I was on a plane recently and saw the new Helen Mirren movie The Queen. It was a well-done film, although in many ways it was just a curiosity about how they would show the events, rather than wondering what would happen next.
One thing got me though… I thought at first that there was an occasional problem with the sound, but on the third time I realised what was happening there’s a line when someone says “It was a vow before … ” (I’ve put the dots where the sound cut out). And I realised that they were cutting the sound every time someone referred to God.
Considering that the Borat movie was also showing on the plane, it does make you wonder what the definition of ‘offensive’ is these days. And will the text used at the coronation of George VII be altered so that he no longer makes a vow before God, and isn’t made the head of the Anglican church?
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So what about the lipreaders ? did they pixelate the lips as the word was uttered ?
Which airline ?
Try googling this:
“the queen” censor god miramax
Wow .. that’s a bit out there. Surely it’s gone too far when they’re showing Borat in all it’s .. profound-ness *grin* but they’re not using the word “God”. Did they censor anything in Borat? (please say yes, please say yes)
If they didn’t censor anything in Borat, I would see this as highly unfair. Personally, I don’t see any offensiveness with regard to refering to ‘God’ specailly in a film like ‘The Queen’, which is actually based on a true story. Borat thing is very diffeant though, from the very concept, it is offensive and I think it should have had a global banning and as I gather, it does not reflect a true picture of things at all and it is not constructive critisism either.
I have absolutely no idea if they censored anything in Borat. I know it’s really offensive, but it’s meant to be. I think if you go to see Brokeback Mountain but are going to be offended by the content that you expect will be in there, then you shouldn’t’ve gone to see it in the first place, and I think the same goes for everything done by Sacha Baron-Cohen. In many ways I’m ashamed that the two famous comedians I went to school with are two that seem to offend a lot of people. But they’re comedy styles that work for them both, and I wish them luck.
I think if you want to watch Borat and are worried about being offended, the 30-second bunny version at http://www.starz.com/features/bunnyclub/borat/ is probably the way to go.
I was offended by “The Sound of Music” – the kids got to stay up way past their bedtime, and then hyping them up before they are supposed to sleep ? bah.
The sun, has gone, to bed and so must I …
This even made the news:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=182462
Well, It does make sense that people in power don’t imply that to be British (Australian) you must be christian.