Gangrene (The Black Spot)
DJS
As a new reader of this newsgroup, I don't know if this has been
discussed before. But here I go.
I was flipping through my copy of "The First 20 Years of Monty Python" by
Kim "Howard" Johnson and re-read the commentary about the animated
MPFC sketch "The Prince and the Black Spot". It discussed how the BBC
censored the word "cancer"- after the original broadcast- and dubbed it
with "gangrene". Terry Gilliam was infuriated by this action, saying:
"It's just crazy. Who's protecting who from what?
I didn't think it was dangerous to mention the word
'cancer,' but it obviously touched a fear that a lot
of people didn't want to deal with."
I agree with Gilliam's assessment of the utter stupidity in the BBC's
reasoning. However, I also think the dubbed word ironically improved the
sketch's comedy value. I first saw the sketch in the early 80's on PBS
(and many times thereafter). For many years- until I saw the film "And
Now ... Different"- I always thought the dubbing was intentional. One
gets used to the sweet, female voice reciting the fairy tale and is
caught totally off-guard when a deep male voice interupts her for one
word: gangrene. The timing of the audience's laughter immediately
afterwords (in response to the original "cancer") makes one think they
were surprised too.
When I finally saw the uncensored version in "And Now ... Different" I
wasn't expecting to hear the word "cancer" in the same female voice, and
even though it surprised me I didn't think it was funny. The censored
version was such a riot that it spoiled me for the original. I thought to
myself, "'... and three years later he died of cancer.' So what! What
happened to the gangrene guy?"
Did anyone else have a similar experience?
- D.J.
Chris Pierson
In article <32FE13...@erinet.com>, DJS <dsi...@erinet.com> wrote:
>
>I agree with Gilliam's assessment of the utter stupidity in the BBC's
>reasoning. However, I also think the dubbed word ironically improved the
>sketch's comedy value. I first saw the sketch in the early 80's on PBS
>(and many times thereafter). For many years- until I saw the film "And
>Now ... Different"- I always thought the dubbing was intentional. One
>gets used to the sweet, female voice reciting the fairy tale and is
>caught totally off-guard when a deep male voice interupts her for one
>word: gangrene. The timing of the audience's laughter immediately
>afterwords (in response to the original "cancer") makes one think they
>were surprised too.
This sounds eerily familiar -- it's almost exactly how I (a) was
introduced to, and (b) reacted to, this sketch. It's about the only case I
can think of where censorship actually made comedy _funnier_, IMO --
especially since I'm sure the Beeb didn't exactly have that in mind ...
--
****************************************************************************
Chris Pierson ** Films to watch for: Swingers, Albino Alligator, Shine,
Game Designer ** Mother, Breaking the Waves, Prisoner of the Mountains
****************************************************************************
Paul Arsenault
In article <5dl3tc$6...@news-central.tiac.net>, cpie...@tiac.net says...
>In article <32FE13...@erinet.com>, DJS <dsi...@erinet.com> wrote:
>>I agree with Gilliam's assessment of the utter stupidity in the BBC's
>>reasoning. However, I also think the dubbed word ironically improved the
>>sketch's comedy value. I first saw the sketch in the early 80's on PBS
>>(and many times thereafter). For many years- until I saw the film "And
>>Now ... Different"- I always thought the dubbing was intentional. One
>>gets used to the sweet, female voice reciting the fairy tale and is
>>caught totally off-guard when a deep male voice interupts her for one
>>word: gangrene. The timing of the audience's laughter immediately
>>afterwords (in response to the original "cancer") makes one think they
>>were surprised too.
>This sounds eerily familiar -- it's almost exactly how I (a) was
>introduced to, and (b) reacted to, this sketch. It's about the only case I
>can think of where censorship actually made comedy _funnier_, IMO --
>especially since I'm sure the Beeb didn't exactly have that in mind ...
I can think of one other instance: In the movie "Patriot Games", there is a
scene only meant to be semi-funny. It involves a satellite recon photo of a
terrorist base, and the fuzzy image shows just enough detail so that Ryan
ralises one of the people in the picture is a woman, since you can just
make out t*ts, I mean sempr*ni, I mean, oh nevermind. The point is, in the
movie, Ryan sees this and mutters, "tits!". In the TV version, they change
the line to "jugs!". I laughed my ass off. Like "jugs" is much more
acceptable. I realise this isn't terribly pythonish, but the scene actually
reminded me of the whole gangrene/cancer thing.
>**************************************************************************
>Chris Pierson ** Films to watch for: Swingers, Albino Alligator,
Shine,
>Game Designer ** Mother, Breaking the Waves, Prisoner of the
Mountains
>**************************************************************************
Paul "what about a pointed stick" Arsenault
Ben Gross
The first time I saw the "the Black Spot" piece, they did say cancer.
This was on PBS in the early 1970s. I was taken aback when they
substituted gangrene, but know I realize they got their revenge.
Wobbly Knees
Mark Rowan
Chris Pierson (cpie...@tiac.net) wrote:
:
: This sounds eerily familiar -- it's almost exactly how I (a) was
: introduced to, and (b) reacted to, this sketch. It's about the only case I
: can think of where censorship actually made comedy _funnier_, IMO --
: especially since I'm sure the Beeb didn't exactly have that in mind ...
Over on alt.fan.douglas-adams, we discussed the changing of "son of a
bitch" to "kneebiter" for the American version of _Life, The Universe, and
Everything_. I think it was generally agreed that the change was
beneficial to the huimor.
Sorry for the serious response.
Mark Rowan AKA I think this is the most serious post we've ever done AKA
Do you want to stop it? AKA Sir-Not Stacy Campbell
Marcus Taylor
Paul Arsenault (peaREMOVE...@nbnet.nb.ca) wrote:
<Some stuff about censorship>
: Paul "what about a pointed stick" Arsenault
Marcus "SHADDAP!" Taylor :)
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