BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary  

[This summary does not form part of the decision.]

The Authority has not upheld a complaint that an episode of The Simpsons breached the good taste and decency, children’s interests and violence standards. Considering the relevant contextual factors, the Authority found the episode was unlikely to cause widespread undue offence or distress, to undermine widely shared community standards or to cause harm to children. The Authority considered the episode did not contain material beyond what viewers could reasonably expect from the programme. The Authority also found the item did not contain any graphic depictions of violence.

Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Children’s Interests, Violence

The broadcast

[1]  On 9 August 2021, an episode of The Simpsons titled ‘Crook and Ladder’ was broadcast at 5pm. In the episode, Homer has trouble sleeping and takes some sleeping pills which cause him to sleepwalk. Bart takes advantage of Homer’s sleepwalking and takes Homer out in a ‘zombie state’. After Homer crashes his car into the fire station, injuring all the firemen, he and two others become volunteer firemen. The episode included the following scenes:

• Maggie throwing a tantrum destroying items around the house (including by shooting them with a toy gun)
• Homer in a zombie state:
  • ripping off Milhouse’s hair with his hands after being asked to give him a hair cut
  • fighting with a man
  • made to crack open walnuts using his forehead
  • crashing his car into a fire-station, setting it on fire and injuring all the firemen
• a brief clip of a robbery in progress with a gun being pointed at the shop owner
• the new volunteer ‘Fire Chief’ saying ‘Lousy civilians, I wish I could burn them all.’
• Homer exclaiming ‘What the Hell is that?’ when a fire signal goes off
• an actor gifting jackets to the volunteer fire fighters which bear the words ‘I shoot your face’
• Homer and the other volunteer firemen stealing goods from fire scenes (which they are later convinced was wrong).

[2]  The programme was broadcast at 5pm and is rated G.¹

The complaint

[3]  Dr Mathew Zacharias complained that the broadcast breached the good taste and decency, children’s interests and violence standards because:

• ‘[It] is violent, [may] make children violent and should not appear at 5pm with G rating.’
• It contained bad language.
• It screened in the ‘early evening when small children are likely to watch it.’
• ‘[Some] sort of parental supervision should be available for that show’.

[4]  He argued that just because it was allowed in the past does not mean it is acceptable now.

The broadcaster’s response

[5]  TVNZ did not uphold Dr Zacharias’ complaint for the following reasons:

• ‘The satirical nature of The Simpsons is well known, the series has been on screen since 1989 and it can reasonably be expected that the viewers are very familiar with the likely content of The Simpsons’.
• ‘The Simpsons is not considered a child’s cartoon and this episode was not scheduled in a children’s only environment. It screened after Friends and before Young Sheldon.’
• ‘This episode is a repeat and has screened over a number of years on TVNZ.’
• The episode does not contain scenes likely to be disturbing or alarming to child viewers.
• ‘The episode is consistent with the expectations of The Simpsons series and in the Committee’s view did not require a PG certificate. We note that PG certificate The Simpsons episodes contain more sustained, yet still farcical cartoon violence…the episode complained about was not of a level with these programmes.’
• ‘The violence shown is a small part of the programme…rather than being disturbing the scene is intended to be humorous.’
• ‘We further note that assigning the episode the PG certificate, which we do not agree is required in this case, would not prevent it from screening at 5pm as PG certified programmes may screen at any time.’

The standards

[6]  The good taste and decency standard² states current norms of good taste and decency should be maintained, consistent with the context of the programme. The standard is intended to protect audiences from content likely to cause widespread undue offence or distress, or undermine widely shared community standards.³

[7]  The children’s interests standard⁴ requires broadcasters to ensure children are protected from broadcasts which might adversely affect them. Material likely to be considered under this standard includes violent content or themes, offensive language, social or domestic friction and dangerous, antisocial or illegal behaviour where such material is outside the expectations of the programme’s classification.⁵

[8]  The violence standard⁶ requires broadcasters to exercise care and discretion when portraying violence. Violent content should be appropriate to the context of the programme, and classified carefully. Broadcasters should exercise caution with content likely to incite or encourage violence or brutality.⁷

Our analysis

[9]  We have watched the broadcast and read the correspondence listed in the Appendix.

[10]  As a starting point, we considered the right to freedom of expression. It is our role to weigh up the right to freedom of expression against any harm potentially caused by the broadcast. We may only intervene when the limitation on the right to freedom of expression is reasonable and justified.⁸

The relevant contextual factors

[11]  The context in which content occurs, and the wider context of the broadcast are relevant to assessing whether a broadcast has breached this standard.⁹ We have considered the relevant contextual factors including:

• The Simpsons is aimed at a more mature audience than other cartoons.¹⁰
• The programme was rated G and was broadcast between 5pm to 6pm.¹¹
• It was preceded by a G rated episode of Friends (although Friends is generally a PG rated programme)¹² and followed by Young Sheldon which is a PG rated programme.
• There were no warnings before or accompanying the programme. However, the episode did not contain any graphic detail, or scenes beyond what audiences would reasonably expect from the programme.
• The Simpsons is a long-running series, well known for its satirical nature that has been aired on New Zealand television for over 30 years.¹³

Good Taste and Decency and Children’s Interests

[12]  Considering the contextual factors above, we have concluded the episode is unlikely to cause widespread undue offence, or distress, or undermine widely shared community standards.¹⁴ Satire and parody are important and valuable tools of creative expression. In this case we consider any potential for harm is outweighed by the right to freedom of expression.

[13]  The types of scenes in the episode did not go beyond what audiences could reasonably expect from the long running programme. They were characteristic of the types of scenes typically found in The Simpsons.

[14]  We also consider the episode unlikely to be unduly harmful or disturbing to children, nor did it contain material likely to impair their physical, mental or social development.¹⁵ Any violence depicted was largely farcical, unrealistic and intended to be humorous. It was therefore unlikely to disturb children or influence them towards violence.

[15]  Similarly, the language used was not outside expectations for the programme or its G classification. We have previously not upheld a complaint regarding the use of ‘hell’ in The Simpsons at 5:30pm and we consider the use in this programme, where ‘hell’ is used as an exclamation on hearing an alarm, merits similar treatment.

[16]  We therefore do not uphold the complaint under the good taste and decency and children’s interests standards.

Violence

[17]  The purpose of the standard is to protect audiences from unduly disturbing violent content.¹⁶ Context is crucial, and the contextual factors discussed above were relevant to our consideration under this standard as well. We found the programme contained no graphic depictions of violence as envisaged by the standard and therefore do not uphold the complaint.

For the above reasons the Authority does not uphold the complaint.
Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Susie Staley
Acting Chair
27 October 2021    

Appendix

The correspondence listed below was received and considered by the Authority when it determined this complaint:

1  Dr Mathew Zacharias’ original complaint to TVNZ – 9 August 2021

2  TVNZ’s response to Dr Zacharias – 6 September 2021

3  Dr Zacharias’ referral to the Authority – 6 September 2021

4  TVNZ’s final comments – 21 September 2021

5  Dr Zacharias’ final comments – 23 September 2021

6  TVNZ’s response on classifications – 6 October 2021

¹ G – General: Approved for general viewing. Programmes which exclude material likely to be unsuitable for children. Programmes may not necessarily be designed for child viewers but should not contain material likely to alarm or distress them. G programmes may be screened at any time. (Guideline 2a)
² Standard 1 of the Free-to-Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice
³ Commentary: Good Taste and Decency, Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 12
⁴ Standard 3 of the Free-to-Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice
⁵ Guideline 3a
⁶ Standard 4 of the Free-to-Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice
⁷ Guideline 4c
⁸ Freedom of Expression: Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 6
⁹ Guideline 1a
¹⁰ Osborne and Canwest TV Works Ltd, Decision No. 2007-027 at [19]
¹¹ G-General programmes exclude material likely to be unsuitable for children.  Programmes may not necessarily be designed for child viewers but should not contain material likely to alarm or distress them. G programmes may be screened at any time. See Definitions, Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 09
¹² Film & Video Labelling Body "Friends" <fvlb.org.nz>
¹³ Dom Knight “Is it time for The Simpsons to end?” Stuff (online ed, 19 June 2015). See also: “The Simpsons looked very different 30 years ago” NZ Herald (online ed, 20 April 2017) and James Croot ‘The Simpsons: When will TVNZ treat the longest-running comedy with some respect?’ Stuff (online ed, 13 February 2021)
¹⁴ Commentary: Good Taste and Decency, Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 12
¹⁵ Commentary: Children’s Interests, Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 13
¹⁶ Commentary: Violence: Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook, page 14