Censorship and My Issues with it

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.

Finally Enjoying Boardwalk Empire

In one of my past posts, I published a paper about how the first two episodes of The Sopranos sets up the rest of the series by introducing the main themes that would be developed over the course of the series. I concluded:

The proem of The Sopranos provides us with the lens and the scope through which we will see the rest of the series. Through this, The Sopranos develops aspects of the mafia world that have never been addressed before. Never have we seen the extent by which the depiction of mafia in such an expansive fashion. In the proem we learn that the story is not just about Tony and how changes in his business are stressing him out, but rather about the world he lives in within the context of a mafia tradition. As a story about America experience and assimilation, we are able to see contemporary depictions of events that are able to exist without sacrificing the necessary focus of the narrative to center on the mafia itself.

As I've been watching Boardwalk Empire's second season, I began to think more about this. One of the main problems with the first season of Boardwalk Empire is that there are so many character that the writers want to address. However, as a viewer, it's hard to get to know these characters. There's also no narrative commentary within the series like there is in The Sopranos with Tony and Dr. Melfi. Goodfellas also benefits from having a narration, when new characters are introduced. There's no need to see the characteristics if they are told to you.

In contrast, The Godfather develops its characters by showing their tendencies. In the very first scene, we see the roles that the characters will play in the plot. Vito is cautious and very introspective. Sonny has a hot temper and is not faithful to his wife. Clemenza is a loyal servant as is Luca Brasi. Michael is quiet and independent. Fredo is weak. They're masterfully illustrated through small scenes such as when Sonny slams the camera of the media member or spits on the FBI detective's badge.

Boardwalk Empire is a television show, therefore it has the liberty to be more complex. However, the complexity of the series might interfere with the audience's ability to fully understand what is going on. As I've watched the second season, it is much clearer to me that the little scenes that develop the characters have been much more helpful in understanding and enjoying the second season. In many ways, the first season of Boardwalk Empire serves as an introduction and proem for the series.

I did not enjoy the first season because I felt like nothing happened and we did not see anything happen to the characters. There was a lot of posturing, but there was a overwhelming lack of action. In a series about corruption and violence, there was something missing. Now, in the second season, we are seeing more action. There is more plotting against one another, there is more violence, and there is more hardship.

What I've realized most and why I actually appreciate the first season is that all the posturing gave us little clues to what the characters would become. We saw chinks in Nucky's armor. We saw the ambition of Jimmy Dormady. We saw Eli's frustration with his brother. These are all things that are being played out now.

The second season is much better because of the first. I no longer can complain about the first season. I wish we had more information about the direction this series was going. Prior to this season, I had never been more frustrated with a series. I wanted to like this series for so long. Now, I can.

My One Problem with The Godfather

The Godfather is perhaps the all time greatest movie. It's perfect on almost every scale. It has everything you would want from a great movie: a great cast, great acting, great soundtrack, great story, violence, sex, I could go on and on.

My one problem with the movie is Lucy Mancini. She's not hot. Sonny is supposed to cheat on his wife with Lucy? Are we really supposed to believe that? This has been my one qualm with the movie. The casting of Lucy was not done well.