IMAX pulls Science movie fearing Christian fundamentalist backlash; New Company ClearPlay edits "questionable" content from popular DVDs

Roger Ebert is one of my most trusted companions along this road we call life. Because I like movies, I like reading Roger Ebert talk about movies. I've learned to trust his instincts, and appreciate his intelligence and thoughtfulness. I usually can tell all I need to simply by the way he crafts his reviews: if the movie moves him to eloquence, then the movie is a good one, and I should consider going to see it.

Ebert doesn't like editing of any sort when it comes to movies. There was a company called ClearPlay a few months back run by this Christian guy that somehow created this box that hooks up to your DVD player. Not sure how this works, but there are dozens and dozens of titles in the ClearPlay database that have been edited to take out moments of nudity, or extreme violence, or whatever. Like in Titanic, the boob scene. ClearPlay doesn't delete the scene: just took out the gratuitious boob shot. Or whatever.

Ebert about had a hissy fit, mainly because he thought it was messing with content, and making money from the unauthorized alteration of someone's artistic work.

Now, the trump card according to Ebert here, is artistic integrity: what the director wanted, you aren't allowed to alter. I understand the slippery slope idea: I mean, the last thing I want is for some Board of Christians somewhere giving the thumbs up or the thumbs down to make some movie because it doesn't have "Christian" ideas in it, and therefore should not be allowed to be made.

But that's not what ClearPlay does. It's not changing themes or ideas: just taking out a few graphic moments. And if you think that those seconds of Kate Winslet's boobs really makethe movieTitanic, then man...you've got issues.

My personal thoughts on this is that I need to, with all diligence and thoughtfulness, take God's commands and demands for purity in my life really seriously. A lot of Christians go radical on this and say "No Movies that are R" but I don't know. That seems too...extreme. I love movies, but I would be better off if a few scenes had been deleted from "The Thomas Crowne Affair" or "The Cooler" or "The Pledge" or "Better Luck Tomorrow" or any number of films.

I mean, what do you do in situations like that? What would Jesus watch?

Ebert is not a big fan of unthinking fundamentalists, and in his recent article he bemoans what he sees as one more step down this dangerous road, where art is altered or not even produced because of pressure from uppity Christians. In this case, the movie is an IMAX film called Volcanoes of the Deep Sea. According to a recent news report, IMAX is not going to show this movie in certain segments of the nation because of fear of backlash from Christian fundamentalists, who might object to some ideas presented in the film.

Notice I said "might". There hasn't been a protest. Just some folks at IMAX who fear that some Christians might not like the implication in the movie that there is a connection between human DNA and microbes found at the bottom of the sea that might provide the clues to the origins of life. Evolution, basically.

Ebert went off on this.

I have no idea what to make of this, so ring in and tell me your thoughts.

More Reading:
For more reading on this, read the offical condemnation of IMAX pulling the moive by the head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has a point.

Or this site, called LiveScience which is run apparently by the AAAS as an educational resource. It's a little too flippant about God, if you ask me.