Decide if FEA is right in censoring films & the rationale behind it.

As a group, we feel that the FEA is not justified in having strict standards on films screened in Singapore.

Firstly, many people feel that censoring & cutting too many scenes from films destroys their originality. The director of any film has his/her own reason & purpose for every scene placed in the film. As such, the intended message he/she wants the audience to understand may be lost after those cuts by the FEA, & thus the film may be less impactful.

Secondly, the public is also sensible enough and has the right to discern for himself/herself what is right or wrong when they watch films. Since there are specified ratings given to a particular film, it is already restricted as to who gets to watch the show. As such, only those who have the rough required level of maturity are allowed to watch a certain rated film. As for the cuts, they are unnecessary as the audience for a specific film, who is already expected to have a more or less acceptable level of maturity, has the ability and right to judge for oneself as to what takeaways one has, and what actions/behaviour to perform as a result of watching the rated film.

On the other hand, the reason behind FEA having strict standards on films is to protect public morals. Since Singapore is known to be a conservative society (compared to other countries like the U.S.), ratings given for a certain film by the media censorship boards of other countries might be different from that of the FEA. Hence, there is a need for the FEA to review all the films to be screened publicly to decide what should be viewed by the public, and not blindly following other countries' ratings on films.

By Joel, Brian, Serena & Chelsia (09S06J)