Korean Film Importers Under Fire over Censorship of Foreign Films
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Despite the relatively liberal decision by the Korea Media Rating Board to allow Cameron Mitchell's controversial Shortbus to show on the big screen, Korean film importers themselves continue to censor their own products. Contention recently arose when local importer KTH Parandecided to cut 21 minutes of Japanese disaster movie Pandemic. The importer also changed the relatively optimistic ending to one more sombre obviously keeping in line with Korean audience's tastes.
The issue, however, of altering foreign media imports has reared its head before. Korean subtitles on foreign media have been known to bear little resemblance to the original audio track and scenes in past foreign films have been cut. In the past, Speed 2 (1997) and The Fifth Element (1997) have had scenes taken out, like Pandemic, without prior approval from their producers. Even Shortbus, mentioned before, could only obtain a teenager restricted rating with male genitalia blurred out. However, more recently, given the particular tastes of Korean audiences and to suit Korean running times, importers and foreign producers have been working in agreement when altering the content of overseas films.
In the case of Pandemic, the film's producer 'Tokyo Broadcasting System' requested the film be put back to its original state. However, a substantial amount of audiences viewed the altered version before it was restored. TBS is stilllooking to find the best legal solution to the issue.
David Oxenbridge
The issue, however, of altering foreign media imports has reared its head before. Korean subtitles on foreign media have been known to bear little resemblance to the original audio track and scenes in past foreign films have been cut. In the past, Speed 2 (1997) and The Fifth Element (1997) have had scenes taken out, like Pandemic, without prior approval from their producers. Even Shortbus, mentioned before, could only obtain a teenager restricted rating with male genitalia blurred out. However, more recently, given the particular tastes of Korean audiences and to suit Korean running times, importers and foreign producers have been working in agreement when altering the content of overseas films.
In the case of Pandemic, the film's producer 'Tokyo Broadcasting System' requested the film be put back to its original state. However, a substantial amount of audiences viewed the altered version before it was restored. TBS is stilllooking to find the best legal solution to the issue.
David Oxenbridge
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