Article written by Sam Burnett.
Warning, by its very nature, this article contains sensitive material that may cause offence.
“I thought the Earth wasn’t supposed to move until the honeymoon,” says the Genie during an earthquake at Aladdin and Jasmine’s wedding. As a kid, I had always thought that meant that the Genie had planned some sort of spectacular display to cap off the wedding. Needless to say, there was a moment, sometime when I was older, that I heard that line again and went, “Ha-ha, wait, WHAT?!”
This is a look at the Top Seven times that TV or Film creative teams managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the censors by inserting a joke, a theme, or a reference that probably did not belong there.
Why Top Seven? Because the article was already too long by the time I hit number five.
7. Notorious – The kiss
While this scene does not take place in a children’s film, I still believe it deserves a spot on this list due to the restrictions placed on films at the time of release. As I have mentioned in a previous article, back in the day, American films had to follow an extremely strict set of rules in order to be deemed suitable for distribution. One of the more idiotic rules was that a kiss could not exceed three seconds. In order to get around that in Notorious, Alfred Hitchcock famously interrupted the two leads every three seconds. They would move around the room, make a telephone call, talk about dinner, but would constantly resume their kissing.
As you can see, the kissing scene lasts longer than three minutes but still technically keeps to the rules.
6. “Well hellooooooo” - Avatar: The Last Airbender
While Avatar: The Last Airbender often pushed against what was considered acceptable for children’s entertainment, no scene was as quite so blatant as the infamous tent scene from The Southern Raiders episode. Zuko needs to talk to Sokka about something important but, upon reaching the latter’s tent, he bumps into Suki, Sokka’s girlfriend. She becomes rather embarrassed and unconvincingly insists she was at the wrong tent.
Zuko opens the tent flap and sees Sokka, surrounded by candles and posed suggestively. He greets Zuko with a seductive, “Well hellooooooo,” before realising that it’s not who he had clearly been expecting. After a short talk, he rushes Zuko out and sticks his head out to call for Suki. And if there was any doubt, Sokka is shown the next morning fiddling with a flower necklace that Suki had given him, for no apparent reason except to indicate he got lei'd and that Suki had been… you know what, you can figure out the rest.
5. “Lucky God?” – The Road to El Dorado
Over the course of the underrated gem, The Road to El Dorado, a “romance” (for lack of a better term) develops between El Dorado native, Chel and false god, Tulio. Off screen, you can hear the sounds of kissing, moaning and other highly suggestive sounds but they are interrupted when the High Priest Tzekel-Kan enters the temple. As they both rise into frame, viewers will notice that Chel’s head is nowhere near Tulio’s lips. And it doesn't help matters that she's clearly straddling him as we see her move her leg to get off of him.
Alarmed, Chel frantically asks, “The High Priest?! What's he going to think when if he finds one of the gods like this with me?!” To which, a dazed Tulio can only respond, “Lucky God?”
4. Muhammad – South Park
While South Park is no stranger to religious controversy, the show’s repeated depiction of the Prophet Muhammad easily takes the cake. Appearing alongside other religious figures such as Jesus and Buddha as part of the Super Best Friends. Pointing out the obvious double standard that comes with depicting religious characters by having Jesus defecate on the American flag and snort cocaine while Muhammad quietly stands in the background doing nothing.
Despite receiving death threats for the joke, writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker have repeatedly pointed out, as they themselves are not Muslims there is no reason why they should be bound by rules regarding the depiction of the holy figure.
3. Hellfire – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
While nearly everything in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame could score a spot on this list, it’s the villain song “Hellfire” that edges out the competition. The religious fanatic, Judge Frollo has recently become obsessed with lust for the Roma girl, Esmerelda which he finds impossible to reconcile with his strict puritan values.
He sings about lust for her and the late Tony Jay knocked it out of the park with one of the best, if not the best, Disney villain songs of all time. That said, it is still a song about how he wants to rape a teenage girl and burn her alive in a children’s movie so it earns a spot here.
2. “Party Favours” – Justice League
Rather than focus on one specific hero, Justice League was an ensemble show that would alternate which character would take the lead on an episode by episode basis. During one of Wonder Woman’s episode, the Amazonian befriended Princess Audrey the night before the aristocrat was to be married and the two throw an impromptu bachelorette party during which Audrey gives us the immortal line, “I'm a world class party girl. I intend to go out with a bang. Several, if it can be arranged.” After which, she throws Wonder Woman four “party favours” which are actually four buff, shirtless "hunk" type guys. They then all decide to go to the private VIP room for what I am sure is meant to be perfectly innocent fun. Seriously, it’s like the censors weren’t even trying.
1. Harley Quinn does… You know what? Just watch the video - Batman: The Animated Series
During the nineties, Batman: The Animated Series was legendary for how often it skirted things past the radar. The violence, the suggestive relationship between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy and the many adult themes all famously evaded the censors grasp. But, this scene… This scene aired on children’s television back in the nineties. I know this because I was a child at the time and saw it. Harley Quinn, buck naked, emerges butt first from a giant pie, throws a cherry at the Joker’s chest, sings a sultry Marilyn Munroe inspired song before asking is he wants to “try some of her pie.”
The thing is, most of the scenes on this list have the decency to act as if the radar exists but, no, not this once. This scene is the equivalent of a serial killer waltzing past a police station, juggling the heads of his latest victims, singing “I’m glad I killed the bastards” and the police officers not even noticing.
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