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| Ten Thousand Motels |
SCORSESE UPSET WITH FCC CRITICISM
Movie mogul MARTIN SCORSESE has fired back at America's strict Federal Communication Commission officials after his acclaimed blues music documentary became the target of an obscenities attack. FCC bosses have criticised TV mini-series THE BLUES for profanity they felt was unnecessary, prompting an angry Scorsese to fire back as part of a collective backlash against the censors. In a letter, the GOODFELLAS director fumes, "The language of the film was an essential element of the story... The language of blues musicians often was filled with expletives that shocked and challenged America's white-dominated society of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s." Scorsese's attack comes as TV executives at US network CBS accuse the FCC officials of levying unnecessary records fines for an episode of crime drama WITHOUT A TRACE, which featured scenes depicting a teen sex party.
08/05/2006 21:09
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
FCC 'Whitewashing' Blues, Says Scorsese
By The Associated Press
(Broadcasting & Cable) _ Producer-director Martin Scorsese told the FCC Friday that profanity was integral to the language of his TV documentary and that to censor it would "strip the documentary of its essential authenticity and historical accuracy."
Saying it reflected his "deep concern over the adverse impact" the FCC's fining of his Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues PBS series would have on "the creative process generally and, more specifically, on the ability and willingness of filmmakers to produce authentic documentaries and other valuable programming for presentation on broadcast television," Scorsese Friday weighed into the TV indecency fight.
It came in the form of a sworn statement, part of a massive filing to the FCC by the San Mateo Community College District, licensee of KCSM-TV San Mateo, Calif.
Coincidentally, Scorsese's defense came the same day that Patrick Maines, head of the medai company-back Washington First Amendment think tank, The Media Institute, called for Hollywood, among others, to step up and make themselves heard on the issue of indecency (Maines call in full can be accessed on the B&C Web site ahttp://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6332444.html?display=Breaking+News http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6332444.html?display=Breaking+News.
KCSM-Twas one of the stations fined for profanity in the FCC's March release of almost a dozen proposed indecency findings against TV stations for sex and language. The station challenged the $15,000 fine, saying it was unconstitutional and calling into question the underpinnings of indecency regulation in general.
Scorsese was specifically defending the Godfathers and Sons installment of his series, directed by Marc Levin, whose broadcast on KCSM was fined for its use of the f- and s-words.
"The language of blues musicians often was filled with expletives that shocked and challenged America's white dominated society of the forties, fifties and sixties," he told the commission.
"To accurately capture the essential character of the blues music and the subculture in which it originated and flourished, it was important to preserve in the film the actual speech and discursive formations of the participants," he said. To do otherwise, would be "'whitewashing' the blues."
Scorsesalso objected to relegating the show to the 10 p.m.-6 a.m. hours during which profanity and adult sexuality are protected from FCC fines. "Our mutual artistic objective of broadly sharing an accurate depiction of one of the few uniquely American art forms will be severely undermined if the Commission limits broadcast of the film to hours when viewership is lowest," he argued.
If the FCC fine stands, he warned, "it will produce a chilling effect on similar creative enterprises, depriving the American public of valuable educational programming."
The networks and their station groups have filed suit against the FCC over some of its indecency findings for profanity, saying they are unconstitutional.
CBS-owned stations have also challengetheir fine for an episode of Without a Trace, saying the FCC was straying into content calls it had no business making and was magnifying the online "hecklingof groups like the Parent's Television Council, which files huge numbers of indecency complaints, into a mandate for content regulation.
The Associated Press 2006. All Rights Reserved
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
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| Mel Belli |
That documentary is 2 years old? Why has this become controversial now? |
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| pdog |
I'm hoping Scorcesse will be okay. I could give a rats ass if he makes a movie again...
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| glencar |
Has he made a good movie lately? The TV Blues series was fine & these FCC fines are a crock o' shit. |
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