The Puritans get shut out

I was glad to see this piece of news yesterday. Companies that "sanitize" films have been ruled to be in violation of the rights of the artist and copyright law. This was a disturbing trend, where a company could take a DVD of a movie, say Braveheart, and re-edit it as they see fit for sanitized distribution.

I don't have a problem with sanitized versions of films necessarily, as airline and television cuts of films have been around for some time. The difference, though, is that those re-edits were made with the collaboration of the director, who got to do his or her best to preserve their vision of the film. So on an artistic level, I appreciate the ruling.

And on a social level, I am glad that "Pulp Fiction Lite" is now unavailable. If you want to watch Pulp Fiction, then watch Pulp Fiction. If you don't want to watch blood and hear bad language, then don't watch Pulp Fiction. That seems pretty simple. And if your kids want to see Pulp Fiction, either let them or don't let them. But giving them a "sanitized" version of the movie makes no sense. Even if you take out the blood and the language, you still end up with two hitmen who kill people. I'm not sure it's that important whether they do it on or off camera.