Getting Crap Past the Radar cleanup

There's no reason we can't still make it Trivia. (I personally think it isn't since it's by definition something intentionally included in the work, but I won't die on that hill).

Demographicallyinappropriate/ is a touch longer than I'd like but I can get behind it.

That requires another TRS.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 8th 2021 at 6:57:19 AM

Shouldn't this be called Getting Crap Past the Cleanup?

… nah just kidding, couldn't resist.

Anyway, does this line from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sounds a bit forced?

• Getting Crap Past the Radar:
  • When Casey is against sleeping in the Turtles lair located down in the sewers, Donatello says this to him:
  Donatello: You're a claustrophobic.
  Casey Jones: Do you want a fist in the mouth?! I've never even looked at another guy before!

...I have no idea what that's supposed to be. A gay joke? Is it even DIH?

Maybe it's supposed to sound like closeted?

Woah, yeah, that's forced. Cut it.

There was some conflict over whether these examples counted in the context of getting political criticism past national censors. The troper was apparently pretty rude about the GCPTR cleanup, but the edits were reverted back to the message that GCPTR is off-page examples until June 1... except this revert was done on June 10. The only link in the edit reason is to the ATT about the troper's bad behavior, which doesn't actually discuss whether the examples count or not.

So by "there was some conflict" I guess what I mean is "these actually weren't discussed because one party edited with a bitter tone about the trope, while the other party just went back to a point we should have already passed by now instead of bringing the examples to discussion to see if they should be kept or deleted."

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 10th 2021 at 9:25:43 AM

Yeah. In reading the examples as they were, I'm not sure they don't count. We mainly talk about "adult" content for GCPTR, but political censorship can also fit the definition. What I'm not clear about is whether these were really "snuck by" the censors or the censors grudgingly allowed them. The latter isn't GCPTR.

Edited by Fighteer on Jun 10th 2021 at 9:27:54 AM

This is just based on me reading the examples as written, but the first reads like it was begrudgingly allowed. The second one could have been either way.

ATT is questioning these examples.

Film.How I Unleashed World War II

• Getting Crap Past the Radar: The exchange between Dolas and Kiedros, who prefers to fight for Free French, rather than join Polish troops. It's a mystery how the censors in People's Republic of Poland allowed it, as it's pretty blatant.
  Dolas: B-but our place is in Polish army! We must fight for Poland!
  Kiedros: And for what Poland do you want to fight for?
  • Possibly due to Dolas reply, even if he's confused and very clearly saddened. The director himself explained in an interview years later the scene caused an in-fight between censors reviewing the film. Ultimately they decided to leave it be, ironically for the pro-PRL propaganda value.
  Dolas: What Poland?! But there is only one Poland....

• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Basically the whole movie is a satire on communist society but one particular line, a solid Take That! to the Soviet Union, stands out in particular and has become one of the most-cited quotes in the whole Polish movie history:
  Maks: On to the East! There must be some civilization out there!
  • That particular line is the only bit which the censorship did cut when the film, but only when it was scheluded TV airing - it was left untouched in cinemas.

Thoughts?

The first one sounds like it's not an example. The description itself says that the censors did notice it, had a heated discussion, and ultimately concluded it was acceptable.

The second one might be valid, if you can dig up a citation.

Is the first Surprisingly Lenient Censor, or does it not count because they had to fight the censor?

Not quite Defying the Censors either, is it?

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 11th 2021 at 1:43:01 PM

At a certain point we have to acknowledge that events like this are "things that happen" and stop trying to crowd them into tropes.

Honestly, "Battle with the Censors" feels like its own notable thing if we don't have it. A lot of shows become famous or even appreciated for their intense arguments with the censors over specific aspects, like Steven Universe and the fight to show the Rupphire wedding and South Park even worked their debate with Comedy Central over how to show Muhammed into an episode.

It's not GCPTR cuz the radar was aware of it, but it was very close to not getting through and only got in because the creators fought for it. That doesn't seem chairsy.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 11th 2021 at 3:04:24 PM

Hmm. This indicates a supertrope that we're missing.

Could work as a Trivia trope. But yeah, as Fighteer says, censor boards having a diversity of opinion and having to discuss things is just how they operate.

Surprisingly Lenient Censor doesn't apply because that trope is specifically for creators expecting something to be ordered cut and it getting through.

Did this just turn into Fetish Fuel 2.0? Possibly a trope but really just a list of things people jack off to?

Uh...not really? It's more like people overreacting to butt jokes and finding nonexistant innuendos.

Yeah, it's more that this trope became a badge of honour. "My favourite work outwits those evil censors!" Naturally, people wanted their favourite works to be that cool, and so made every effort to force them in.

It's not that people actually jack off to this stuff, they just want to believe somebody else would and that it makes the show edgy.

I made a crowner for namespace options. I think I've been fair to each one.

I removed the commented out GCPTR from three pages due to misuse. Here were the original examples (with my reasons in bold).

• The Nanny Affair: Sofia's lover is listed in her phone under the initials D.T.F., an acronym which usually stands for "Down To Fuck". TNA is rated 17+. Several other Choices books have made use of acronyms with F in them, yet they've never had a GCPTR example.
• South Park S12 E3 "Major Boobage": It's easier to point out where there isn't an uncensored boob in the Heavy Metal world. Ironically, the only breasts that are never uncovered are of the aptly named Large-Breasted Woman, which is lampshaded by Randy. Uncensored boobs in a show rated TV-MA is hardly "radar-dodging".
• South Park S9 E1 "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina": Yes, this is South Park, but one must wonder how Comedy Central got away with showing footage of an actual sex change, at least back in 2005, back when words like "shit" were still usually censored on the show. I still don't think it counts; this is a TV-MA rated show after all.

All three examples are from media with a "Mature" rating (or equivalent), so I don't think there's a radar to begin with. Feel free to contend these entries if you disagree.

On top of that, I'm pretty sure "shit" was uncensored on Comedy Central by that point, since the episode all about the word "shit" was in Season 5 and this is Season 9. Also I think there's some leeway in showing sexual organs in a medical context here.

I doubt that South Park could possibly have examples of this trope considering the kind of show it is.

It actually does, from its earlier seasons — it got away with saying "cunt" uncensored back when they couldn't even say "fuck" uncensored.