Editing team filters adult material for youngaudiences
Ray Lines has a plan to protect children from graphic films.
But why is his special brand of movie editing necessary –necessary enough to violate copyright laws?
Kidslike doing things their parents tell them not to do. It’s a fact.Restricting your child from watching a television show or movieguarantees that he will A) want to see it and B) devise a scheme inhis little mind to see it.
This secret — the fact that saying “You can’t see the movie’Hannibal'” to a child translates as “I dare you to try and see’Hannibal'” — is well-known in the movie industry, and for yearsmovies with questionable content have been advertised to children.
Unfortunately for the Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA), its plan was exposed to the masses recently when the FederalTrade Commission came out with a shocking report — which shocked few– that 80 percent of movies studied by the Commission with anR-rating were marketed to kids under 17.
The MPAA didn’t deny the results of the study, but insteadpromised to “take a fresh look at the way we market our films” inorder to “curtail the amount of violent entertainment targeted atunderage youth,” according to an article released by the AssociatedPress.
Thislooks bad for the motion picture industry.
Parents already blame filmmakers for corrupting the minds of theirchildren by glorifying violence in their movies. What can the MPAA doto reassure parents that it cares about their children, while at thesame time keeping its loyal, “under-17” crowd?
Maybe if the association wasn’t dead-set against Ray Lines, itcould hit these two birds with one stone. Ray Lines owns and runswww.cleanflicks.com, a business that skillfully edits gratuitous sexand violence out of videos customers mail to him, and willadditionally, “as a favor,” buy these movies for the customer for $8to $15 and then edit them.
Lines previously owned a store that rented-out edited videos, butafter the MPAA learned of it, his lawyer advised him to “rethink” hisbusiness plan. The Web site he runs is a hit because parents can buytheir favorite movie and watch it with their kids instead of puttingit on “restriction” — guaranteeing that the kids will watch iteventually, blood, breasts and all.
However, the MPAA can’t see the big picture. Filmmakers don’trealize that their videos are reaching a broader market because ofClean Flicks, and that it isn’t costing them a penny. Instead, theyare opposed to it because the money the shop is making threatenstheir precious copyright laws. If the Motion Picture Association ofAmerica would open its eyes, it could see that Ray Lines is not onlykeeping the industry’s young audience, but also reeling in theirparents, while at the same time making a priceless public relationsmove. “We care what your children watch” — imagine the money thisslogan could make!
It’s a shame that the MPAA can’t see an opportunity staring itright in the face.
–Rebecca Martin is a pre-journalism freshman. Send e-mail todaletter2000@hotmail.com.
–This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec.
