For the love of all that is good and holy.
Anyone who has watched movies on an airplane or on network TV has seen films that have been sanitized, so to say, by the removal of things like foul language, extreme gore or nudity. Generally speaking, though, film directors don't like altering their original artistic vision, which helps explain why cleaned-up versions of commercial movies are not routinely for sale at Blockbuster. They do exist, however, made possible by new technology and by companies that are responding to consumer demand for hit movies in a "family friendly" format. Hollywood is hopping mad. Put on your seat belt; it's going to be a bumpy ride.{...}Good grief. What companies such as CleanFlix and FamilyFlix really do is buy DVDs of popular movies and make a second, cleaner, version. The buyer gets both copies, allowing the seller to claim that Hollywood has gotten full price for each original-movie sale and that the edited, or "backup," disc is protected by the doctrine of fair use in copyright law. Another company, ClearPlay, doesn't alter discs in any way. It creates coding that works with a special DVD player to filter--by skipping or muting--potentially objectionable parts of ordinary DVDs.
{...}The Family Movie Act (part of the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act), if it passes, may end one part of the brawl. It would effectively legalize the technology that ClearPlay uses. As the legislation's author, Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), notes: "This is the electronic equivalent of using a remote control to mute the sound or fast-forward over objectionable material."
If you are worried about junior seeing a pair of b00bies in a movie, or being desensitized by too much violence, well, it perhaps you need this little reminder.
Ahem.
On every electronic device known to mankind there is an "Off" button. Use it. You might have to deal with a lot of lip, but it will ensure that your children are seeing what you want them to see and not making everyone else suffer in the meanwhile. It might also help you in your quest for cleaner material if you said "No," every now and again when junior/juniorette requests something you deem to be objectionable. After all, if you don't buy/rent a movie, Hollywood does not make money. This will force them to consider their options, because they're in business to make money. That's the free market at work, kids. If Hollywood deems there's a demand for something they're not supplying, well, they'll work their tight, little, liposuctioned asses off to provide it. In other words, stop expecting the government to parent your children, and learn how to do it yourself. Stop messing with other people's livelihoods because you can't be bothered to do this, ya dig?
This just pisses me off.
If you are so goddamned lazy that you need a DVD player that skips through objectionable content because you can't be bothered to fast forward through it, you are a waste of space. Get off my planet. Furthermore, that you would attempt to legislate your laziness, well, you deserve what you get the next time someone pulls a similar move. Because it will happen, kids. This is a slippery slope you're advocating. Censorship always is a slippery slope, because where the hell does it end? Pretty soon the choice is taken out of your hands and placed into someone else's.
Posted by Kathy at April 15, 2005 04:30 PM