Why were British versions of kung fu movies censored?
For years, British versions of kung fu (and martial arts/action in general) films were notorious for censoring scenes that contained “objectionable” weapons, most notably nunchaku (“numchucks”), which were popularized by Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon”. Even seemingly innocuous fare such as the live-action version of the popular comic book/cartoon “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” did not escape the government’s scissors. Even though early video versions of kung fu movies were released uncensored, in 1984 the Video Recordings Act was passed by the British government due to public outrage over “video nasties” (the British term for films with high levels of violence and sexual content) due to continued media reports that linked violent movies to street gang bloodshed. Even scenes, such as the Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris fight from “Way of the Dragon”, which are considered by most audiences to be fairly tame in terms of outright violence, were trimmed due to “sadistic” content. Unfortunately, thi
