ten say such programmes should not be available at all – YouGov

19 comments

  1. Every company should copy warner brothers and use a message at the start in this style.

    “Tom & Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While not representing the Warner Bros. view of today’s society, these shorts are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.”

  2. I don’t think that old content should be altered to reflect modern views. I think washing history like that is ridiculous. I definitely don’t think things should be banned outright either.

    I think Disney+ have done the right thing with older films by sticking a short disclaimer at the start to say something like ‘negative stereotypes etc are portrayed, and while these are wrong and may be inappropriate to a modern audience, they have been preserved in their original form’.

    There you go. Like age rated films, you’ve been warned. If you choose to watch, that’s up to you.

  3. Which means 9 out of 10 people think they should be available.

    Alternatively, 90% of the population thinks they should be available.

    Click bait culture war stuff. If someone told me that only 10% of the population were overly zealous, censorious Mary Whitehouse moralists I’d be pleasantly surprised at the low number.

    A fair warning before the start is good enough, and is standard practice.

  6. Let the books be next. And national anthems too. We can then expunge the dictionaries and pretend the past never happened. Let the children revel in their moral superiority.

  7. Nothing at all, give you a little taste, if we were to ban it all EVEN ONLY FOOLS AND HOUSES would have to go.

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    What else do we lose? Red Dwarf would likely get hit in some way, Open all hours maybe? The Good life? Might as well just deny we had TV History at all and pretend it only started in 2022.

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    Certainly over the years I watched my fair share of TV and the classic but sitting down and watching some of it now I would likely see Racism, Sexism, Homophobia hell no doubt there be some Transphobia there as well.

  9. I concur with this.

    The content may have been acceptable then, but it isn’t acceptable now.

    It should either not be available at all, or all the content should be censored to fit the standards of today.

  11. Just don’t show them during prime time, like you wouldn’t show The Wire or Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones where bad people do and say bad things.

  12. A warning should be ok. We should educate people as to why these movies may be seen as offensive today instead of getting rid of them. this way we can teach the future generation to never repeat our mistakes

  13. In most cases, it’s fair to put a trigger warning at the start.

    There’s likely a few old movies/TV shows that may not warrant availability these days because they’re too out of touch with contemporary thinking but I can’t think of any off the top of my head

  14. I think sectioning them off in their own subgenre like “horror” and “fantasy” would suffice. “Historical context required” maybe or “triggering content”

  16. One in ten should go and fuck themselves sideways: you can not erase history, be it political or cultural. They should get over it; ignore or critique, but not try to remove.

    It’s also worth noting that a lot of the racist or homophobic content was actually self deprecating and said much about the stupidity of such actions. Here I am thinking Alf Garnet with his misplaced flag waving, Rising Damp’s Rigsby and the attempt to belittle a far more educated black trainee doctor, and Are You Being Served’s Mr. Humphries who was always treat kindly by the younger generations Mr. Lucas.

    Many people missing the point. Yes, it was supposed to be funny – but it had the successful agenda of illuminating an entire generations minds, to the good and tolerant and understanding.

  17. I don’t agree with censorship like this, however simple content warnings etc that I can support.

  18. Not showing them achieves nothing and makes it seem that such behaviours no longer exists in the past, present and future.

  19. Disney+ have the right idea but, lets be honest, its a problem that is going to take care of itself to some extent thanks to capitalism.

    Something will be available if people want to watch it and if they dont, it wont.

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