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Censorship in 2006

I think there's a difference between not showing something because it's not to the taste of consumers (and will therefore lose money), and not showing something because one fears reprisals--such as boycotts, picketing, and bad publicity--from anti-gay activists. If it's the former, then that's the breaks of a market economy. If it's the latter, then a bigoted minority has succeeded in stifling the free exchange of ideas.
 
The simple fact of the matter is that not every book is going to get published, not every movie made or shown in the cineplex, not every song recorded, etc.

I would not use the word "censorship" to describe this process.

As for the lack of theaters in curious's area showing Brokeback Mountain, we cannot know for a fact what the reasons behind this are, but I think we can be reasonably certain that most theater owners are going to show whatever they think will make them a lot of money, because that's what they're in the business for.

The way you've set things up, Sardy, every single publisher, bookstore owner, theatre owner, movie producer, etc. is by default guilty of censorship. I mean, really. If I put Brokeback Mountain on the screen that means I'm not putting something else up.

I think you're using the term far too loosely.
 
PreatorX said:
That's not the point here. Simply saying that something is censorship isn't condemning those who choose to censor it. I guess the very word "censorship" has such bad connotations that it's automatically seen as condemnation to label something as such.

My impression of this whole situation is that a theatre refuses to show a moivie because it has "gay" themes because they are worried about what action the Fundies will take to destroy their business. Thus, material is being censored because a small special interest group with lots of power feel it is immoral and "sinful."
Click to expand...

I am in no way, shape, or form a "Fundie" (Fundimentalist Christian) and I don't think it's necessary for every theatre in the free world to show Broke Back Mountain. It's a niche film that got excellent reviews but so what? Who said film reviewers are the end all? King Kong got excellent reviews as well and I personally thought it was crap.

Number_6 made an excellent point, we wouldn't be having this conversation if American Pie 4 were the film in question but because Broke Back Mountain was deemed worthy of your viewing pleasure now you feel censored?
 
^I can see your point, LG. Brokeback Mountain could be considered almost an indie film, with it's limited theater release, but I still don't want to be told where I can go see it. :)

Does that make any sense at all? I've been up since 4 am. At least my day is half over. <g>
 
^It makes total sense but the government isn't censoring you and theatre owners have a right to exercise what they're going to show and what they're not going to show. If you want to see it make an effort, if it means booking a flight to San Francisco, that's life.

I live in a very conservative city in California. Every showing of The Passion of the Christ in my local theatre was sold out for weeks and weeks, I had to buy tickets two days in advance. A couple of weeks ago my friend and I went to see Rumor Has It and I noticed a very small poster advertising Broke Back Mountain, the next weekend when my friend and I went to see King Kong the poster was gone. The movie wasn't on the marquee and in fact it was not going to be shown at that theatre. I asked the ticket taker why they weren't going to show Broke Back Mountain and the guy said that based on the area and input from patrons the owners didn't feel it would generate enough revenue to support taking up a time slot. Fair enough and that shows you that theatre owners aren't necessarily trying to censor what their patrons see, some are just trying to not lose money or stir up a hornet's nest.

For the record I don't live in po-dunky-ville, there are at least ten other theatres in the area and some are showing Broke Back Mountain.
 
You wanna talk about niche films?

what's ironic is every time I asked people if they were going to see/had seen Serenity they asked, "what's that"?
And lo and behold, it didn't do well at the Box Office.

Meantime, I was out at a bar on Friday night listening to my boys play at their latest gig and there was nothing but buzz about Broke Back Mountain....

Perhaps now that it's won all those Golden Globes the twits will re-think showing it.

*deadpan*

...clearly, they've never heard of Ang Lee....yep, I'm sure that's what it was.
 
Walmart indulges in censorship; Choosing to not show a film is not censorship. What's the difference? Walmart's went beyond refusing to distribute CD's that were rated E. They were pushing " cleaned up versions". Who altered them? What if, in pushing the sanitized version, they ( Walmart) decides to stick a sanitized name on the label. Is this plagarism? It must also be noted, that Harlan Ellison sticks his monicker, Cordwainer Bird on all his art that has been sanitized.
 
Maybe they are worried that if the film upsets too many people, that they'll do some major vandalism against the theatre. Case in point. In 1956, The Blackboard Jungle was shown in the Albert Hall. The kids went so crazy, they tore up the seats, and they LIKED that film.
 
LG makes an excellent point, as usual. As a side business, my Uncle owns a small, one-screen, second-run movie theatre. It's in a very small town in the Lehigh Valley, a bastion of Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish. Very religious people. But he didn't play The Passion of the Christ. I asked him about this, as it would seem to suit his demo. He told me, "Well, the studios are asking for an ever bigger-cut of the revenues, and this particular studio wants a 90-10 split for the first week. Basically, I won't even break even on the film."

My Uncle runs this business more out of a love for fimls than to make money. His primary job supports him just fine. But even he realizes that losing money on a film is not an option, no matter how "right" it is to show it.
 
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