The Exploding Chicken meme is apparently richer and depth than first imagined. This is from a past entry on the bbc's website:
I don't remember seeing either the movie or the exploding fowl.'Exploding chicken' film passed uncutActor John Malkovich's directorial debut has finally been passed uncut in the UK following a row over the treatment of a chicken which was seen exploding.
Next month's UK release of The Dancer Upstairs was threatened after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) wanted to remove a scene where a chicken is seen with dynamite strapped to its leg.
The BBFC decided to pass the movie with a 15 certificate only after receiving assurances from the company that the chicken was a pet and had been returned happy and safe to its owner.
A BBFC spokeswoman told BBC News Online: "You can't train a chicken to act but it is possible, though illegal, to terrorise them for the sake of the film. If it had been any other animal other than a chicken, no one would have got exercised about it."It's just because people don't think chicken warrant protection. Sadly for them, the 1937 (animal protection) act does include chickens."
I have seen The Dancer Upstairs and the irony is that the film also shows children with dynamite strapped to them, and who are blown up, but the BBFC seems okay with that. It's a very good film, BTW, with a lot to say about how a society copes with terrorism.
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