-----Original Message----- From: Mario Taboada [mailto:
matrxtech@yahoo.com] I rarely watch movies on television,
but in recent months I have noticed that the Bravo channel,
for example, cuts movies. They totally eliminated a brief but
key sex scene in Kieslowski's Red (with Trintignant). I think
it's outrageous. When Bravo started out, they were a good
channel, not an exhibitor of disfigured films.
--After they stopped being a "premium" (extra-pay, such as
HBO) service, and became a "basic-cable" channel (not that
this stopped some cable outlets from charging extra for Bravo
and other "basic" services), it began doing silly things such
as reframing such films as A MAN IN LOVE so that you were
seeing only 1/4 of the already truncated "fullscreen"
image...you could hear the sexual encounter, but you might
see only the foreheads of the characters. Making for a very
grainy experience, nostalgic for fans of midcentury porn
films...
Many channels also seem to have some kind of aversion to
female breasts and to nudity in general, as if there were
something unhealthy about the human body. So they butcher the
films they show. I am talking about US television. Things are
different in Europe (how are they in Canada?).
As an occasional visitor to border country (Vermont,
Michigan), I can attest that mild-mannered Canadians attempt
to pollute our virgin Yank eyes and ears with unedited movies
in primetime on CBC, and perhaps even on CTV and the other
commercial nets. But then, most (by no means all) PBS
stations let more adult imagery and language go forth than
most of the commercial nets do, most of the time (NYPD BLUE,
CHICAGO HOPE...perhaps it helps to have a city in the
title...being often-precious examples of exceptions over the
last decade). ROOTS had a few scenes that surprised me in
this regard, back when (and everyone I've met who's ever seen
it seems to remember the PBS HOLLYWOOD THEATER production of
Bruce Jay Friedman's "Steambath", with Valeri Perrine).
TM
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