Actress Olivia Wilde is criticizing Etihad Airways for “cutting a lesbian scene featured in her film Booksmart” on their inflight entertainment system.
This is truly a bummer. There is no nudity in this scene. What makes it too obscene for airplane viewing? What airline? https://t.co/5QwlomY2fR
— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) October 27, 2019
That makes for a compelling narrative – Mideast airline taking conservative approach to censorship, eliminating scenes where two women kiss but not heterosexual kissing – except things aren’t that simple at all. The same edited version is shown on Delta, while unedited versions are available on Air Canada, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines. By the way, here’s the Booksmart kissing scene I won’t embed it here and will leave it up to you whether it’s safe for work.
Three years ago Delta was under fire for showing a film with a lesbian kissing scene edited out. The 2015 film Carol was about an affair between a young female photographer and an older woman in the midst of a divorce. It’s set in New York City and stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.
What most people do not realize is that airlines do not edit films. They do not have the right to edit films. Studios or contracted third parties make edited versions available and just because kissing is removed from a film doesn’t mean the airline objected to kissing.
- There may be some scenes in a film deemed not suitable for everyone on a plane
- So the airline opts for the edited version
- Which means they take all the edits in the edited versions, they do not pick and choose
Airlines will take edited versions of films to avoid references to planes crashing, or to remove the brands of competitor airlines (American Airlines was blurred out of Up in the Air when I watched it on other carriers). But what about sexual content? Some airlines show unedited versions, others take the studio edit and rely on passenger (and parent) discretion. What role should the airline play?
And what about passengers watching content on their own devices where other passengers can see what they’re watching, what’s the line for explicit scenes there?
A flight attendant in my Facebook feed once shared a story about a man taking such a long time in the lavatory that another passenger expressed concern – eventually the crew started to suspect a medical emergency. After much knocking he came out, iPad in hand. He went in there to watch a movie. That’s one way to handle the problem of other passengers seeing the explicit scenes on your personal device.
Wilde is calling for “some kind of governing board” to determine what should be censored on planes, though adds “If it’s not X-rated, surely it’s acceptable on an airplane.”
For what it’s worth I met Olivia Wilde at the Conde’ Nast Traveler 25th Anniversary gala and didn’t know who she was until later.
(HT: Jackie Reddy)
Meanwhile, I could watch KINGSMAN 1 – THE SECRET SERVICE unedited on an airplane and see slashings, heads exploding and the violent murder of 200 people in a church. That’s deemed suitable for everyone on a plane. Two women making out? Oh no, can’t have that.
Many years ago we had some flight issues on United coming back from Heathrow and we ended up on Virgin. At the time the South Park movie was out and I watched it. I remember thinking that a US airline would have never shown it or most of the audio would have been bleeped out since a large portion of the dialog consisted of the F word. It was hilarious but obviously not for everyone especially many airlines.
This is why I don’t watch movies on planes. I don’t want to see some edited version of the movie. I can’t even imagine trying to figure out what to make of Booksmart without that scene – it’s kind of a pivotal moment of the movie! – not to mention what else they must have had to cut.
Consequently, this is also why I don’t understand people who seem ready to riot over the removal of seatback video. If I wanna watch a movie on a plane, I’ll download what I want to watch to my own device – better movie selection and I don’t have to worry about what parts of the movie I’m missing.
Part of the airline business is that carriers often reflect their home countries, and many use this as a key selling point when marketing to foreigners. I think it is ridiculous for US airlines to engage in content censorship because American culture finds censorship to be generally against our core values. We have a movie rating system so people understand from the beginning what they’re about to see. While the ME3 often aim to project a modern image, they are at the root airlines from a corner of the world where it is NOT ok for two women to kiss. I’m not surprised at all that they would use the censored version of the movie and feel that the appropriate reaction is to consider the culture of an airline when deciding which to fly.
“Sco” took the words right out of my fingers… I fly Delta mostly, and refuse to watch a movie if it’s edited from what the Director intended. This is one of my biggest complaints about Delta – that unedited versions of some of the films they show are not available for me to choose. I don’t need a third party telling me what I can and can’t watch. And now, just as others do, I download what I want to watch in advance on my laptop or iPhone so I don’t have to be bothered. And finally, we all wear headphones (either provided or our own) – so why the deleted/beeped soundtracks? Who else is going to hear? I certainly don’t mind a “trigger warning” so that the sensitive among us can make an adult decision about what to watch (or what our children in our charge should watch). Just give us the choice to see the unedited version is that is our choice.
And Gary, it really doesn’t matter whether the edits are made by the airline or a third party – because it’s the airline that makes the decision to provide those edited movies with or without the unedited versions – so the airline is definitely primarily accountable for my annoyance. The airlines may be delegating the work of censorship, but they can’t delegate the responsibility.
No adult wants to be treated like a child – and that’s exactly what the airlines are doing in the case of editing films. Shame on them and shame on the individuals that insist that I’m not mature enough to decide for myself what art/entertainment I want to see or not see.
Wilde may have forgotten that we have an established set of ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17/X.
As an adult with no kids, I’ll happily watch R rated movies all day long. But R has always been a “no kids” thing, so if she wants to draw a line, she’d have to draw it somewhere below “R”.
Movie theaters can exclude patrons under a given age, depending on what movie is playing. Airlines cannot. It is perfectly appropriate for an airline to choose to limit the content that kids might see if they want to. If airline practice differs on this, then it is something that those who care enough about it can take into account in choosing an airline.
To those who argue against censorship: I respect your desire to see films as the authors intended. Really, I get it. But this isn’t just about you as an individual and what you want to watch. The airline is providing the content to a wide audience, and it commendably takes responsibility for the possibility of inappropriate content being seen by minors. It is not outside the realm of possibility for me (as a parent) to fall asleep on a plane and wake up to my 6-year-old glued to an R-rated film simply because he was innocently tapping the touch screen. (I am defending censorship in general, not necessary this instance.)
Well, the good thing is that at the beginning of the movie they describe the edit. For example, it frequently says edited to fit the screen.
I thought airlines stopped editing for content when they went to individual video because I have not seen “edited for content” for quite some time. However, I think the only time I have watched seatback movies in recent memory has been on KLM/AF/VS
Add Finnair to the list of airline showing the unedited version.
Hilarious movie!
This reminds me of a story I read from years ago. In the movie “Rain Man” there is a statement that states the only airline without a fatal accident (as I recall the line) was Qantas. This scene was edited out for all airlines with the notable exception of Qantas 🙂
There’s sleight of hand in this post that sidesteps major underlying issue, which is whether the same content would have gotten cut had it been heterosexual.
You mention that her narrative about the airline not liking homosexual content was incorrect, but then proceed to just treat this like it was a matter of line-drawing in sexual content.
This is just the “I don’t have a problem with it I just don’t want it shoved in my face” argument. As long as you blatantly ignore the fact that heterosexual content gets separate treatment you can act like this is just a matter of “drawing the line.”
The airlines provide guidance to their contracted entertainment providers about what kind of things they don’t want shown in their IFE programming. The contracted entertainment providers edit the content to suit the guidance requirements set by an airline or group of airlines and then supply the edited content that meets the airline-set guidance given to the IFE content suppliers.
If an airline said it doesn’t want films to be edited for sexual content, then they wouldn’t be edited in such a way for that airline client. If the airline said they want the movie content to be entirely the same as shown in the commercial theaters, exclusive of advertisements, it would be supplied that way.
@ken – it is quite reasonable to think this would not have been cut if it were heterosexual content, but that misses my point, the focal point of displeasure shouldn’t be the airline (which isn’t the one that made the editing choice)
Or you could just fly BA first & watch a British model & her girlfriend go for it. Thats a whole different kind of seatback entertainment though I suppose.
https://viewfromthewing.com/supermodel-sex-inflight-complains-flight-attendant-passenger-watching/
The US airlines have been much more sensitive about showing sexual content in IFE than EU airlines. And those involved in supplying the content to the airlines know it — and the airlines’ buyers for content sort of know it too.
@GUWonder – Agree, US has always been much more hypocritical than Europe, just look at evangelicals supporting trump…
This is news? I recall IF and FT threads where certain bozos defended their “rights” to watch porn in flight on their laptops.
The daily news is far worse than anything in movies today. It’s up to parents to filter what their children watch. I should not be penalized for the laziness of a parent. If you bring a child on a plane it is the responsibility of the parent to watch them and do as needed.
As I generally fly AA I’m forced to download my own content on my own iPad so I see what I want as they have no entertainment on board the vast majority of their aircraft. The nice thing there is that I miss all of their commercials 🙂
I never watch films on planes. The selections are weak, the formatting ridiculous, they are edited by the morals police. It is nothing like the experience intended by the director.
I do listen to podcasts; far more enjoyable.
Delta has picked what version of the movie it wants to show and will now show the version of the show with the edited-out scenes in this movie back in the movie.