Tuesday 6 January 2015

An extraordinary true story, indeed



A great start to the New Year, courtesy of "The Land of the Free".

From Pink News:
The cover for the American DVD release of Pride has removed all mention of homosexuality.

The film, about a group of gay and lesbian activists who rallied in support of striking miners in the 1980s, was released in the UK to acclaim last year.

However, the US DVD cover makes a number of shocking changes, entirely removing homosexuality from the story.

Firstly, the film’s synopsis has been changed to state the film is about “a group of London-based activists”, removing a mention to sexuality.

The synopsis states: “PRIDE is inspired by an extraordinary true story. It’s the summer of 1984 and much of blue-collar Great Britain is on strike.

“For one tiny Welsh village, the strike brings unexpected visitors – a group of London-based activists who decide to raise money to support strikers’ families and want to make their donations in person."


The text appears to be an edited version of the film’s original synopsis providing more context to American audiences while failing to mention homosexuality.

The original synopsis said: “PRIDE is inspired by an extraordinary true story.

“It’s the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers’ families.

“Initially rebuffed by the Union, the group identifies a tiny mining village in Wales and sets off to make their donation in person…”


A picture on the back cover has been digitally altered from a widely-circulated promotional image – removing a sign stating ‘Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners’.

The original image is below:

Now you see it, now you don’t:


Hmmm.

From the soundtrack to the film, here's the Fun Boy Three with an appropriate number:


Can you hear them?
Talking about us
Telling lies
Well, that's no surprise


Pride - the movie

8 comments:

  1. Wow. Imagine the surprise when some unsuspecting homophobe watches it and discovers the horrible truth.
    Unless the truth has been erased from the film too.
    That would be a true travesty, but I wouldn't put it past them.
    What's the point of this deception? I don't get it.

    I remember seeing the trailers for this at some film I saw, but it never made its way down here to our theaters. I wanted to see it, but missed it. :(
    I hate watching movies at home.
    drat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can but hope the DVD makes it way into many a trailer trash/Southern Baptist household this Spring and causes outrage... I am rather surprised nowhere in New Orleans bothered to show it, however. Jx

      Delete
  2. the world changes.....and it doesn't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favourite film of last year - and I would happily watch it again on DVD - America's loss is our gain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't deny I never got around to seeing it. But I will, of course, eventually... Jx

      Delete
  4. Sadly, this isn't the least bit surprising.

    On a happier note, friends have been raving about this film and I look forward to watching it soon!

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a message - I value your comments!

[NB Bear with me if there is a delay - thanks to spammers I might need to approve comments]