Dambusters censored!

[Stolly]

Perhaps C4 felt that the historically trivial use of the word "******" might distract attention from the contribution of the brilliant Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb which was used by the Dambusters and whose later work on the swing-wing concept was ignored by an ungrateful British Government and instead used in the design of the American General Dynamics F-111?

Or perhaps they are hyper-sensitive to anything that may or may not be siezed upon by the usual suspects after being dragged over the coals last year by that brainless twit and her mates in "Celebrity" Big Brother.

I wonder. I wonder if Barnes Wallis or Jade Goody are at the forefront of the average TV executives mind. I wonder if the average TV executive even knows who Barnes Wallis was.

 

[Macro]

Perhaps C4 felt that the historically trivial use of the word "******" might distract attention from the contribution of the brilliant Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb which was used by the Dambusters and whose later work on the swing-wing concept was ignored by an ungrateful British Government and instead used in the design of the American General Dynamics F-111?

Maybe.... I just tend to think it's a good film and given the overall subject matter the edit was unwarrented. Whilst I wouldn't want to offend anyone and can totaly understand how and why the word is offensive to a large part of the worlds population, I think you'd have to be deliberatly looking for a reason to be offended to not accept it in context and at face value in this film. /shrug

 

[theleg]

As far as I know it is not against ofcom rules, it was simply c4 trying to protect themselves from complaints after the BB fiasco.

but its been censored before...before the BB issues came up..

 

[Shackley]

Or perhaps they are hyper-sensitive to anything that may or may not be siezed upon by the usual suspects after being dragged over the coals last year by that brainless twit and her mates in "Celebrity" Big Brother.

I wonder. I wonder if Barnes Wallis or Jade Goody are at the forefront of the average TV executives mind. I wonder if the average TV executive even knows who Barnes Wallis was.

Perhaps s/he should?

Maybe.... I just tend to think it's a good film and given the overall subject matter the edit was unwarrented. Whilst I wouldn't want to offend anyone and can totaly understand how and why the word is offensive to a large part of the worlds population, I think you'd have to be deliberatly looking for a reason to be offended to not accept it in context and at face value in this film. /shrug

Do you really believe that the presence of one word would significantly have altered the insight gained by the average viewer into the bravery of the men involved and the massive contribution of the brilliant Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb which was used by the Dambusters?

but its been censored before...before the BB issues came up..

Yes - Link - on that occasion, David Irving got upset. I wonder if he is any relation to the famous and admired historian of the same name?

 

[toadsy666]

Seen his grave. Well, the current location of his grave anyway. It's not where he was buried.

One of my friends at Uni was telling me that his friend in the forces had the job of digging up the dog when he had to be moved, because the hangar he was buried under was being destroyed or something, but they couldn't find the body anywhere and so instead buried a chest full of dirt!

It's the thought that counts though eh?

 

[Macro]

Perhaps C4 felt that the historically trivial use of the word "******" might distract attention from the contribution of the brilliant Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb which was used by the Dambusters and whose later work on the swing-wing concept was ignored by an ungrateful British Government and instead used in the design of the American General Dynamics F-111?

&

Do you really believe that the presence of one word would significantly have altered the insight gained by the average viewer into the bravery of the men involved and the massive contribution of the brilliant Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb which was used by the Dambusters?

Sorry, I don't follow you.

I'm well aware of who Barnes Wallis was and his significant contribution, both to the war effort and british aircraft design. I'd happily argue that his design for the Wellington medium bomber was a far bigger contribution to the war effort than the "bouncing bomb".

I'd also suggest that the story of the aircrews that died delivering Wallis mine was far more deserving of a telling than that of Barnes Wallis himself, be it in the film or many books on the subject.

My point is the word in question was a historical fact and in the original format of the film. It's not for me to justify why it should be included, and wonder if it might upset someone so much they may not pay attention to the rest of the story. For good or for bad it was in the film and was a fact so why was it necessary to retrospectively remove it for no real justification other than the current obsession with political correctness.

I honestly don't believe anyone would be offended by it in the context of the film unless they were looking to be offended. It might be worthy of a roll of the eyes, or even a jolly good "tutting", but offended?

There is no doubt that the original film gives only a flavour of the raids and was tailored to a 1950s british view of the world rather than being a historical account. Having said that, I can't help but think that this kind of "tinkering" is the sort of thing that ends up with a generation believing the Americans captured the German Enigma code machines (as in the recent film U-571) rather than the crew of HMS Bulldog who captured U-110 in 1941

As an aside for anyone that enjoyed the film I can recommend the book "Enemy coast ahead", Wg Cdr Guy Gibsons own story of his RAF career through WWII actually written whilst he was still serving during the war.

 

[Usher]

Just wondered how many of you eventually got replies from ch4 ?
I finally got one last week where they say they are sorry I was offended by the removal of the said word

 

[Megahurtz400]

Just wondered how many of you eventually got replies from ch4 ?
I finally got one last week where they say they are sorry I was offended by the removal of the said word

Same

 

[Gsm136]

Do We file this PC ******* in the same file as the Red Vs Blue team during the Trafalgar celebration.

You know what really ticks me off is the double standards. Lets face it Black comedians and music can be some of the most racist drivel made and yet nothing is done because if a white person was to complain then *BAM* the complainer is a racist.

 

[Azagoth]

Just wondered how many of you eventually got replies from ch4 ?
I finally got one last week where they say they are sorry I was offended by the removal of the said word

Yeah, same here but with search being down last week I couldn't find this thread . Pretty pathetic really that they deem it perfectly OK to insult one group of viewers to please a minority!

 

[Dj_Jestar]

What a load of crock.. if the dog's name was "****face" (f) none of you would even care that it was edited out.

 

[Azagoth]

What a load of crock.. if the dog's name was "****face" (f) none of you would even care that it was edited out.

It's nothing to with the dog's name! It's to do with the fact that the politically correct thought police at Channel 4 deemed themselves so self-righteous that they could change one of the most daring and brave raids in British military history.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

It's nothing to with the dog's name! It's to do with the fact that the politically correct thought police at Channel 4 deemed themselves so self-righteous that they could change one of the most daring and brave raids in British military history.

You're right, it's nothing to do with the dogs name, it's to do with a particular offensive word that people in this thread like to pounce upon anyone who censors it. I'll say it again, if it was "****face" no one would care that it had been censored.