VidAngel is an online streaming service made to filter movies and TV shows. There’s no monthly subscription, you simply buy the movie or episode you want, and it’s yours to keep. They cost $20, but if you want, within 24 hours you can sell it back to VidAngel for $18, effectively making it a 2 dollar rental. VidAngel has to sell it to you for it to be legal– you cannot edit a movie if you don’t own it. I haven’t used it yet, but I’m super excited to. Hopefully I can try it out this weekend and leave a review on my blog!
The filters on VidAngel include violence, swearing, blasphemy, nudity/sex, and, Star Wars purists rejoice, the removal of Jar Jar Binks and all new special edition scenes. It’s not just a catch-all filter either (though you can choose to switch a broad filter on). VidAngel gets super specific.
Say, for example, you don’t want to see very graphic scenes. There’s a drop down menu under the violence category, and another under “graphic”, where it explains briefly what you would be filtering out of the movie. It’s really, really specific, and can fit any family’s standards of what they want to edit out. It’s really exciting! Now teachers can show students films without having to worry about getting it approved because they have to mute or fast forward a part. Now parents can enjoy movies they want to show their kids without all the swearing. And so, so much more.
There’s a lot of argument about whether it is right to censor a movie. We have freedom of speech. It’s incredibly important to know we can’t censor people. But in this specific case, the movie isn’t being censored for everyone. You are censoring it for yourself, for your family. I talked about this in a previously– sometimes violence or swearing is absolutely necessary to a movie. Other times, it’s not.
If you’re friends with me, you probably know I like the the Terminator series (seriously, I’m sorry if I’ve ever rambled to you about it). I appreciate that characters and the writing. I don’t appreciate the swearing and the sex in the first two movies. I’ve seen the first movie a number of times, since it cycles through network TV often with all the f-bombs and the hotel scene edited out. I haven’t seen Terminator 2 because I’ve never caught it on TV, and I’d prefer to not listen to all the f-bombs in the unedited version.
Why? The presence of swearing and sex doesn’t add to the story. Yes, it’s an incredibly stressful situation for the characters. Yes, the fact that (spoilers, it’s been 32 years) Kyle Reese is John Connor’s father is absolutely important to the story. But you can show the audience these things without having them swear all the time, or without showing the sex scene.
You can make a situation more stressful through atmosphere, cinematography, soundtrack. It’s harder, yes, but clever writing weighs a lot more than the shortcuts. It also makes a well-placed curse more powerful than swears so frequent they lose their meaning. I feel like it’s the equivalent of writing’s “show, don’t tell”. Don’t tell us it’s stressful by swearing all the time. Make the audience feel the same tension that crawls across your back and gives you chills.
Are there times where certain elements are important to the story? Yes. If it’s relevant, leave it in. There’s a difference between something being necessary and something being gratuitous. Violence can be appropriate, swears can be allowed, but sex is a sacred thing meant solely for husband and wife, as God intended. We aren’t supposed to watch it, it isn’t for us. And even in the case of violence and vulgarity, you have to know what you personally are capable of handling.
God says in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
It is better to be right with God and keep your thoughts on things that are pure than give in and try to “ignore” the things you don’t want to see just to enjoy a movie. Garbage in, garbage out. What you input into your brain will inevitably appear in how you speak, act, and think. Me? I know if I was exposed to swearing in movies all the time, I’d eventually pick it up, too. That’s who I am.
As Christians, we need to be aware of things when we consume media. Is what we’re watching honoring God? Is it going to effect how we act, or make us act in a way that doesn’t glorify God? Yes, sometimes the world acts like the movie portrays. But there’s times when it’s okay to see, and times when it isn’t. I’ll end with a quote from author N.D. Wilson and a passage from the Bible, which I feel articulate my opinion better than I’ve managed to.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
“The world is rated R, and no one is checking IDs. Do not try to make it G by imagining the shadows away. Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not try to pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows.”
―N.D. Wilson.
VidAngel looks like a great service. I can’t wait to leave a review of how it works next week!
See you around the campus, and Soli Deo Gloria!
If you want to contact me, I can be reached via Twitter @ejLadd or by my email, [email protected].
To see more from this blog, check out Frame Rate: Ridiculous or awesome?
