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E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Viewer Discretion
Some films that air on cable have content that is at times a bit obscene, offensive or abrasive, and as such usually get edited out. What's interesting as of late are the words that didn't get edited out.
On Sunday March 9, 2008 the USA network aired Training Day with Denzel Washington and The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carell. Both films arguably placed a viewer discretion notice prior to the film's airings, but for all the edits of the B-word, D-word and a host of other FCC-restricted words, the one word that the network let air in its entirety was the N-word.
Here's a question: What was the rationale used to have all the other words removed from the airing of the film and keep the N-word in?
Here's another question: Should cable programmers and broadcasters be responsible for the content that they air when it comes to language, or is it an obstruction of creative license to the filmmaker to edit their content in any way?
On Friday, March 14 and Sunday, March 16, 2008 the film Glory Road was aired on TNT. The film depicted the struggles and triumphs of one of the first collegiate schools in the South to start all African American players on the basketball court in the 1960's.
In the film, scenes were depicted that were indicative of the time period, including the use of the N-word. When black players returned from a game or a practice while on the road, they would return to the motel they were staying in only to find the N-word splattered across the motel room walls in red letters telling them to “die” and “Go Home”.
The moments depicted offer a glimpse of some of the harsh realities the team faced in the racially charged era of the sixties. In allowing the story to be told in the manner that they did, TNT exposed the harsh truths that actually existed in that time frame. The same cannot be said about the liberal use of the N-word in the previous two films mentioned.
When concerns over free speech vs. the editing of a films content arise, arguments are made for both sides. The question now is whether people agreed or disagreed with the airing of Training Day and The 40-Year-Old Virgin the way they did.
Was the company justified in their decision?