PBS: Censored & Uncensored War

[MrBern]

KenBurns is releasing two versions of THE WAR for PBS.
Article on the concerns of graphic language & fines by the FCC:
hollywoodreporter story


Burns:"I could have said, 'I won't show this film (with the profanity removed),' " he told the Post. "But the whole point was to bear witness to what the reality of the Second World War was like, and that's what I want to share, with or without the bleeps."

ironic that a few years ago, ABC aired the fictional SavingPrivateRyan uncensored.

 

[Doh!]

Heck, I remember when they showed Patton on TV uncensored, sometime in the '70s. My dad cautioned us about using any of the words we heard (although the rules apparently didn't apply to him).

 

[MrBern]

ken burns quote

GQ interview
interview link
"Believe it or not, an ungodly number of our graduating high-school seniors think we fought with the Germans against the Russians in the Second World War."

 

[dhermann1]

OK, so they don't read, but don't they even go to movies?

 

[dr greg]

what?

Burns:"I could have said, 'I won't show this film (with the profanity removed),' " he told the Post. "But the whole point was to bear witness to what the reality of the Second World War was like, and that's what I want to share, with or without the bleeps."

ironic that a few years ago, ABC aired the fictional SavingPrivateRyan uncensored.

Don't take this personally anybody, but your country seems crazy to me sometimes...you can show foul language and people getting their heads blown off in every second movie, but you can't have a soldier swearing in a DOCUMENTARY!!!!

 

[eniksleestack]

Don't take this personally anybody, but your country seems crazy to me sometimes...you can show foul language and people getting their heads blown off in every second movie, but you can't have a soldier swearing in a DOCUMENTARY!!!!

Believe me, we know, we know...

One just has to look to the US headlines to see that most of the DC moralists (which FCC is sadly manned by) are in fact "guilty" of the behavior they themselves are policing. And in recent years PBS has become a target of their concerns.

This is not a political party issue, per-se, but rather a climate of political correctness. And the hypocrisy is a thick as cheddar. There's a lot of rah-rah militarism in the country right now, some of the most vociferous by those who've never served.

The lessons and images of the Second World War are constantly invoked by pundits, often with intentional or unintentional historical misunderstanding, and generally with the the ubiquitous title of "the Greatest Generation" applied. Yet, here we have the surreality of wanting a "good war" without the "bad language" which is the worst type of historical revisionism and the exact thing that ken Burns is trying to fight against with his films. Heck, maybe someday Burns will make a documentary about it.

That's why I trust most self-professed cultural moralists as far as I can throw them.

 

[Harp]

Soldiers never swear.

 

[Edward]

lol

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

...

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth..."

As the Good Book put it, "There is nothing new under the sun."

 

[Paisley]

Don't take this personally anybody, but your country seems crazy to me sometimes...you can show foul language and people getting their heads blown off in every second movie, but you can't have a soldier swearing in a DOCUMENTARY!!!!

That's how I see it. But it also seems to me that subtlety has been lost by those who make movies and TV shows. Do we have to see people being butchered to understand that's what is happening?

 

[Doh!]

It started airing last night; is anyone watching it? I'm only an hour into it, but so far, so good.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Ridiculous to try and censor this, particularly since the profanity these men are using is like a box of fluffy kittens compared to the stuff you hear aired on the radio today. What did they say in the first two episodes--a couple of instances of taking the Lord's name in vain and a SoB is all that comes to mind. I understand it might still be offensive to some people but put a warning at the start of the show and leave it historically accurate I say.