Last night, I was watching my favorite movie of all time: The Godfather. I was watching this on AMC, which is having a celebration this week for the movie's 40th anniversary. I understand that there are certain things that you cannot put on TV. You have to censor some of the content.
But who decides what is offensive and what is not?
I ask this because of the editing in this scene:
"Piece of ass" was edited to "piece of stuff," but a sentence later "guinea charm" was not edited.
Now, I don't see what is offensive about "piece of ass." Are they censoring that because it might be offensive to women? Are we going to pretend like misogyny doesn't exist? Meanwhile, we can keep the slurs towards Italian people. It just seems hypocritical to me that they are censoring for one group of people, but not another. It sends a mixed message.
Now, I would say that the Italian slurs are essential to what makes The Godfather The Godfather since it is a story about an Italian family in a developing and changing America. However, I'd also say that the existence of misogyny at the time is important to the integrity of the movie's setting.
I hate censorship. I understand that certain content, such as nudity (Apollonia wedding night scene always gets cut), cannot be aired on basic cable. However, words are words, and this is America. What's the First Amendment? Oh yeah, something about free speech? If you're going to air The Godfather, you should do so with the entire dialogue in tact. You know what you're going to air, and there's no reason to change it. They're just words.
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