When The Pot Calls The Kettle TOO BLACK:
Senseless Censorship Hits The Horror Genre Again
We all have heard the stories and even some of us have experienced discrimination based on our involvement or love of the horror industry; but when it happens to a written publication and comes from hypocritical entities that reproduce content on the same lines as what they are trying to censor, well it’s time to call them out.
I had a chance to sit down with Robert “Corpsy” Rhine, editor and CEO of GIRLS AND CORPSES magazine, and we started to talk about our projects and things we both have going on. He pulls out his latest issue and starts to tell me how people were trying to pull it off of stands, then black bag it, and finally agreed to a clear cover over what they felt were “questionable/ sexual pictures” featured in the magazine.
A bit perplexed as I have read the mag a few times and never seen anything too “fresh”, he shows me the pictures in debate.
In his latest spread, he’s featured the horror band DEADLY SEVEN and profiled the group’s lead singer Pride. In her shows, she gets very graphic with her movements and poses yet nothing overly taboo was shown in the pictures.
The most provocative one is where she is on her back and has her hand on her crotch that is covered in blood, but not one bit of nudity is shown as she has panties on.
So Rob tells me when he started to question the reason he was being black bagged when nothing at all was shown, they moved the excuse that he had the word SEX on the cover. Are you kidding me?? The fricking TV Guide has had the word SEX on it many of times. Have you ever seen a TVG black bagged?
So, when he brings up the fact that almost every male and female magazines has and have had those same words and pictures of naked women, they changed it to the fact he had a provocative photo on the back cover of Andrew Divoff and Jacqui Holland in a religious and seductive manner. But once again folks, NO NUDITY!
It seems like to me the only real problem these people had with the magazine was the religious overtones of the back cover and the fact that this magazine isn’t geared toward your snooty high class society with their unsatisfied husbands and pension for spending $1000 on a pair of shoes (although I would sure love to be there when one of them read a copy) or bible thumping political junkies who’s sole purpose in this world is to get fat on the hog living their lives preaching against the things they themselves do and act as if society is being ruined by the sins of the youth.
Sorry if that sounded a little rant-ish but please understand my frustration. We are living in a time where government is trying to propose control of the media and what is put on the news circuit. This is to control “malicious”, “false”, “misleading”, “contrary”, “offensive”, etc items from hitting the airwaves. and the hands of “honest Americans”. The people in control are to be the “little” people such as companies like Google. Yes, little people. They are planning to make sure that our youth isn’t being “corrupted” and that the masses aren’t being “mislead” in the areas of politics and “important matters”. Now notice the quotations for the last few sentences.
What does this have to do with this issue at hand? This is exactly what is wrong with the world of printed and broadcasted media in the first place. People try so hard to exert control over simple matters like a HORROR magazine that doesn’t reach their standards of decency and black bag them when in hundreds of magazines geared toward the general population they are exploiting topics such as: nudity, talk of a better sex life, how to give oral, ten best ways to get your man off, how to keep an erection for over three hours, etc which are blasted all over for ANYONE to visibly read as they walk past a news stand. And to further the comedy of this, the word SEX is followed by the words “is a sin”. HA! You’ve never seen GLAMOUR with a cover quote that said “MAKE YOUR MAN ORGASM IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES and it’s a sin”. But regardless, that along with many, many other magazines can have provocative covers, explicit title quotes, nudity, and other “questionable content” but it’s OK since it is geared for a general populous.
I don’t know how the rest of you feel but having content unfairly censored and judged based on it’s core audience makes me truly irritated at the system we are letting run the institution of what we see and don’t see. Freedom of speech is no longer a right, it is an option decided on by the same people who claim horror films and related content should be monitored and kept from the public at their own whim. The self righteous, hypocritical, and self important leeches that sit upon their high horse while looking down at the rest of us with their noses up and their hands out are winning a battle that was started long ago and we are not completely seeing it.
It’s time for this to stop and it can only be done if we make it. There is nothing wrong with the magazine that I am looking through as I write this article. I have not seen anything that would pass the bounds of “too racy” and there is nothing in this issue that another magazine would be able to put into theirs and have it on the shelves with no problem. The only problem that I can see is that some people would get offended because Robert Rhine did not stick to THEIR code of “moral decency”.
I honestly love this issue, which happens to be GIRLS AND CORPSES volume 3, and would have absolutely no problem seeing it on the stands or even having my children see it without a bag on the news stands.
This is not an issue of decency, guys. This is an issue of not sticking to a set moral code enforced by people who cling to their ideology like flies on shit without cause, effect, or even common sense in matters like this. This is wrong.
I would love for you guys to pick up a copy and let me know what you think. Email me and tell me if I am wrong. Let me know if maybe too much Marilyn Manson has rotted my brain and caused me to forsake all that is good and decent in the world. Please do! But I know once you guys see this magazine, you will understand exactly what I am talking about. We need to start getting more involved and not letting their be a double standard. We need to stop letting our content be covered up or hidden by the same people who believe there is something wrong with us due to our preferences of cinema and genre content. We need to take back our freedom of speech and our freedom to choose what we see and do not see. and be able to decide what our definition of “moral” is.
There can be a huge picture of Jesus Christ on the cover of TIME and that’s OK but to alter peoples perception of religion is covered even when it is clearly in jest. is censor worthy?! How is this fair or right.
I urge you, all of you, to take a stand. Check your local Barnes and Noble. If the do not have the issue, request it. Look at the magazine and tell us what is so wrong about it that it needs to be censored. Compare it to the magazines you see around it. After you do all of this, take a stand. Stand up for your right to speak, be heard, and hear the words of others without fear of persecution or gagged.
I’m looking forward to your responses.
http://www.girlsandcorpses.com/
Dai Green is the “Head Mistress” of one of the top horror websites HorrorNews.net as well as an actress, model, and podcast host.
She has been hailed as one of the top women journalists in the horror and a "trail blazer" for women in the genre.
Apart from her duties with HNN, she has starred in films such as IT’S GROUNDHOG’S DAY, CHAINSAW SALLY, GOREZONES AMERICAN SERIAL KILLERS, MODERN ROMANCE, and is currently working on three more film in various stages of production such as RESURRECTION where she is set to appear along with Holly Madison, Nicolas Puccio, Tommy Lynch, as well as many others. She was named one of the “Top 100 Women In Fantasy/ Sci-Fi films of 2010” as well as one of the “Top 10 Hottest women of 2010”.
Dai is currently the producer and host of two podcasts, PODCAST FROM HELL along with John Torrani and THE GASH along with Nita Burson, which explore many to all aspects of the horror genre and beyond. Both shows have a large fan base with many horror celebrities added to the mix. PFH is the interview show where the guests have spanned from Frank Henenlotter to Sid Haig and The Gash is the show hailed by Kevin Tenney as “The View with PMS” which covers all aspects of the entertainment genre from the eyes of “chicks in horror”.
Aside from her work in the entertainment industry, Dai is also known for her activeness for multiple charities. Halloween of 2009, she rallied up over 100 people, on a month’s notice, to donate their time and money and going into children’s hospitals across the country in costume to pass out candy to those children who would have missed Halloween all together. In 2010, she started selling her photos and donating all the proceeds to various charities including, but not limited to, the West Memphis Three Fund and multiple childrens organizations. She plans to expand her work more in 2011 with a new show and many more surprises coming up.
