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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:45 PM:
Interesting article at Slate:American directors have no moral rights to their movies.
by Drew Clark
At issue, companies that either alter DVDs to eliminate offensive scenes or publish software instructing a DVD player to skip it. Apparently, some directors are offended.
The article discusses the French idea of droit moral or moral right, including the idea that an artist can require that viewers only view his art the way he intended it to be viewed. We don't have this, viewing works of art as products from which copyright owners get the right to royalties. Period. It should probably be that way: the creation of an art work is only one part of the creative process; interpreting it or responding to it is the other and such restrictions would infringe upon the viewer's free speech right to view a work in the context in which he desires.
The wisest voice in the whole piece is Michael Crichton's. He suggests that rather than picking fights, the studio do an end-run around these companies and offer their own edited versions.
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