We’ve reported before on the possibility of The Weinstein Company shooting for an edited version of The King’s Speech in order to get a brand new, shiny PG-13 rating. According to Variety, they’ve successfully done so.
What does it all mean? It means that an Oscar contender for Best Picture has been watered down because 1) bad language is dangerous to our youth 2) teenagers put down their Nintendo DSes and sexting devices for long enough to lobby TWC to get a teenager-friendly version approved and/or 3) none of the above.
What it really means is that if you haven’t seen the film, and you want to see it in all its (literal) fucking glory, you might not be able to soon. If TWC decides to pull all of the original, un-bowdlerized versions and replace them with the PG-13 version (which some source are saying has the words muted. That’s right. Muted. You’ll hear nothing instead of a human talking where a human is supposed to be talking), then you might be out of luck. As adults and movie fans, the only response is to do the opposite of what TWC expects – don’t go see the film specifically because its been edited. It’s unclear what role Tom Hooper played in this move, if any, but it is clear that The Weinstein Company has done it solely because they feel it will expand their profit base.
However, the millions of teenagers demanding access to this film will finally get it and the important historical lesson it holds in its breast bosom arms.
