Censors, Censor Thyself
A U-Dub editorial (that’s University of Washington, for the uninitiated) advocates for parenting.
If parents honestly have a problem with the content of a certain film, why even show it to kids in the first place, even in a more conservative version? Why not just wait a couple years until they are ready to handle adult themes, or find another venue of education for certain topics? It may be hard to believe in today’s TV-centric society, but there are other avenues for teaching children about World War II and the Holocaust than having them watch Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List.
The director’s vision is also completely disregarded by these editing techniques. Any kind of art is meant to be viewed in its original form, including films that not everyone may agree with. If we start cutting out sections of a film, what’s next? Slicing out portions of Catcher in the Rye or Huckleberry Finn and putting them on library shelves? Better yet, let’s make a more modest version of Cosmopolitan targeted for the girl who wants to shelter herself from articles about sex. Oh wait, it’s called Seventeen. Why not just read that instead?
If you don’t like it, don’t look at it. Don’t risk compromising someone else’s vision when a blind eye will do the trick.
