Today I won't be talking about movies, not directly anyway. Since my country and everything in it has been changing, and what I'm about to talk about has been one of the things I've wanted to see change ever since I became the movie freak that I am. I'm talking about the movie censorship in Egypt.
The issue has been bugging me for years, and it has ruined several movie going experiences for me, and sometimes even prevented them altogether as I didn't want a movie to be cut in half so I'd avoid seeing it in the thearters and wait for a DVD release.
But no more, today I'm going to talk about it, it's time to "Let the critic in me out" to quote a dear friend, who acutally inspired this article as our last movie going experience "Hall Pass" and how much it sucked because of censorship was just the last straw. Mizo, this is for you, bro.
The Egyptian censorship agency has been a nightmare for years, in the name of upholding the morals of the Egyptian society they've mutilated hundreds of movies both in theaters and when shown on TV. Movies end up not making sense, crucial plot moments suddenly disappear, and the movie just suddenly stops making sense.
Hell, sometimes they even cut out the cuss words and even the dialogue is screwed. I can understand altering the subtitles a bit to hide such words to those who don't understand the language, but if you already do then there's no point in hiding the words because you'll end up just pissing the viewer off.
I've actually discussed the issue with several people and the opinions varied greatly. Naturally, there were some who agreed and some who didn't. That's life and I respect that. What I don't respect or even accept is the reasons that some of those who disagreed with me cited for their opinion. One opinion stood out the most (It's one I got more than once, especially by people who are an extra bit religious) is that I'm a pervert and I just want to see some nudity and sex scenes. I won't comment on that in here.
I won't keep telling arguments I had with people, but since everything's changing in Egypt, I really hope that the censorship issue is resolved. And in my humble, amateur opinion I even have a few suggestions.
As for movie theaters, controlling the age of those who go in to watch a movie has been ridiculous so far. I have to point out that there were some "Adults Only" movies shown, but those were cheap horror movies and that doesn't count, and even in those I'd see kids no moere than 10 years old sitting and watching. So the solution is simple. Stronger controls on theaters and paying attention to who buys those tickets and who's entering going in is a simple solution to the problem. After all, we do pay money to see the movies.
As for the TV part, if you want to uphold the morals of the Egyptian society, fine. Just do it a little more tastefully. The editor has to be someone who understands what's to go and what's to stay because what's been going on so far is nothing short of mutilation, which is frankly something I cannot live with, and that's why it's been almost 2 years since I've seen a movie on television.
Like I said, a lot of things are changing, and I know that this particular item is far down on the list, I just hope that some day I could go to the theater to see some movie like "Hall Pass" or "American Pie" and know that I won't be coming out after 10 minutes.
A.G
LOL My name is there =D , Excellent opinions as always dude. keep on going and don't stop ,you can write twice a week, one the intro to the movies that was the whole idea of the blog and the second time just normal critical view of either the movie you chose to introduce or any other random idea.
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