Nasty Business

Ever since the 'video nasties' dominated the headlines of 1980s Britain, they have achieved near-mythic status explored in work that considers them as the censored cultural products of an intense moral panic. Whilst necessary, this approach has obscured the role that commerce and industry played in the categorisation of the video nasties, and the role that this has continued to play in the evolution of the category. This book moves beyond the conventional narrative of censorship and morality to reframe the moral panic as an industrial response to changes in the film and home entertainment industry of the 1980s. Mark McKenna examines how marketing, branding and distribution shaped the concept of the video nasties as much as their censorship. Drawing continuities between global mainstream practices and historical calls for film legislation, the book considers the video nasties as indicative of a new economic sector struggling to self-regulate when faced with the power of the established Hollywood majors. It examines the remediation of the video nasties, from tabloid headline to commercially profitable 'banned brand', and the importance of transgressive authenticity in maintaining commercial value in the contemporary entertainment marketplace. In doing so, he explores the cultural rehabilitation of the films and asks whether the expectations of digital media are entirely compatible with the meanings traditionally associated with the video nasties. Mark McKenna is a lecturer of Film, Television and Radio studies at Staffordshire University.