Yesterday around 11 a.m., I found this AMC. I watched about an hour into it. I found it very interesting that on AMC they bleeped out the word g*ddamn and the word a$$hole. However, they kept the n-word in. I am not African-American, but I found this both surprising and offensive. So it's okay to use a racial derogatory, but not to use religious profanities or foul words for excrement/body parts. Someone tell me, where's the logic in FCC regulations? I hate to start this topic on censorship on such a great western, but I can't resist. I am open for discussion and criticism.
In this case saying the N-word is a plot point, the others aren't. I'm not defending the edit because AMC butchers movies. Their edits of Godfather I & II are more severe that the version that ran on NBC in the early 80's. I'd call it stupidity rather than censorship.
The only thing that offends me about AMC is that they DO censor(butcher) their movies. I haven't watched that crap channel in over ten years. I would rather the censorship be confined to network TV and not to movie channels.
As far as whether to censor the dreaded "N-word", I don't think it's part of the FCC's list of dirty words. It's up to the station itself if the word is bleeped out. Some channels(ex. Comedy Central) it'll only get censored if a white guy says it, but if a black guy says n-gg-r, it goes uncensored.
If you want semi-un-edited truly classic films, you gotta watch Turner Classic Movies. AMC USED to be what TCM is now. All AMC's good for now is their series Breaking Bad.
FMC (Fox Movie Channel) also runs unedited movies, which I prefer. Yes, AMC butchers their movies like Jason carves up nubile teen age girls, but it's mainly to slip in more commercials. Commercial breaks are like five minutes long...
It has more to do with access. AMC is a first tier cable channel which means that nearly everyone receives it when they get cable. Channels which must be paid for, or are second tier, have more leeway with language. Premium channels: HBO, SHOWTIME, all other movie channels, are only available to those who pay for them and thus it's surmised that the people who watch them are tolerant of the language.
It's censorship for the good of children and Mrs Hayes, who are considered too unwise to change the channel. The rest of us have remote controls and Off buttons which we can exercise at our own discretion. Apparently Mrs Hayes cannot and prefers to complain rather than change the channel or turn off her television set, something I cannot and will never be able to comprehend. What's that about?
Except they butcher their movies worse than TBS does now, and TBS used to be the worst when it came to censoring stuff, especially 80s movies.
People who complain about bad words getting through are just too lazy to use the parental controls or v-chip that is on every cable and satellite box and every TV built since 1995.
--- "You expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"---Goldfinger
My taped-from TV version of Blazing Saddles, has all the N-words, with all the swears dubbed over. I actually like it better that way. The jokes still work.
The word was used to emphasize how repulsive it is. It's called a negative example. You're not supposed to like that guy, or become like that guy. It was expertly done.
AMC used to be like TCM, but then they became movie butchers. They sensor, crop, pan-and-scan, edit for content, edit for time, and interrupt with commercials.