For the past few days I've walked past a poster at the university every morning. I giggled every single time. So I went to look for it on the internet tonight. It's for a Swedish play with the title "Den Gud älskar" ("The one God loves"). I've no idea what it is about, or if it's any good, but the poster is funny (to me at least). Here it is:
Am I the only one who thinks of Snupin Mpreg when I see this poster? The woman with black hair looks like Snape in drag, hahaha. :D
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I watched a new Swedish tv show today. It's called Welcome to Sweden and it's about Verne Troyer (Mini Me in Austin Powers and Griphook in HP and the CoS) and Richard Kiel (Jaws in James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing) coming to Sweden and experiencing typical Swedish things. It was quite amusing. Some of the things were kind of stupid, but I think that was mostly because their guides annoy me. :P Anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in the highlights of the show, as they're typical Swedish things:
First May celebrations: It's basically politicians having lots of speeches and people demonstrating and speaking about issues important to them. What they did in this segment was that they had a bunch of middle-aged people waving the flag of Social Democratic Youth, which was hillarious. And then they gave Verne and Richard posters and a bull horn so they could say what they wanted to say. "Big things come in small packages!" and "Free Willy!!" is what they came up with. :D
Pre-parties (Swe. förfest): Alcohol is so expensive in Sweden that Swedes usually have a "pre-party" before they go out. That means that they buy lots of alcohol in Systembolaget (the only shop allowed to sell alcohol), so that they can drink (and get drunk) before they go out. And then once they are out they either drink less and spend less money, or they're already so drunk that they don't care about how much they spend. :P This segment was a bunch of middle-aged women drinking wine, vodka, beer, etc. and singing dansband songs. And flirting with Verne and Richard. :D
The food: They promised them a hotdog from a Swedish fast food stand, but what they made them eat was something which looked like a banana split, except that it was made of: a hotdog sausage, mashed potatoes with ketchup, and shrimp salad. EWW. I think Sweden is the only place where I've seen people eating mashed potatoes with ketchup! Blergh. Verne and Richard thought it was icky too. :)
So, that was the show today. I hope it'll be a bit better next week. They're going to visit Santa next time! :D
*needs a Swedish icon*
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| 02-02-2007 02:35 |
| Film ratings |
| Public |
| amused |
| films, sweden |
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I've been thinking about film ratings recently, because I saw This Film Is Not Yet Rated a while ago, and also because I've been watching so many films lately and I started wondering how they were rated differently in different countries.
I find the American system interesting (and a bit weird :P). They seem to put more stress on sexuality. I tried looking for ratings for different films, and some of the reasons that were written there were a bit weird. What exactly do they mean by "sensuality", for example? And "some sexuality"? o_O In Sweden it's different. First of all, all films have to be rated. There are certain exceptions like cable TV, of course. But anyway, in Sweden they focus more on violence. I had a professor who sometimes rates films, and he said that sexuality isn't really considered as something which is rated, unless it's pornographic or violent (but in that case that's violence again). The laws say that focus is on whether the film "contains explicit or protracted scenes of severe violence to people or animals or depicts sexual violence or coercion or presents children in pornographic situations" (meaning, for example, that simulated rape scenes in porn films get censored) and on whether it can cause "emotional shock" (cited from here). So basically, violence and the shock factor are what's rated.
I checked the Swedish National Board of Film Censors to see how certain films were rated. And it's quite interesting.The highest rating is 15, which means that anyone over 15 can see the film. 7 and 11 mean that somebody over 17 has to be with you if you're younger than that age (I'm not sure if it needs to be a parent). The lowest one is "children allowed" which means anyone can see it. However, I've never seen anyone checking IDs at the cinema, so I don't really think the ratings matter that much. It's just a way to inform people, I guess.
The interesting bit was that all porn films are rated 15, as are most horror films. For example, Poseidon was rated 15 because it has "instances of panic-stricken, trapped people, people stuck in life-threatening situations, realistic drowning scenes, bloody faces" (my own translation from Swedish). The MPAA rated it PG-13 for "intense prolonged sequences of disaster and peril" (from IMDB).
But the biggest surprise was when it came to Brokeback Mountain. Guess what the rating is in Sweden! :D
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It's 7! It's been decided that it's appropriate for anyone over 7 years old. :D They gave it that rating and not lower because it has "instances of fights, threats and upset quarrels" (my own translation again). MPAA rated it R for "sexuality, nudity, language and some violence" (from IMDB). Notice that "violence" is mentioned last in the American rating, while sexuality has no mention in the Swedish rating. What a difference! It's so weird... O_O Personally, I prefer the Swedish rating system. I find cut off heads more damaging than penises. :P
How is it in your country? :)
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