Mean Girls and 10 other films and TV shows edited after their release
The digital release of Mean Girls was edited to remove a controversial joke this week, but it's not the first time that's happened
Aux News Films
As the streaming epidemic of disappearing films and series keeps reminding us, the internet isn’t really forever. Unless you own your favorite show or movie on DVD or some other form of physical media, it’s always liable to blink out of existence forever. In recent weeks, however, a few pieces of media have done something far more unnerving than disappear; they’ve changed. Earlier this month, a viral post revealed that the NFL’s YouTube page had uploaded an edited version of Alicia Keys’ Halftime Show to remove a slight voice crack from the official record, stoking fears around A.I. deepfakes and the preservation of reality.
Now, at least on the surface, it appears to have happened again. In January, Lindsay Lohan expressed her disappointment over a joke in Tina Fey’s new Mean Girls musical that referenced the term “fire crotch,” an offensive nickname for the star from the early-2000s. When the film became available to rent and buy digitally last week, some fans noticed that the line had been removed (via USA Today).
But while retroactive edits of this type may stir up some very reasonable fears about fidelity and documentation, this is actually a fairly common—maybe even increasingly—practice in Hollywood with examples dating back years.
13 Comments
MAKLUNKY!
The omission of Maklunkey and Jeans Guy from this list is unforgivable. Instead they just went with the Hayden shot from ROTJ, which wasn’t really an afterthought, it was part of the entire changing of the film. Whereas Maklunkey was a random change, and Jeans Guy was a legitimate error.
Most of the examples here range from inoffensive to totally justified but I really just wish we could utilize shit like disclaimers. I mean damn, with streaming, the companies could make them literally unskippable but instead we’re doing these little post-release tweaks and it bothers me.But I guess if we’re gonna bitch about streamers this is as good a time as any for me to say that they need to make the Lethal Weapon 5 episode of It’s Always Sunny available again you cowards.
I watched Fight Club on Disney+ (UK) as I couldn’t be bothered walking across the room to my dvd and the frame or two of a penis was missing from the end
Unless you own your favorite show or movie on DVD or some other form of physical media, it’s always liable to blink out of existence forever.Physical media has plenty of pros over streaming, and if streaming has you spooked, whatever, go for it. But heads up that physical media is also liable to disc rot and physical damage. Ripping discs to create backups isn’t difficult, but it’s more work than some people will care to do. The unfortunate reality is that physical media may not survive long enough to be a viable replacement for all-digital media; just a short-term alternative.
Lol disc rot.
Disc Rot doesn’t always happen, though, it’s a specific defect in the manufacturing process.
Not saying it does (just like movies and TV shows don’t always get pulled down from streaming), just pointing out that older titles on DVD are liable to suffer from it.There’s just a weird vibe around talking about physical media. Yeah, it’s the only surefire way to “own” a copy of a TV show or movie so the evil corporations can’t take it out of your hands, and that’s great. It’s also really frustrating to end up with a corrupted disc that was part of a collection you bought second-hand and have no good option way to replace it.
Jeez, Taytay sounds out of breathbreath.
That’s your most popular singer in the world, humanity? Eek.
I feel the Office opener shouldn’t have been cut, if nothing else because a pregnant Pam as Rosemary was a nice touch.
My only real issue with this is that it creates a weird dynamic where people see the same thing, but it’s different, leading to different discussions. Someone seeing Han blow away Greedo in 77 likely has a different opinion than someone watching Han defend himself in 24. I’ve had conversations with people about Blade Runner that end in confusion because we saw different versions. Gollum in the original Hobbit loses the ring, shrugs and wanders off (in later versions, he goes mad, setting up some of LotR). Usually this stuff is small and not worth getting worked up over, but its weird. Along these lines, I have stewed over this for years and I am wondering if the internet can confirm this or if I am mad. I saw This Is Spinal Tap (I think on DVD) in the late 90s, and I could have sworn that when Harry Shearer walks through the metal detector, Michael McKean yells “busted!”. But I have never seen it since.
Yeah I hear you – but honestly, that happens sometimes just because of faulty memory also. I’ve remembered non-existent lines in favorite movies myself – it happens, human memory is notoriously unreliable.Also, but yeah, “Blade Runner”. I’ve had people saying how they just hated it thoroughly, then realized they’d seen it with narration. And now, the subtle tweaks of the “Final Cut” – I myself think that the dove flying into a clear sky is really significant, and affecting to me. But at least with that movie, different people remembering different things can be tied into one of the movie’s themes, which is the unreliability of memory. Right?? Implants, I’m talking about implants.
All are nice guys and great act.