“All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” Winston Churchill

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Freedom to chose

I just read about the Book of Mormon musical on Broadway. I probably won't see it, but from the reports I have read it is probably somewhat cynical towards my faith. As one reviewer wrote, it may be another sign that we are seen as more mainstream than ever, like Catholics, we can be ridiculed freely without fear of retribution. Hooray!

With all the freedom of choice in entertainment available these days, it is remarkable that movie production companies do not make DVD versions of their movies available with reduced nudity and profanity. The movies are edited with various levels for release on airplanes or future television release, but they are not available to the general public. Here is a fine article detailing the practice. It seems that the DVDs are often available in an "unrated" version (meaning more profanity, nudity, and violence than the theatrical version) but not in a cleaner version. Independent editing is vigorously challenged as an attack on artistic control. This article clearly points out the hypocrisy in this stance and moderately encourages the film industry to act in its own best interest in providing choice to all. Hooray again!!