Censors Tend To Do What Only Psychotics Do; They Confuse Reality With Illusion

David Cronenberg? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: The prominent Canadian director David Cronenberg is best known for filming graphic horror movies. He vehemently disagrees with any restrictions on the material he depicts in his works. Apparently, he once compared a censor to a psychotic because he believed both confused illusion and reality. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Quote Investigator: In 1987 U.K. Channel 4 broadcast the documentary “Long Live the New Flesh: The Films of David Cronenberg” which included footage from an extended interview with the director.^[1]Website: IMDb, Documentary title: Long Live the New Flesh – The Films of David Cronenberg, Director: Laurens C. Postma, Production company: Victor Solnicki Productions, Length: 50 minutes, … Continue reading Cronenberg delivered his harsh assessment of censors within a section of the documentary about the cuts made to his films. His forceful remark was attenuated by three clumsy phrases “I think that”, “in fact”, and “which is to say”:^[2]YouTube Video, Title: David Cronenberg – Long Live The New Flesh – Part 5, Uploaded on April 25, 2009, Uploaded by: PaulKuK0, Part 5 of 7 parts, (Quotation starts at 7 minutes 3 seconds … Continue reading

I think that censors tend to do what in fact only psychotics do which is to say that they confuse reality with illusion.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1987 “The Stage and Television Today” of London reviewed the documentary and printed an inaccurate streamlined version of the quotation which reordered the words “reality” and “illusion”:^[3] 1987 February 5, The Stage and Television Today, Television Diary: The new flesh is close to the bone, Quote Page 18, Column 2, London, England. (ProQuest)

The documentary is likely to have anyone with a faint heart who happens to tune in reaching for their phone to complain as Cronenberg doesn’t mince words when describing his desire to show the unshowable and speak the unspeakable and also when attacking the views of the censors — “Censors do what only psychotics do. They confuse illusion with reality.”

In 1992 the director published “Cronenberg on Cronenberg” which included the following instance:^[4]1993 (1992 Copyright), Cronenberg on Cronenberg by David Cronenberg, Edited by Chris Rodley, Chapter: New Flesh for Old: The Tax-Shelter Experiments, Quote Page 105, Faber and Faber Limited, London. … Continue reading

Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion. People worry about the effect on children of two thousand acts of murder on TV every half hour. You have to point out that they have seen a representation of murder. They have not seen murder.

In 1993 an instance appeared in “The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations” which cited a book about the director:^[5] 1993, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Edited by Robert Andrews, Topic: Censorship, Quote Page 126, Columbia University Press, New York. (Verified with scans)

Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion.
DAVID CRONENBERG (b. 1943), Canadian filmmaker.
Cronenberg on Cronenberg, ch. 5 (ed. by Chris Rodley, 1992).

In 1994 a newspaper editor in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada expressed disagreement with the film policies of his province in Canada and printed an instance of the quotation:^[6]1994 October 13, The Leader-Post, But what about the movie censors? Can they stay sane? by Dale Eisler (Editor of Leader-Star Services),Quote Page A8, Column 2, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. … Continue reading

It makes you wonder if Canadian film-maker David Cronenberg’s description of what’s wrong with censors is perhaps the right one.

Says Cronenberg: “Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion.”

In 1996 “Cassell Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations” included an instance:^[7] 1996, Cassell Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations, Edited by Robert Andrews, Topic: Censorship, Quote Page 68, Column 2, Cassell, London, England, Distributed by Sterling (Verified with scans)

Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion.
David Cronenberg (b. 1943), Canadian film-maker:
Cronenberg on Cronenberg (ed. Chris Rodley, 1992), Ch.5

In 1999 a newspaper in Mattoon, Illinois printed another instance. The phrase “tend to” was moved to the second statement:^[8] 1999 February 15, Journal Gazette – Mattoon, (Quotation at top of page), Quote Page A4, Column 4, Mattoon, Illinois. (Newspapers_com)

“I think censors do what only psychotics do. They tend to confuse illusion with reality.” —David Cronenberg, Motion picture director, 1992

In conclusion, David Cronenberg did express this idea during an interview contained in the documentary “Long Live the New Flesh: The Films of David Cronenberg” broadcast in 1987. He restated and streamlined the statement in his 1992 book “Cronenberg on Cronenberg”. He deserves credit for both versions of the remark.

(Great thanks to Craig Good whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Many thanks to Jared Rivet who verified the “Cronenberg on Cronenberg” citation. Thanks to veriflip who mentioned that “tend to” was moved in the 1999 citation.)

Update history: On December 30, 2021 the “Cronenberg on Cronenberg” citation was added to the article. The conclusion was updated.