Every country applies film censorships based on different film aspects. As the years go by, various movies are banned from being released in the theatres due to containing inappropriate contents. In year 2016, Malaysia is ranked 146th out of 180 countries in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. The Film Censorship Board Malaysia (LPF) is a local government agency that evaluates films. It is established by the Film Censorship Act of Malaysia in year 2008 to grant licenses to international films for viewing in theatres. The agency is also responsible in banning films that have recurrence towards any religions, moral values and culture in Malaysia. Malaysia is reputed to be one of the states that has the strictest media censorship policies (Rao. A, 2013). Film censorship in Malaysia is said to come from two main factors, which are politics and religion (Fuziah Kartini & Raja Ahmad Alauddin, 2003). According to the laws set by The Film Censorship Board Malaysia, films that consist of sensitive issues or contents that are said to be misleading to the audiences such as nudity, sexual contents, depictions or mentions of homosexuality, negative depictions of authority figures, films that mention about drugs and films that mention about or from Israel will be prohibited from the country.
Cinemas in Malaysia have a range of classifications for films being shown. For example, U, P13 and 18 as the rating systems. Next, the rating system of “18” is further divided into four subcategories which are 18SG, 18SX, 18PA, 18PL. One of the main focuses among all censorships is nudity. The word “SX” in the rating system “18SX” stands for “Sexual Content”. “18SX” is the rating category to censor off films that contain sexual contents. Nudity is one element of sexual contents. The Malaysia film censorship is further tightened in year 2003 due to an increasing of the Muslims conservatism as the Muslims have traditional rules that their body parts are not allowed to be exposed in the public.
The word “nudity” brings the meaning of the situation or state of being naked or without wearing any clothes. Films that contain nudity content are strictly forbidden in Malaysia. According to the rating system in theatres, only adults that are aged above 18 allowed to watch movies which contain nudity contents. Actors that are in a state of being naked is called as pornographic. In year 2003, nudity and sexual scenes that involve kissing and showing cleavages in films are being censored off (Censorship in Malaysia, Wikipedia, 2017). Some film scenes which meticulously involve the following contents are being cut off when the films have been broadcasted on television channels. The Ex-Malaysian Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar recapitulated that he has a main objective of building a better Malaysia which he had given a code “Bangsa Malaysia” (Censorship in Malaysia, Wikipedia, 2017). He said himself in year 2003 that the film censorships would be restudied. Following current media censorships, films which contain too much of sexual scenes including pornographic and nudity would be scrapped, following the decision made by the Board.
Among the scrapped movies, one of them is The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, which is a 2009 American adult animated black comedy film directed by Roy Zombie and produced by Starz Media. The film had been banned due to owning strong sexual contents and graphic nudity. There are a few critical film scenes which involve fully exposed breasts and instances of male and female genitalia. The comedy has gotten a rate of “R” by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for its strong crude of nudity contents. The next movie that had been banned is a movie name Fifty Shades of Grey. It is an American erotic romantic movie released in year 2015. This movie is said to overly own explicit sexual depictions and graphic nudity. This was certified by the Malaysian Film Censorship Board (LPF) after the movie was scheduled to release on February, 2015 in the theatres. The chairman of The Film Censorship Board Malaysia, Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid reproached that this film was “more pornography than movie” (Fifty Shades of Grey film, Wikipedia). He also said that this movie was sadistic and the scene that he referred to is the scene that a woman being tied to a bed and whipped. Fifty Shades of Grey also contains sex scenes that last for over twenty minutes.
I personally think that it is a right decision that The Malaysian Film Censorship has decided to ban films or movies that own nudity contents. Most of the reasons focus more towards the youths. Sexual behaviors among the youths are escalating throughout the years and the main reason is the sexual contents in films. Firstly, people who have a heavy diet of viewing sexual images such as pornography, nude pictures and sexual scenes online are more likely to engage in cybersex. Cybersex is a defined as communicating online and masturbating, or also viewing sexual images on the internet while masturbating. An online survey shows that those that are involved in cybersex is a contributing factor in separation among relationships and divorce. According to Schneider, there will be an increase of isolation and anger feelings among the majority of the couples that restrained from having sexual intercourse. Most of the partners are usually female (Schneider, 2000). They tend to have lower self-esteem and they will feel that they are being cheated by their partner. Iis nevertheless a truth as one person in a relationship may have doubts towards the loyalty of his or her partner and affect the relationship between the couple.
Secondly, teens or youths that are exposed to nude contents in films are more likely to have earlier or unprotected sex. According to qualitative research, teens tend to engage the behaviors themselves by watching movies with sexual contents. In an investigation by Dr. Jennings Bryant, more than 66 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls have the intentions to try some of the sexual behaviors they saw in the media such as films and movies (Carolyn C. Ross M.D., 2012). Having premarital sex or unprotected sex tend to rise the risk of getting addictions and other intimacy disorders among the youths. For example, two of the most common health diseases caused by sexual intercourse and oral sex is the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection (HIV).
Moreover, people that are exposed to explicit pornographic contents may increase the opportunity of a child of becoming victim of sexual violence or acting out sexual abuse towards another person. Sexual violence arouses sex offenders, force-oriented men and even normal young men if the women is being portrayed as being aroused by the assault. Repeated exposure to sexual violence can lead to a greater risk of rape myths. For example, an article shows that there is an average of 3000 rape cases in Malaysia every year.
Even so, there are people in the society that support nudity contents in films (sexual images and pornography) and disagree in contributing the nudity censorship. Firstly, some people think that adolescents can use the media as sources of sexual information as they can learn how to behave in relationships. The point is that the adolescents can read articles or magazines with related topics instead of watching films with nude contents. By reading articles and magazines, they can get clearer information as the authors tend to clarify the points clearly in their essays. Next, reading is also a benefit, which the adolescents might be excessively exposed to the computer or the television, causing radiation and it affects the health of the eyes. Secondly, people may think that the risk of teens getting evolve in unprotected sex cases could be reduced since the local theatres have possible control factors towards underage teens of the rating systems of movies shown. Unfortunately, people could still purchase the DVDs of the specific films after it is taken out from the theatres. Also, there are some illegal or unlicensed websites that consist of the movies which can be easily downloaded and the teens are originally not allowed to watch in theatres, and even movies that have been banned earlier. In terms of solving this issue, the government should reinforce the rating categories and the laws. Unlicensed DVDs and websites should also be strictly forbidden.
Overall, sexual behaviours among the society is incited by explicit sexual contents of films. Some people watch pornography and sexual images to satisfy their sexual needs and curiosity. Society issues caused by sexual violence and nudity is escalating and it needs to be fixed. Teens that have premarital sex or involve in sexual violence would be sent into prison and loses their prospects. If the nudity censorship is being implemented, it will raise the awareness among the society and various sexual issues will be reduced. On the contrary, if the nudity censorship is not being conducted, the new generation may somehow lack of sexual knowledge and get corrupted in the future.