OTTAWA – A comedy movie that aired on City did not objectify women, but should have included “sexual content” in its viewer advisories, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) ruled Wednesday.
The CBSC received a complaint about The Long Weekend which aired on September 7, 2013 at 9:00 PM on City. The 2005 feature film is about two brothers in their 20s who spend the weekend trying to find women with whom to have sex. One brother is a superficial playboy while the other is more serious and a reluctant participant in his brother’s exploits. The movie contains numerous scenes involving sexual activity or vulgar references to sexual acts and women’s appearances.
A viewer complained that the movie stereotyped and objectified women. The CBSC’s Ontario Regional Panel examined the complaint under the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Equitable Portrayal Code. The Panel did not find any breaches of that code because there were characters who provided counterpoint to any potentially negative depictions of women. The serious brother was respectful towards women and had disdain for his playboy brother’s lifestyle. The serious brother was portrayed as the “hero” of the movie and found happiness in a committed relationship with a kind, successful, intelligent woman.
The Panel also noted that City appropriately scheduled the film at 9:00 PM, but did find a violation of the CAB Violence Code for the station’s failure to display a classification icon at the beginning of the second hour of broadcast. City had displayed a 14+ icon at the beginning of the movie.
Both the Panel and the broadcaster acknowledged that the quantity of sexually explicit material pushed it into the 18+ category. Although City’s viewer advisory mentioned coarse language, nudity, violence and mature themes, it failed to mention the sexual content. The CBSC found a breach of the Viewer Advisory provision of the CAB Code of Ethics for that omission.
