RE: [Videolib] Edited Movies

Ciara Healy (cmhealy@waketech.edu)
Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:15:21 -0500

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I spent the school year working as a middle school librarian. Though it
was the case that I had to grudgingly police all kinds of copyright
violations (wierd stuff like principal wants to photocopy music from a
chorus book so students can all (1100 of them) sing a song during
assembly) the worst kinds of transgression were with videos. I
encouraged the principal to get this kind of blanket license from a
company that claimed, for a flat fee, to be able to allow you to show
Disney films and the like. At least that would cover the worst of it.
The brochure specifically cited "last day of school" as one of the many
wonderful uses of this license. I was curious - how does a Disney film
ever count as fair use i.e. part of the curriculum, even on the last day
of school? But if he had a license, then... whatever.

Teachers were ravenous to show videos to the chidren because then they
quieted down and paid some kind of attention. Any video, from any
source, at any time; ones from blockbuster, from home or wherever. No
one complained - ever. Not the parents, not the teachers, not kids.
Nobody. An underreaction, no?

On the last day of school I found out the principal OK'd using the
in-school brodcasting system to pipe Black Hawk Down to every classroom.
I only found out when someone came in and asked me if I would pop in the
next film (I forget what it was) as they thought it was being broadcast
from my office. Whoops!

While I am against censorship in all of its bullshit "family values"
guises (while creatively resisting a teacher-led challenge of Persepolis
AND a "please pull from the shelves until further notice" order for The
Bluest Eye AND a near district-wide ban of Kaffir Boy ) I think that
parents should at least know what their children watch. Even if they
keep letting them watch it. Would principal have sent home a permission
form asking parents if that film was acceptable for their children to
watch? Probably not.

Reactions and over reactions aside, Black Hawk Down is no Wallace and
Gromit. That is the irony. Persepolis is challenged while no one bats an
eye at showing violent war films - rated R due to violent content - to
6th, 7th and 8th graders.

It is the under reaction as much as the over reaction that makes you
shudder. "Meets a need" ain't in it.

>>> barbara.bergman@mnsu.edu >>>

Although I'm scratching my head as to what they could possibly have
found to edit in Wallace & Gromit or Pride & Prejudice (these are
apparently people who also complain about language on broadcast TV), I
know that using editted films is often the only way that K-12 teachers
can show some films -- over-zealous administrators who are concerned
about over-reactive parents tend to issue edicts about R-rated films --
so I guess it meets a need.

~Barb

-----Original Message-----
From: videolib-bounces@library.berkeley.edu
[mailto:videolib-bounces@library.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Kathy
Turnquist
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 9:15 AM
To: Videolib
Subject: [Videolib] Edited Movies

Is this site the reincarnation of FamilySafeMedia?

CleanFlicks http://cleanflicks.com/index.html
"We are the leading provider of Edited Hollywood movies. We remove all:
Profanity, Nudity, Graphic Violence, Sexual Content. Over 700 Edited
titles!"

Reading the list of profanity they promise to edit out, I had to laugh
while I guessed at all the "B-, H-, D-, and S-words" they might mean.
(Those are bad words?)
Kathy

-- Kathy Turnquist, Director Audio Visual Institute of DuPage (AVID) 630-495-2843 www.avidmediacenter.org

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