Should Some Homeade Edits Be Legal?

[8wid]

Ok I know there are a lot of fan editors out there who love to redo their favorite movies, especially the Star Wars prequels. And I know that it's legal to burn a digital copy of a DVD to have on a hard-drive that's no longer passed around.

But in one case I had recently in letting kids watch a movie for a school assignment where the movie was rated R and had tons of profane words in it. Shouldn't it be legal to edit out certain scenes and words to censor it from the sight of viewers who don't necessarily need to see it? Grandpa doesn't need that sex scene, the kids don't need to see Macbeth get his head cut off, etc?

Your thoughts?

 

[Boom]

As long as you bought the film, and you're not making a profit off of your edited version, then I don't see the problem.

 

[enterthemadness]

I have fan made cuts of some of the Highlander films.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I believe the FBI warning at the front of movies is pretty clear. Also, if the movie is rated R, then you shouldn't be showing it to little kids, period. And if you have a problem with a films content, then either don't watch it, or grow some.

 

[HighFivingMF]

I believe the FBI warning at the front of movies is pretty clear.

Good point. Make sure you cut out the warning first, 8wid.

 

[moviedoors]

No one's going to stop you even care unless you try to distribute them or turn a profit. You can totally play with a work of art. You can do anything you want to it, you're just limited in what you can do with your version. Trust men, this is not an issue worth getting paranoid over.

If you're doing it for school, I say forget it. Just have the kids take home a waiver for their parents. If anyone has a problem, they don't have to watch it. We watched The Ghost and The Darkness, a pretty damn bloody movie, in a history class when I was a high school freshman and we had to have parental consent. I prefer that to watering down.

 

[Lighthouse]

Curious. Why does a school assignment require them to watch a rated R movie? As long as you don't sell it or broadcast it in the school or a public place, then you should be ok, legally that is. In principle, I think it does a huge disservice to a film when you try to censor it.

 

[8wid]

Curious. Why does a school assignment require them to watch a rated R movie? As long as you don't sell it or broadcast it in the school or a public place, then you should be ok, legally that is. In principle, I think it does a huge disservice to a film when you try to censor it.

Just for the nude scenes, offensive language, violent scenes, gore, can all be edited out of what otherwise would be an acceptable movie that doesn't come in any other version. It's too make it appropriate for a classroom environment of an educational film.

 

[Mandalore464]

You don't butcher a film to make it "more appropriate". You don't study classic nude paintings and blur out the family jewels.

I just hate people who cut out parts of films just to make them more "appropriate". How are you supposed to make sense of a film if a character just disappears from one scene to the next because you cut out his or her death?

That makes NO sense.

Ratings exist to protect young viewers from offensive material, and they should be respected (although I will concede that giving a movie an R-rating because some chick shows her **** is an overkill, but I understand that nowadays you're supposed to feel ashamed at the sight of a nude human body... It's a funny world we live in). If a film's not "appropriate" to young audiences, then it's only appropriate that you don't show it to them.

 

[bullets]

I believe the FBI warning at the front of movies is pretty clear. Also, if the movie is rated R, then you shouldn't be showing it to little kids, period. And if you have a problem with a films content, then either don't watch it, or grow some.

They do the edits on television. I once taped a movie ( Mad City) so I could watch it in school. We had a substitute for the week and were allowed a movie day.


So I don't see anything wrong with fan edits. Unless it's used to turn a profit.

 

[Lighthouse]

To be fair, the edited version of The Big Lebowski is a cinematic treasure.