Janet~Justin? What else have people been outraged about?

bbchris

• At the May 29, 1913, debut performance of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris, audience members were so upset by the work -- a violent ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky depicting fertility rites, set to Stravinsky's primitive, unsettling music -- that fistfights broke out in the aisles. Soon a riot erupted and police couldn't restore order.

• In 1926, Mae West wrote and starred in a play called Sex, about a Montreal prostitute, that ran on Broadway for almost a year before New York City's deputy police commissioner raided the theater. West was charged with lewdness and corrupting youth and spent 10 days in jail.

• Also in 1926, actress Clara Bow exuded such open sexuality in the movie Mantrap, as the supposedly predatory wife of a woodsman, that audience members couldn't hide their outrage.

• Although there was no visible tongue, Greta Garbo gave John Gilbert the screen's first obviously open-mouth kiss in 1927's Flesh and the Devil. Fans' tongues wagged in response.

• Audiences were indeed shocked when actress Jean Harlow asked, "Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?" in 1930's Hell's Angels.

• Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, about a middle-aged man who lusts mightily and seduces his 12-year-old stepdaughter, was released in the United States in 1958, following its original 1955 release in France. Enjoying three year's worth of scandal in Europe -- the book was banned in Great Britain and France -- it sold more than 100,000 copies in its first three weeks of U.S. release. Critics loved it; the moral majority called it pornography.

• It was a true rock 'n' roll moment when Elvis Presley sang Hound Dog on the June 5, 1956, Milton Berle Show. His wild, pelvis-thrusting dance style inspired outraged TV critics to decry the performance for its "appalling lack of musicality," "vulgarity" and "animalism." The Catholic Church issued a statement called "Beware Elvis Presley."

• After a March 1969 concert in Miami, Jim Morrison was charged with indecent exposure after flashing himself, and possibly doing a little bit more, in front of the audience.

• In 1971, the movie Carnal Knowledge, starring Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel and Ann-Margret, was deemed shocking enough to inspire a Supreme Court case that determined national obscenity standards.

• When the sitcom Three's Company debuted in 1977, viewers were shocked by its premise: a man (John Ritter) pretending to be gay so that he could live with two female roommates.

• At a 1982 concert in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne demonstrated the fine line between truth and urban legend when he bit the head off a bat that a fan threw onstage. The story seemed so outrageous that few believed it was true until Ozzy himself confirmed it years later.

• In the course of a career engineered specifically to scandalize, Madonna first turned heads at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. During a performance of Like a Virgin, she writhed and gyrated around the stage, wearing a slatternly white wedding dress and a "Boy Toy" belt buckle.

• Following the 1989 release of the album As Nasty as They Wanna Be, the rap group 2 Live Crew became the first to produce an album deemed illegally obscene.

• The duo Milli Vanilli were stripped of their 1990 Grammy after it was revealed that they didn't do their own singing.

• Speaking of stripping, Prince wore a revealing pair of yellow pants when he performed at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. When he turned around, he gave the audience a glimpse of his cheeks. And not the ones he smiles with.

• Actress Sharon Stone incited people to ask "is she or isn't she?" (wearing underwear) when she suggestively crossed and uncrossed her legs in 1992's Basic Instinct.

• Taking a decidedly adult leap from playing Jessie on Saved By the Bell to a stripper in 1995's Showgirls, actress Elizabeth Berkley had the distinction of starring in the first wide-release studio movie to get an NC-17 rating.

• On April 30, 1997, Ellen DeGeneres revealed her character as a lesbian on her show, Ellen.

• Going back to Madonna, at the August 2003 MTV Video Music Awards she gave Britney Spears a big, open-mouth kiss. She also gave Christina Aguilera one, but it's the Britney/Madonna kiss that electrified people.

daniel · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 273

GREAT POST CHRIS!

It's like Clinton/Kenedy:

Kennedy-womanizer, booze runner(well his dad was during prohibition)

Clinton-cheated with Monica

Difference?

Kennedy is still a hero...admired throughout America & Canada....but all of the dirt on him came out after he died.

Kennedy had much better taste in woman!

LOL!

I don't really know where I'm going with this....I guess it's just an example on how society reacts to the same things in different ways.

I don't know if you know this, but CBS seems to want to cater to the 'bible belt'. They run shows about religion and stuff like that...probably why it was an issue.

Now if that happened on FOX, well, there'd be a reality show based on Janet's boob.

RonOnGuitar · Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 1916

Actually, Daniel, just a short while back it came out that JFK had an affair with a young White House intern himself. Although he was a great president (despite whatever detractions), what adds to his mytique & ongoing popularity was the fact that we never saw the true potential of even one full term.

We've all seen the Zapruder film, showing his life snuffed out in real time - that day and the ones immediately following are burned into a generation's collective memory.

The difference with Clinton (who was a good president) re: Monicagate is that it wasn't the sex that caught him, it was the coverup. He shoulda learned from Nixon that it's the coverup that does a Prez in, otherwise the American public is pretty forgiving or doesn't care much. But Clinton commited perjury in the coverup which made it a legal matter - instead of a personal matter - and that was the grounds on which he was impeached. (He was later fined in court and had to turn in his lawyer's license for a period of time).

I saw on TV how someone noted that it was 40 years ago in February that four lads from Liverpool shocked parents with that "long hair" and music on the Ed Sullivan Show. Of course, no breasts were exposed during "I wanna hold your hand", lol. (in fact, the Beatles wore their trademark lapel-less suit and ties!)

The criteria for what can be aired over the public airwaves is different than for literature, cable, films & other media. Hence you can get all nude-all the time , even hardXXX, on cable or dish (i.e. the privately owned mediums) but it's a no-no on over-the-air broadcast telly.

4teetoo · Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 195

Quote:
The Catholic Church issued a statement called "Beware Elvis Presley."

oh, the irony.

bbchris

Interesting stuff. And yes it really depends where and when naked breasts are shown to what anger we can/ought to feel...

.smack. hahahahhaa

droolymutt

peeeYooooWeeeeee!!!

*pinches nose*

.there.is.Fish.Perfume.in.here.