I chuckle a little bit whenever conversation comes around to American values and the old discussion of violence versus sexuality in film arises.

I don’t profess to be an expert on this topic, but it does seem to me that American film values are shared by other countries where the rule of law is based upon religion. In these places, sexuality in movies is a greater taboo than violence. Canada, with its geographic proximity to the US, is heavily influenced by the US from all things artistic to legislative. When it comes to what is acceptable in film for specific audiences we are more conservative than Europeans and more liberal than the Americans.

Here’s a trailer for the American film, This Film is Not Yet Rated. It was given an NC-17 rating in the US (also known as an X rating) which was rejected by the filmmakers. Thus the film is not rated in the States. Here in Ontario (which is a province in Canada) it’s rated as adult accompaniment under 14 years of age (14A). The film is banned in Malaysia,  a non-secular state. Australia isn’t really Europe but if I tell you that the film is rated MA over there you might still get my point. MA is the same rating that the spectacularly popular US show, 24, has in Australia.

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The note about Ontario being in Canada is another inside joke that Canadians chuckle about when it comes to Americans. But I digress.

Can someone please tell me why Europeans are so much more fearful of their children viewing violence than sex? Are they morally corrupt — what the hell is wrong with them?

Or do they have their priorities correct?

We recently tried out a new Sushi restaurant that is located about 15 minutes south of where we live. There’s an all-you-can-eat menu so that’s what attracted us in the first place. They have a unique item in their appetizer section that they call Chicken Screwer.

I know that this isn’t a typo because the waitress, in heavily accented English, pronounced it exactly as it is written.

Us: Can we try a chicken skewer?

She: One chicken screwer?

Us: Um, yeah.

She looks at us strangely.

Us: Ok, we’ll have two then.

She smiles a satisfied smile: Ok, 2 chicken screwer then.

Us: Uh huh.

They were surprisingly good.

Umm…I don’t think that Oral B will be selling this any time soon.

Marilyn Manson is in need of a new orthodontist if you’re interested. Check out his blog here.

Would you see me for a root canal?