censoring films

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

Selling censored films.. 

'U'-Rated Edits in for Fight
Wednesday, August 7, 2002 
http://www.sltrib.com/08072002/utah/759740.htm
Salt Lake Tribune
BY GLEN WARCHOL
(c) 2002, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE  

The explosive growth of businesses specializing in the censorship of
videos and digital video discs has aroused the wrath of filmmakers, who
say the practice is unethical and immoral.
    
"We will fight to express ourselves on this issue. We will fight to get
control of this technology," Directors Guild of America President Martha
Coolidge said. "The DGA is talking to its members, the studios and the
Motion Picture Association of America to explore our options."

snip

The debate in Utah began four years ago when an American Fork company,
Sunset Video, found a profitable business in clipping a nude scene from
hundreds of video copies of "Titanic" brought to them by owners. The
concept of so-called "family-friendly" videos was well-received in Utah
and other religiously conservative parts of the country

snip

The companies involved in the business believe the edits are legal because
they are done to film recordings after they are purchased by consumers,
video clubs or co-ops

snip

Pleasant Grove-based CleanFlicks operates 80 stores in 18 states that
offer hundreds of sanitized titles. And last month, to the dismay of film
directors, Albertson's, the nation's second-largest grocery chain, began
offering "E-rated" -- "E" for edited -- videos in 46 Utah stores.

snip

MovieShield. According to marketing director Richard Schmer, two Brigham
Young University graduates developed software to allow subscribers to
download edits for selected films, allowing eight levels of censorship,
including "vain references to deity," "sexual situations," "immodesty" and
"gore." snip.... Using the film's closed-caption signal as a timing
device, the MovieShield blacks out undesirable scenes and mutes
objectionable audio

snip

'Jerry Maguire,' for instance, was a great show. Unfortunately, it had a
little bit of bad language and a sex scene that never should have been
there," said CleanFlicks president John Dixon, adding that no studio yet
has threatened legal action.  

snip

But Aho and Dixon would balance consumer rights against artists' rights.
"It just seems to me that once I own it, I have the control," Aho said,
adding, "We aren't taking any money out of their pockets."

glenwarchol@sltrib.com