January 26, 2000 11:52am
Ottawa-funded porn film found awful, but not sexist
Source: Reuters
(OTTAWA) -- Fans of ``Bubbles Galore'', the trashy soft-porn film funded by Canadian taxpayers, can rest easy.
Canada's broadcast watchdog ruled on Wednesday the film may be awful, but is not overly violent or sexist.
The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBST) said a rape scene in the film -- which tells the story of a bisexual female
pornographer struggling to succeed in a male-dominated industry -- did not breach the rules.
``This scene, while an unenviable component of an unenviable film, does not amount to a breach of the Violence Code,'' the council said in a statement.
Heritage Minister Sheila Copps was deeply embarrassed last year when it emerged that the film had received more than C$100,000 ($69,000) in funding from
government and provincial agencies.
Several viewers complained to the CBST after the Showcase Television channel broadcast the film, during which one of the female characters is raped.
The council said the rape scene was highly unrealistic and was clearly designed as an allegorical struggle between the victim and the rapist.
``While there is no denying the despicable and criminal nature of the act, in the context of the 'dueling' individuals, psychologically speaking, the Council considers
that (the victim) has had the upper hand,'' it said.
Bubbles Galore won best film at the 1997 Freakzone International Festival of Trash Cinema in France.
It was described by one Australian critic as ``a tender, trippy, pastel-tinted tribute to X-rated porn flicks and the women who work in them''.
($1=$1.44 Canadian)
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