#btw the /sraeli government did the exact same thing w/ television and ended up caving in '67

[leroibobo]

during its apartheid years, south africa had one of the strictest media controls in the world. this extended into homes when television was introduced in the country in 1977 (which the government had delayed until that year due to fears of "undue influence"), and when home video came along with it. each videotape that was legally distributed during these years was required to have a notice in the official languages of english and afrikaans that it complied with media censorship laws codified years prior.

(the model for the certificate was likely influenced by the british board of film classification's. by the beginning of the 20th century, the british had brought the template with them to south africa and other former colonies such as india. south africa was probably the only country to use it on home releases.)

this meant that south africans who watched "legal" videotaped movies not only had to sit through commercials and a standard-issue anti-piracy warning, but a federal confirmation that the film didn't feature an interracial couple, among many other things. the total time for the two warnings could reach up to two minutes long - for comparison, the chorus of "oops i did it again" by britney spears is twenty seconds long - but some were rushed through.

this example was taken from a tape of disney's snow white and the seven dwarfs published in 1994, the year apartheid ended. the media censorship laws which required the certificate would be overhauled two years later, though video openings remained similar for a while after.

#south africa #info #obviously there were ''illegal'' tapes smuggled in like in every other country w/ similar laws #i also added the model thing bc many people (particularly mericans like myself) aren't used to seeing whole ass Certificates at the #beginning of movies. that being said it was a theatres thing and not a home releases thing in the uk india etc #the mpaa ratings bumpers were always a lot more sparse and less official-looking #absolutely nothing to do with architecture but it fit more here than on my main. vhs history etc #and yeah. break. uh. idk #btw the /sraeli government did the exact same thing w/ television and ended up caving in '67 #(not /as/ late but still pretty damn late) #the year being significant had nothing to do w/ it #it was because the general population were getting televisions so they could tune into broadcasts in neighboring countries #(palestine is small so not too hard) #and they c-couldn't have people watching ARAB TELEVISION!!!! THE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!