So, the latest South Park story arc...

[Kato]

Okay, this is likely not worth a thread as it is more an inquiry than anything else but maybe people will use it for future Discussion:

Having seen the Black Friday story arc I've got a question... apart from how people can seriously that creepy about saving a bit a whole lot of money: What is their obsession with G.R.R. and wieners? I can't recall seeing a single one in all three seasons. Isn't that even absolutely a no go in the US? Admittedly, as a heterosexual male my interest in male genitalia is somewhat limited but I guess I would have somewhat noticed. Was there some huge internet discussion about it I missed? Is it a joke about the abundance of female nudity and just sex scenes? (To be honest I didn't know you could show nude women on US TV either) Could someone just give me a hint unless I have to go back and check how many wieners I missed on the show? :smallconfused:


Though, not to talk only about the above subject... the whole thing was entertaining. Making fun of how stupid people act apparently (I'm not sure but I vaguely recall some distantly similar events when a German discount supermarket had a cheap PC for sale). And especially the jokes about these ridiculous console wars... Honestly, people fighting over this has gotten so annoying. But I think that's a topic for another thread..

[SowZ]

American Cable Networks are just about totally unregulated. The FCC concerns itself with what are somewhat arbitrarily considered the standard channels. You can show anything you want in the wild west channels of American Cable, up to graphic sex with a good measure of BDSM thrown in for fun. South Park doesn't seem to understand the idea of a line, either, and penis jokes are far from the worst they've done.

[GenericGuy]

Male frontal nudity still isn't all that common compared to female nudity on cable/satellite networks, despite their being little regulations on cable tv.

Butters' specifically said that what he objected to was the fact that whenever we see a penis on the show that its always flaccid (not erect) during, before, or after sex scenes (which were also typically between the gay characters), and his theory that the show creators do this so female viewers aren't intimidated by the more "aggressive" sexuality of hetero men.

[The Glyphstone]

South Park knows exactly where the line is. How else could they dance on top of it and trample it into oblivion?

[WalkingTarget]

There are kind of general levels to what gets shown, typically.

Broadcast TV (the major networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX) has the most restrictions as anybody can pick it up with an antenna and the airwaves belong to everybody - so the FCC is a lot more strict regarding content. There tends to be no nudity and minimal swearing.

"Normal" cable channels like Comedy Central, AMC, and so on are a bit more lax, but still not free of restrictions. Still no F-bombs, still no nudity - other swears allowed and graphic violence tolerated to some extent.

Then there's "premium" cable channels like HBO and Showtime. These require a separate subscription beyond what are considered "basic" packages and their channel numbers tend to be far removed from the others so that unsuspecting viewers don't come across R-rated material. Game of Thrones is in this category and sexualized nudity is allowed (and even some levels of actual pornography at certain times) and as far as I can tell no restrictions on language or depictions of violence.

There can be exceptions made to the more restricted cases, though. I remember back when I was still in high school when Schindler's List was broadcast on normal network TV for the first time and it was a big deal that it was uncensored. The subject matter was seen as sufficiently... serious that the nudity and whatnot was allowed.

Edit - regarding male nudity in Game of Thrones, I remember that at least we see Hodor when the wildling woman, Osha, is with Bran in the Godswood in Winterfell, but that's not a sex scene.

[BWR]

Yeah, some people are scared of penises. Remember the hullabaloo over Dr. Manhatten's penis in "Watchmen". I saw comments like "OMG! BIG BLUE PENIS!!!" all over the place, and how it really stuck with people.
When I finally saw the movie I saw DM naked. That's it. He didn't exactly swing his big flaccid penis around making lulululululu noises.
No one commented on Akerman's breasts in a sex scene, just a brief glimpse of a penis doing nothing.

Some people are weird.

Anyway, the first two episodes of the the Black Friday story were pretty good, but the third one kind of sputtered and died. I loved Princess Kenny and had hoped to see her get a proper transformation sequences and do something to resolve the matter but she was just kind of ignored after jumping out the window (which was funny, I'll give you that).

[JadedDM]

Edit - regarding male nudity in Game of Thrones, I remember that at least we see Hodor when the wildling woman, Osha, is with Bran in the Godswood in Winterfell, but that's not a sex scene.

We also saw Greyjoy's, Loras' and at one point we came very very close to seeing Gendry's.

[Logic]

We also saw Greyjoy's, Loras' and at one point we came very very close to seeing Gendry's.

And someone being dragged behind the Khalasar.

[SoC175]

I thought that was calling out the double standard of showing us more boobs we can count in every other scene while denying female viewers an equal number of shown penises

[GloatingSwine]

Male frontal nudity still isn't all that common compared to female nudity on cable/satellite networks, despite their being little regulations on cable tv.

Butters' specifically said that what he objected to was the fact that whenever we see a penis on the show that its always flaccid (not erect) during, before, or after sex scenes (which were also typically between the gay characters), and his theory that the show creators do this so female viewers aren't intimidated by the more "aggressive" sexuality of hetero men.

Visible erection or penetration is when your content legally becomes pornography and subject to the restrictions placed thereon.

Hence the camera angles designed to disguise the fact that sex is not actually occurring.

[Kato]

We also saw Greyjoy's, Loras' and at one point we came very very close to seeing Gendry's.

I can't recall any of that... I thought they'd always been kept just out of screen. Then again, not paying much attention.

Not that I really care... as I don't see the attraction in it but I guess if we get this amount of topless women, if women (or gay men) enjoy the full frontal male nudity... uh, whatever. I would ask why a man would feel endangered by an erect penis but... I guess I see why some people would be insecure enough to do so.


In general... yeah, Princess Kenny was a bit underused in the finale but... I still liked it a lot.

[Finlam]

Yeah, some people are scared of penises. Remember the hullabaloo over Dr. Manhatten's penis in "Watchmen". I saw comments like "OMG! BIG BLUE PENIS!!!" all over the place, and how it really stuck with people.
When I finally saw the movie I saw DM naked. That's it. He didn't exactly swing his big flaccid penis around making lulululululu noises.
No one commented on Akerman's breasts in a sex scene, just a brief glimpse of a penis doing nothing.


I think South Park covered the reaction to Akerman's breasts....nice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIfOjkB17BA).

As for the outcry against giant blue dong... Dr. Manhattan was naked almost all the time in that movie, so it's not really fair to compare it to the Akerman sex scene which was a couple minutes at max. Not to mention that MD got a little 'enhanced' in the transition to the big screen (I know the camera adds 10 pounds, but I didn't think they meant there). The giant blue dong just caught a lot of people off guard who went into theaters expecting a darker super hero movie and ended up seeing two-story-tall blue wang for twenty minutes of the movie.