was this *meant* to be banned?
 

edit: NSFW!!

ok. my boss told me about the new sigur rós film clip this morning. sigur rós are a band i hold a bit dear as although (unlike several people i´ve met) they aren´t the reason i´m in iceland they were my 1st exposure to the music of this country and still one of my fave bands.

my boss said the film clip contains "a bit of nudity" so i checked it out thinking there might be some flashes or some rear-end action but my god was i wrong. go here and see for yourself: http://www.sigurros.com/dvd3.asp

i´m wondering what their intention with this clip is. would it be surprising it´s already banned in the states (and i´m expecting the rest of the world to follow quickly)? i do see artistic merit but is this over the top? i certainly don´t see myself as a wowser but it certainly raised an eyebrow. curious to hear others´ thoughs :)

What's their intention? Advertising over the internet via viral marketing. It worked, didn't it? I would have otherwise had no exposure to this song. As far as I know, I've never heard this band before.

And the video? Pure joy. It made me happy.

I don't really see the purpose other than alleged artistic merit.

It may gain popularity in Iceland as a viral, but pure and simple, it won't gain ground anywhere else because it will never be seen. Its not even so much that its controversial, but the fact that full frontal nudity would never be permissible on basic cable in the US (and most countries).

If they really wanted it to be controversial, they could have followed suit with what Prodigy did with their videos some years back, where the content itself was so controversial that it was legitimately banned, and not just on the premise of nudity.

i don't think Sigur Ros really cares if everyone sees it. they've never been a band that was looking for millions of fans. some people will find it on the internet because of the buzz, but at the end of the day, i don't think they will gain (or lose) many fans over this

Legitimately banned. That's a funny combination of words.

Nothing is "meant" to be banned. This is probably a statement of artistic freedom. It is probably meant to push.

I'm actually disheartened by the idea that someone could see something as "meant" to be banned. It says to me that the censors have already won and there are no more battles to fight. I can't subscribe to that.

Bad word choice on my part. It was just my way of referring to a ban based on content and context, as opposed to the pre-determined nudity guidelines set forth by the FCC.

i should have added a bit more context to this. a previous videoclip "viðrar vel til loftárása" contains male homosexuality between 2 early teen males and "glósóli" contains a scene of 2 younger girls kissing so this is not their 1st forray into this area, but definitely their most overt.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=HgSrMUQyhwQ

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lwQmDvuORY0
changed to links on advice on the depiction of children :s

I don't get what the big deal is. Its not like they were fuckin. Its just naked people *shrugs*. If you ask me the US needs to play more stuff like this. I have a feeling that people will quickly get over themselves and realize its not such a big deal.

Looks about the same as the hippie footage from the late '60s. Better quality. There's certainly a "look at me ... I'm naked!" quality to it, but it's not particularly controversial. The controversy, as usual, will come from OUTSIDE.

Very true. This is the band that declined an invite to go on Letterman because none of their songs can be done in three minutes...

EDIT (after watching): My reaction is mainly that this song is really a departure for them, musically. SO much fun and playfulness, so much rhythm and movement! I loved the glacial placidity of their last couple releases, but this tune is really really great. I'm excited about the new album now!

i think they went on anyway and were cut off after 3 minutes anyway

Oh, really? That's not how I heard the story, but that's even better. Most of their songs, they'd just be getting warmed up at the 3-minute mark!

just did a bit of research and they didn´t do letterman. they did 2 other shows and were cut off in one of them. the video of it is kicking around somewhere.

It's not that the video would be banned, per se, it's more that it wouldn't be shown in traditional outlets in the United States for fear of invoking the wrath of the FCC. There really isn't anything to ban here--the video certainly isn't obscene. You could see a video like this on cable television in the U.S. after a certain hour, and if they really wanted to show it on broadcast television, they would most likely just blur out the pertinent bits. I wouldn't be surprised to see a clip of this video with the bits blurred out on some program like Access Hollywood with an accompanying sensational story.

I'm curious as to what the Canadians have to say about this clip; television there is more relaxed in regards to nudity.

i was told it has, in fact, been banned in the us. i agree it isn´t obscene (at least not by my standards) but the beatles song "a day in the life" was banned simply because they didn´t understand what it was about.

on an unrelated note i think there was an earthquake here as i was typing that :s

I don't think it has been banned in the United States--Google News had nothing to say about it that was negative; all the news I pulled up about it painted the video as artistic. They can't just outright ban a video in the U.S. because of nudity--it has to clearly be obscene to be banned, and the video is not obscene.

To the SCOTUS, a work is obscene if it passes the Miller test (determined in Miller v. California):
Clearly, the video fails the Miller test for obscenity.

The US, as an institution, very rarely bans things. I wouldn't be surprised at all if MTV and other stations have declined to air the video, but I'd bet a very large sum of money that the video has not been "banned."

Anyway, as for the video itself, I don't see what the problem is. It's a very nice video, and I don't think sigur rós really bothered to think one way or another regarding what limits it might push. I think it's more likely that they had an idea in their head of what image would fit the song, and decided to create that image on film. What happens afterwards is of no consequence.

I guess I just don't understand what the point is about getting worked up over this. I can understand being upset that the video won't get played in most places - it's a good song and video, and there's nothing offensive about it at all - but I don't understand the point of wondering whether the video was intentionally made to be controversial so as to garner extra publicity or anything like that.

Talk about cynical. Can't a group of artists just create something because it's what they want to create? And if there's anyone that that applies to today, it's sigur rós.

Yup, 6.1, my friend. I was sitting at my kitchen table when it happened... this marks my 3rd earthquake experience.

Man, I just saw that on the news. I take it that since you're both posting, you're both okay?

No, they're both dieingly slowly in the rubble of their houses thinking "if only I could PM ratbastid to speak truth to me, I could die happy... glaaaarg".

Sorry, couldn't help it. Sometimes my inner asshole demands to see daylight.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Apart from the "glaaaarg", they wouldn't be the first or the last. :thumbsup:

I think the video is lovely.
And I love the song.

Speak the truth to me too RB!

Aaanyway.

The song seems nice, it's good for the band to try a new direction I believe. The clip is nice too and fits with the optimistic feel of the song.

I don't think they necessarily picked that clip in order to be controversial, but I'm sure they had no illusions that it would not play in the US. They can be a bit odd sometimes, it's part of their charm.

I hope they play some concert in Iceland this year! They haven't played here since we moved in...

Thank (deity of your choice) that people have diffrent taste. IMO that video improved when I found the mute button and went to be great after hitting Ctrl-F4. But I will give them credit for not following the market/heard.

Yours
Zweiblumen

I think Iceland's tourism department should use that video. It looks like a fun place to be.

Well, I can tell you that the place in that video is NOT Iceland... simply because we have no trees here!! (At least, not tall, forested ones like those, that I know of.) They must have filmed it in some other lush, normal, green place. Definitely not Iceland. :)

shhh! there are plenty of trees here. and because it´s such an underpopulated country and the population is so beautiful it´s law we have to run around naked and savour each others´ bodies. iceland has everything! ;)

flashbacks to icelandair´s "dirty weekend" campaign

Yeah, well you won't catch US running around our apartment naked anymore, now that we know that YOU know where we live!!! :lol:

Man, I have never heard of such a coincidence in my life... in all my years on TFP, I NEVER lived that close to any other member (that I know of). And then we move to Iceland, and BAM! There you are. :) Literally!!! Climbing over our gate! :lol:

why worry about running around the apartment naked? ppl are running naked on the streets here. ;)

i really should work for tourism iceland.

what beautiful film. it shows and sounds how i like my life to feel - happy and free. joyous.

I really liked it and can't see what the fuss is about...if they cut out the very few images that suggest sex (there's about 7 seconds of that) and had everyone clothed, would that work better for you?

I was thinking I was going to see something awful...I thought it was full of life and very natural and "pure" in a sense...from the photography to the music. Didn't shock me in the least. Go figure. * shrug *.

I could see this playing after the watershed on some artsy network, like Bravo. It's certainly not going to make prime time or anything, but then Sigur Ros doesn't exactly get a lot of airplay at the best of times anyway.

I liked it, although I did get to wondering where the one girl was keeping her cigarette pack.

I like sigur rós would really like to watch this to see what it is about but I absolutely despise QuickTime and will not load it onto my machine.

oh well...

I love the tune, good video.

nothing to say

they played a song on the last night of sirkus. apparently they haven´t played here for a good few years and in the mean time they´re about to do their 3rd set of australian dates (i already saw them 5 times in 05-06 in 3 different cities)

nice to see the music is relevant to the video. so much for artistic merit

i would have preferred a suited gentleman sitting at an office desk telling me about ethical standards. i´m sorry, what did my OP lead you to expect something horrible? can´t recall saying anywhere there i was horrified about people in their natural state so feel free to explain my prudeishness :)

on an unrelated note musically i think they´ve done much better on previous records. i hope the rest of the album is an improvement :s

They should sell it to Benetton or Abercrombie&Fitch and make a million and one dollars (which would be roughly 74,570,165.09 Icelandic Krona)

The size of your NSFW, and a few other things:

It didn't make me raise my eyebrow at all so I was surprised by the emphatic way in which you spoke about it...