You know, Carol, that movie about a couple of gal pals taking a road trip together who suddenly get very upset because they're both on their periods or something girly like that?
Well, that's what you think Todd Hayne's film about a lesbian couple in the 1950s who suffer grave consequences to be together is about if you saw it on a Delta flight. The airline shows a version of the movie that is censored to the point that Rooney Mara and Cate Blachett's characters don't even kiss.
Comedian Cameron Esposito was furious about the censorship. Esposito points out that heterosexual relationships don't receive the same treatment, meaning that it's not simply a matter of removing graphic scenes, but a case of queer erasure.
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May viewers who had only seen the film on flights had no idea the characters in the movie ever have a physical relationship.
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Delta in a statement to After Ellen explained that the edited version of the film available in-flight was provided directly by the studio, The Weinstein Company,.
There were two versions of this film that the studio makes available–one that is edited and one that is not edited. The edited version removes two explicit scenes that do not meet our guidelines. The edited version also removes all kissing. The other version is fully non-edited and includes the kissing, but it also includes the explicit scenes. Unfortunately, Delta doesn’t have the rights to edit the movie, or to make the decision to keep some of that content (e.g. kissing).
Because of the explicit scenes included in the non-edited version, we chose the edited version. This is consistent with what is available to all airlines.
Mashable has reached out to The Weinstein Company for a comment.
Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy informed fans they can view the uncensored versions on American and United flights.
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Esposito, meanwhile, is waiting on a satisfactory answer to why such tame acts of LGBTQ intimacy are being edited out of movies.
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Don't be a Harge, Delta; we're not ugly people.
Topics LGBTQ
