New DVD player cuts out the smut

[MongoTheGeek]

Incidentally, I had fun a couple of times watching some erotic anime (not hardcore, by the way--plot included) with a stopwatch, and seeing how short it'd be if you cut out everything offensive. 30 minutes down to 2 was the verdict--basically about three scenes of people walking on the street and the title left.

I was at CastleCon a few years ago and Lloyd Kaufman was a special guest. He showed the recently released Sgt Kabukiman NYPD and said that it was available in 3 versions Unraed, Rated R and Ready for TV viewing. The person next to me quipped, yeah 2 hours 1.5 hours and 15 minutes.

 

[bousozoku]

Here's a sad story I just heard today. My Dad took his grandson, who is my newphew, to some Christmas party (they're all Christians). My nephew was crying because he was worried that if he got the present he wanted, which was a Harry Potter lego set, then his mother wouldn't allow him to keep it.

Tell me if I'm crazy, but I simply plan on telling my kids, before they read the Potter books, that magic is make believe. Like Santa Claus, it's just some fun and fanciful thing that people amuse themselves with.

...

I took a while to think about whether I could answer this without offending anyone. I hope I accomplish that.

That is sad that he can't enjoy a gift because someone else is offended. Parents, of course, have the right to make some choices for their children. So often, I see choices that I cannot understand. If you don't expose your children to a wide spectrum of things, some limits applied, how do they know right from wrong or how to differentiate things on their own?

I'm certainly not going to call you crazy for telling your kids that magic is make believe. Many people believe that, along with a plethora of other things. As they say, children don't come with a manual and no matter how many people give you their opinions, you have to figure some things out by yourself.

 

[Sparky's]

Just another reason I won't shop at Walmart or Kmart

 

[Dippo]

Several leading Hollywood figures, however, including Steven Spielberg and Steven Soderbergh, are backing a lawsuit, arguing that the technology will violate the rights of directors who expect their works to be viewed in their entirety, without censorship.

Can anyone tell me why they are suing??
Can the movie industry really force us to watch every second of a movie?

I think it would be much better for parents to censor at home then to have the government censor for everybody.

 

[Counterfit]

Can anyone tell me why they are suing??
Can the movie industry really force us to watch every second of a movie?

I think it would be much better for parents to censor at home then to have the government censor for everybody.

The problem is not "you watching it" it's a third party editing the movie without the consent of the director and/or studio. And before some wag says "well what about edited for TeeVee movies?" Those have been edited, most likely, with the consent of the studio, if no the director.

 

[Awimoway]

The problem is not "you watching it" it's a third party editing the movie without the consent of the director and/or studio. And before some wag says "well what about edited for TeeVee movies?" Those have been edited, most likely, with the consent of the studio, if no the director.

I'm not buying this argument. I can get up during a movie and come back later, I can fast forward part of it, etc. There's nothing the director can do to stop me. It's my right. And I fail to see how the "approved edit" is any less detrimental to the original intent of the movie than someone else's edit. I'm not even convinced most directors have anything to do with airplane or broadcast tv edits. Some lackey in an editing room is probably doing it, his/her work overseen by the network, not the director. And I think a lot of artists take themselves and their work way too seriously. You can't really believe a pic like Dude, Where's My Car had ANY artistic intent. It seems to me that the only reason they allow such approved edits is for the money, and it reeks of hypocrisy.


That being said, this DVD player idea is ludicrous. I used to live in Utah, and I know exactly where this kind of sentiment comes from. It's an extremely conservative (values-wise, I mean, but politically too) state, with the all the inherent contradictions that come with it—the desire to avoid anything unseemly and the incongruous desire to be a part of American capitalist culture, to feel cool and worldly.

But you can't have it both ways. These people need to either quit watching movies they don't fully approve of or quit feigning values they're not fully committed to (speaking only of the hypocrites there, not everyone).

 

[MrMacMan]

Awimoway -- Your the consumer, you have the write to make the changed because its yours.


With the DVD player the edits are transparent... such as you never notice (well depending if they cut you have like little censor logos over the offending body parts) or DO notice the changes.

I respect that the movie makers don't want their stuff changed and edited without their approval...

Its not like I can go edit and butcher half of star wars II to make it better and pass it off as the offical thing... which if I understand this would be doing.



Basically I want to put this to the test:
I want to Pop in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and since there is little swearing and only 1 scene with sexual content... what is this going to do? Cut the blood somehow?

 

[Awimoway]

Awimoway -- Your the consumer, you have the write to make the changed because its yours.

Seems like a pretty fine line to me: Make the cuts myself or save time and let a machine do it for me. For that matter, let someone else do it for me. I have a right to consent to let someone else determine how much I see and hear. It's idiotic to do that, sure, but I think I have the right to do it.

 

[MrMacMan]

Seems like a pretty fine line to me: Make the cuts myself or save time and let a machine do it for me. For that matter, let someone else do it for me. I have a right to consent to let someone else determine how much I see and hear. It's idiotic to do that, sure, but I think I have the right to do it.

No but in both those cases you either do it yourself or get someone to do it for you.

I mean even if you get the dvd player -- Its automattically doing it. They want it manually cut out -- Like on TV.


I mean this simplifies it so much, soo much of the movie could be gone.