POLITICS: TV Stations Afraid To Show Pvt. Ryan

Several TV-stations in United States have decided not to air Steven Spielberg's movie Saving Private Ryan in fear of FCC sanctions. The decisions are based on recent fines over the Superbowl breast incident and reactions to profanity used by Bono in Golden Globe awards. FCC has previously made clear that the F-word, used repeatedly in the movie, is inappropriate.



The large political capital moral guardians now possess, may coerce
parts of the entertainment industry to higher moral standards at the cost of art and realism. Morality has become a measure of business viability in order to avoid financial losses caused by regulatory sanctions.

Even if making entertainment including profanity or violence is not outright banned, their reduced market may make them less interesting options for studios. In practice Freedom of speech suffers as a consequence of moral economic factors.

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[edit on 11-11-2004 by Banshee]

I justed watched the movie on ABC, and that movie has affected me. I'm glad that my station here decided to air it. After watching that, I've gained a lot more respect for anyone who has served, and I can now see how much they sacrificed for this nation.

Originally posted by Slayer
I justed watched the movie on ABC, and that movie has affected me. I'm glad that my station here decided to air it. After watching that, I've gained a lot more respect for anyone who has served, and I can now see how much they sacrificed for this nation.

Don't let this cinematic feature affect you too much. "Private Ryan" is a political statement masquerading as entertainment. The graphic horror was not necessary to tell this story. The timing of the film had everything to do with scaring the hell out of young people and dispensing the message that nothing is worth going to war for. Films like this do a disservice to veterans on our day.

Watch the news. You will see video footage of real Marines and soldiers fighting for freedom, not a bunch of actors.


[edit on 04/11/11 by GradyPhilpott]

Just finished watching it, and right after it was over, the local news program had a special for Veterans. Grand Rapids vets got together or support today, even had alot of homeless veterans turn up.

NEWSLINK

Homeless veterans.....

Such a shame.



[edit on 11-11-2004 by ADVISOR]

Yeah lest show our young people that war is pretty and necesary and that people does not bleed when they get shot and that they die all pretty and clean and in a pretty pose and the angels sing and come from haven to get the good people.

Grady from what planet are come from? Denied ignorance, death is death and our young should see what death really looks like in a war.

Also, it isn't like television is a main contributor to violence these days and exposure to, just look at video games...the recent release of Vietnam games, pruple haae, 67, and others.

I parents are concerned about what kids are learning, try makeing the changes at home.

[edit on 11-11-2004 by ADVISOR]

Originally posted by marg6043
Grady from what planet are come from? Denied ignorance, death is death and our young should see what death really looks like in a war.

What planet are you from? How many actors were killed shooting "Private Ryan?" If there were any, were those deaths shown in the movie?

Special effects are not real. That's why they are called special effects. Get it?

Like you said Grady they are actors and its just a movie and its all make believe.

So what is the point? its just a movie. Right?

Grady how do your reconcile your own odd beliefs with the fact that when the movie was release it was roundly applauded by Veteran groups, those who had actually served in WWII and those who had fought on D-Day?

Would you rather the true horror and sacrifice from the war be covered up? Pretend that it never happened? Encourage more young people to blindly jump into a conflict without knowing how horrific it can be?

Real life isn't Walker, Texas Ranger as much as you would like it to be.

Originally posted by Kano
Real life isn't Walker, Texas Ranger as much as you would like it to be.

I'm sure you know all about "real life" and that your experience is far more varied than my own. My objection to "Private Ryan" is its hackneyed message and paucity of plot. Realism is not reality, necessarily, and while I do have the utmost respect for my fellow veterans, their collective voice is not always consonant with my own.

Originally posted by marg6043
Yeah lest show our young people that war is pretty and necesary and that people does not bleed when they get shot and that they die all pretty and clean and in a pretty pose and the angels sing and come from haven to get the good people.

Grady from what planet are come from? Denied ignorance, death is death and our young should see what death really looks like in a war.

But you don't see anything wrong with letting people die under dictatorships and despots...of course, or letting a million people die under a peaceful UN resolution that starved Iraqis to death.... You seem to have no idea that everything that you have, every freedom you are enjoying today, was provided by the effort and in many cases the death of soldiers in wars past...you of course believe that everyone loves everyone else in the world and there are no problems anywhere, or everything can be resolved with giving flowers away at those who hate the way of life you and I have.... it is just hype by the U.S. government...according to you...

Muaddib, I think you got it wrong, see that is the mistake Mr. Bush made when he got is butt in Iraq, he though that our troops and the US were going to be received with flowers and candy, because everybody loves the US liberators. It does not take a genius to see that Iraqi was going to be a nightmare, perhaps only Mr. Bush and everybody that agree with war.

By the way are plenty of people in this thread but as usual dear old me is your target for the night.

Hey I got plenty of picks form the first gulf war and I can tell you all about of how bodies look after US blown them off.

And by the way is not only my freedom how about yours I guess you forgot were you came from.

Saving Private Ryan is just a movie.

Denied ignorance.

[edit on 11-11-2004 by marg6043]

It's sad when we can't show a movie on TV that protrays war for fear of being sued. What a sad commentary on the state of things.

Originally posted by marg6043
Muaddib, I think you got it wrong, see that is the mistake Mr. Bush made when he got is butt in Iraq, he though that our troops and the US were going to be received with flowers and candy, because everybody loves the US liberators. It does not take a genius to see that Iraqi was going to be a nightmare, perhaps only Mr. Bush and everybody that agree with war.

By the way are plenty of people in this thread but as usual dear old me is your target for the night.

Hey I got plenty of picks form the first gulf war and I can tell you all about of how bodies look after US blown them off.

And by the way is not only my freedom how about yours I guess you forgot were you came from.

Saving Private Ryan is just a movie.

Denied ignorance.

There are also pics and accounts of what Saddam did to many Iraqis Marg... and it isn't pretty....

BTW, can you please point out where was it that Bush ever said we would be recieved with flowers and everything was going to be peachy and nothing bad would happen in Iraq?....can you please point out where i have said that I thought everything would be peachy in Iraq?.....

You also do forget that there are many Iraqis that have given their thanks to the U.S. for getting Saddam out of power and staying over there to fight the radicals, who will try to control Iraq once more....

As for the movie private Ryan, i think it does portray the horrors of wars yes, but people keep forgetting that this nation and almost every nation on the planet was forged through wars....

Marg your ability to bash away freely was given to you because of this country's wars.... you are forgetting this too easy imo.

Grady: so explain to me again why it is a bad thing to show the brutal face of War to people. Saving Private Ryan is a very respectful showing of the sort of Hell that took the lives of millions of good men from both sides during the first half of the 20th century.

It hasn't just been released to coincide with the war in Iraq, and its being shown on Veterans day out of respect, and a timely reminder. Why is this a bad thing? Why is this a 'political statement'?

I think proposing that it should not be shown is far more of a political statement, with far more subversive undertones.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Don't let this cinematic feature affect you too much. "Private Ryan" is a political statement masquerading as entertainment.

What? Could be so kind as to elaborate what political statement that movie attempted to make?

The graphic horror was not necessary to tell this story.

Then how would you have gone about telling this story?

The timing of the film had everything to do with scaring the hell out of young people and dispensing the message that nothing is worth going to war for.

How's that?

Films like this do a disservice to veterans on our day.

Then why do so many veterans groups support that movie? Why were so many of them used as technical consultants on that film? Why is it consistently ranked as one of the best war movies of all time?

Originally posted by marg6043
Muaddib, I think you got it wrong, see that is the mistake Mr. Bush made when he got is butt in Iraq, he though that our troops and the US were going to be received with flowers and candy, because everybody loves the US liberators. It does not take a genius to see that Iraqi was going to be a nightmare, perhaps only Mr. Bush and everybody that agree with war.

Here is a shocker.

Marg has turned another thread into one of her Bush bashes.

Pathetic.

I wonder how much of the real reason behind some areas rejecting the film is mirrored in this thread's argument about it's intent (and the fact we're at war), and not the stated reasons.

Of course, I'm more concerned if broadcasters are literally that scared of the FCC and "moral majority" now.

If it's being censored for Bush's benefit, heck I'm used to that. This too shall pass. But if this is what we have to look forward to forever...

[Censor] them.

The film did not show on my local affilliate last night...some romantic comedy with Hugh Grant was in it's place (though it still said Private Ryan on the schedule pop-up).

Grady,

I respectfully submit that your original statement in this thread is WAY OFF of reality.

1. Saving Private Ryan was made in 1998 - I'm not sure what war it was protesting or what conflict it was trying to scare recruits away from....if there was one at the time, I damned sure missed it.

2. The decision to air this movie at this time seems to be based on the fact it was Veteran's day. Now, you can attempt to stir up the theory that ABC is trying to scare young people away from war if you want, but you probably ought to get your evidence first.

As the daughter of a WWII veteran I am very pleased that this movie was aired. And I think your attempts to paint Spielberg and company's making of this movie with some ulterior motive is just low...plain low. Are you going to also provide us with Spielberg's ulterior motive for Schindler's List?

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Valhall]