MovieChat Forums > Cleanflix (2012) Discussion > 'Hey filmmakers, your vision for your ow...

'Hey filmmakers, your vision for your own movie was wrong!'

posted 11 years ago by Rob_Brown78
6 replies | jump to latest

That's what I got out of a lot of the statements made in the movie by proponents of censoring the films. It's one thing if you just want a clean version of the film, that's fine, but what a LOT of the people were saying was "I want to watch your movie, because everyone's talking about it and I feel left out out, but minus everything that made it your movie that made it something that people wanted to watch in the first place". I also like that they keep talking about Hollywood like it's a person, like no one has an individual voice, that sex and violence are just completely meaningless in film, and film, regardless of context. Hollywood says that you have to do this or that, and it's to blame for everything. Well, except for that one movie I keep hearing so much about, and as soon as we take the swearing out, it will be a perfect film...

The hypocrisy is ASTOUNDING, and having lived smack dab in the middle of Mormon country, I've experienced it firsthand, but unfortunately I wasn't around at the time to see this Cleanflicks phenomenon as it played out. One thing that I was hoping to see more of in the film was how people that grew up watching edited movies and being shielded from anything controversial reacted to anything outside of their bubble. I mean, they made a LOT of claims that exposing yourself to the things they were censoring basically made you a horrible person (hmmmm, what kind of people were the ones that had the job of editing the films?), so I would have liked to have seen some interaction with people with normal viewing habits or a bit about parents just being responsible when it came to what their kids watched, like how you can raise them to know what's right or wrong without having to be a religious zealot about it.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Rob_Brown78 11 years ago

It's funny that they thought that, and they don't realize that they're all just working backwards and editing an already edited together product. Whether it improves the stories or not (spoiler: it doesn't), these people didn't have the creativity to CREATE it in the first place. It's Monday morning quarterbacking at it's finest. "Here's what I would have done. Here's how I would have made this other part better. Here's how I would have made the perfect ending..." and so on. It's really easy to say what you'd do to someone else's work or accomplishments. Try coming up with something on your own! While I can understand some of the movie choices, there were a few floating around in the background in scenes that made me wonder what they could have possible done. I'm sure I saw "Scarface" on a shelf, and there were a few other puzzling choices as well.

If you're a horrible person just for watching sex and violence or whatever, what does that make the people who have the job of editing these films for Cleanflicks? Or is that another of the hypocrisies, like they're OK, because they're doing God's work or something...

[–] stiv-7 11 years ago

That's a documentary i would like to see: because, as an editor removing objectionable content (aka censor), you would be focusing on all this material that is viewed as objectionable. Because your focus is skewed that way, I would find it difficult to believe that that would have NO effect on your personal morality.

FWIW, I am a Mormon who understands intellectual property law, and therefore knows the difference between what Clean Flicks and ClearPlay respectively were doing, and why ClearPlay was exempted from the court order; hint: Google Game Genie.

[–] gcarras (2727) 7 years ago

Hmm. Monday Morning QUARTERBACKING..as in football. Maybe cheerleader scenes, especially in (any) sports themed films like Bring it On should be edited..

[–] daddie0 10 years ago

I agree with you about folks seeing "Hollywood" as a person, as well as the arbitrary labeling of all of any one thing or the other as offensive. Honestly, I can't see how they could have made anything coherent out of Kill Bill if they were editing out language, sexuality, and death.

Isn't there a secondary issue of how we chose to consume material? In other words, can I watch your movie with the sound off? Or for example, I have a friend and his wife who love horror films, but fast-forward through the whole movie first and then watch it a second time with popcorn. I'm sure the creators would be frustrated with that, but is it not their right to control how it is consumed?

I have another example from my own life: when my boys were young, they (and I) loved computer games. One in particular was Tony Hawk Pro Skater. They were young, and while I thought the game play was cool and fun, the music was repetitive, and as you might imagine, made to appeal to folks who were already in the skate scene. I was bummed because they wanted to play and I wanted to let them, but I couldn't do so in good conscience. So I did some digging on the internet and found some media encoders that would let me replace the music files in the game. Ironically this 'hack' was created by folks who also found the music repetitive, but I'm sure would not have shared the same musical tastes as I did for my boys. I decided to replace the music with some local bands that I knew and who my boys had seen in concert first hand already, and who's music style fit the fast and fun gameplay perfectly.

Well, needless to say, my boys loved the game, and came to truly love the songs that played during their many hours of play. As a matter of fact, my oldest son said recently that every time he skates or snowboards now, he hears this music from his childhood. So it seems to me that what we choose to put in our minds, or how we choose to consume media, is an important--and very personal--matter.

[–] homestar_is_cool 9 years ago

The funniest thing about Cleanflix was that the owner admitted to not offering an edited version of Brokeback Mountain for "obvious reasons."

Maybe you guys don't want to look at yourselves in the mirror and realize, "I'm the Maniac!"