a rassay by Eric Clark (numskullduggery@cs.com)

It is reasonably common knowledge that the act of preparing a motion picture for release is largely a process of elimination. Scenes and dialogue unessential to the flow of the film are shortened or removed by the parties directly involved in its creation, and the incarnation shown to the general public, in most cases, is pretty much what everyone agreed on and represents a single, complete story with a running time to match its narrative scope.

Of course, you know this already (I hope).

The reason I’m writing this rassay (rant + essay) is because, as myself and several other like-minded individuals continue to spread the word about the appalling treatment of Asian (mostly Hong Kong) cinema by the Walt Disney subsidiaries Miramax and Dimension (which I will not describe in any great detail here, since, if you’re reading this, you probably know all the dirty details; please visit www.hkfilm.net/disney for more information), a rather disheartening number of people continue to act like we are nothing more than a rag-tag group of “fanboy” crybabies who have no clue as to how the motion picture industry works. So jaded are these people that they honestly think we should all just look the other way and keep our comments to ourselves as Bob and Harvey “Scissorhands” Weinstein fool uncounted consumers into thinking that many Hong Kong action and martial arts classics are, and always have been, poorly-dubbed, poorly-plotted, poorly-scored productions of no artistic merit. Of course, some of them do leave a lot to be desired in their original incarnations...I, for one, think that several of Jet Li’s earlier films just plain suck...but, the point is, the brothers Weinstein are not merely releasing inferior products; they are also lying to the consumers. They are taking films that were made and released in Asia years ago...films that they themselves did not help to create in any way, shape, or form...cutting five, ten, sometimes twenty minutes out of them, and then passing them off as whole, complete motion pictures, which, of course, they are not.

What reason is there for removing innocuous, story-driven scenes for one audience that were not removed for another? None. What reason is there for changing the Asian-flavored title “The Tai Chi Master” to the culturally neutral “Twin Warriors” when the video tape or DVD is going to be placed in the martial arts section of the retail outlet, where the terms “Shaolin” and “Kung Fu” appear on dozens of other packages? None. What reason is there for shortening a fight scene when the action content of a film is its biggest selling point? Less than none.

Miramax cuts scenes mostly for pacing purposes, and that is a point that many self-proclaimed film experts never fail to make while gleefully insulting the intelligence and collective attention span of the American public. These people feel that butchered Hong Kong films are more successful than untainted ones in the Western world because the average viewer simply won’t watch a film they deem “too long” or “too Asian.” I beg to differ. The problem is not one of apathy or stupidity; it is one of ignorance, and I say that without spite or hostility. The vast majority of the American public simply does not know that Miramax and Dimension regularly subject these films to all sorts of unnecessary cuts. The vast majority of the American public simply does not know where to get the original, complete versions of these movies. And do you think Miramax is going to share that information with them?

Ask ten people at random if they would rather see A) a whole movie or B) a movie with ten minutes removed by someone who saw it long after it was originally made to trim it down to 90 minutes from 100 minutes, or to 85 from 95. They will all say “A.” Next, ask for an explanation for their reply. They will all say words to the effect of: “Because I want to see the whole thing.”

Miramax has yet to grasp this concept. When people see a movie, they want to see the whole movie. The entire movie. The complete movie.

We need to stop using “soft” terminology. We should not say that Miramax releases Hong Kong movies that are “edited” or “updated” or “streamlined” or “modified.” We should say that they release Hong Kong movies (Chungking Express excepted) one way and one way only: INCOMPLETE. This is how we should refer to the North American releases of “The Enforcer” and “Legend of Drunken Master” and every other Hong Kong movie that Harvey Weinstein has gotten his stainless steel hands on. Calling them “the dubbed versions” or “the Miramax versions” just isn’t good enough. When you take a movie made somewhere else and remove things when you show it to another audience, it’s not the complete movie anymore. Yes, it is that simple. The antiquated notion that cultural modifications must be made to motion pictures before a different group of people will accept (and spend money on) them must be totally rejected across the board. Last time I checked, the general consensus was that cultural diversity was something that ought to be celebrated rather than buried, and even the most dull-witted Joe Six Pack understood that different languages are spoken in different countries.

Perhaps an analogy to drive the point further home? Yes, I think an analogy is in order.

Imagine you order a pizza. The guy who makes it is very hungry and is of dubious moral character. His next break isn’t for an hour and a half. Your pizza comes out of the oven, and it looks delicious. So, the guy decides to help himself to a slice. Hey, there’s twelve of them...you’ll have plenty for yourself. Then, to cover up his petty theft, he takes every other slice and moves it a little to the side, making sure they stay in a circular formation. When he’s done, there’s just a small gap between every two adjacent pieces, and he covers these gaps with the extra cheese draped over the sides of each slice. With some amateurish sleight of hand, your 11-slice pizza now looks like a complete 12-slice pizza at a quick glance, and this guy thinks so little of your intelligence that he doubts you’ll ever notice.

You show up at the pizza place, and you pay full price for an incomplete pizza.

That’s a lot like what Miramax is doing.

Naturally, the guy who ate a slice of your pizza would be fired, or at least disciplined, if the truth got out.

Well, the truth about Miramax’s butchery of Hong Kong cinema is out...but it’s not out enough. The word must be spread, the public must be alerted, and Harvey Weinstein must be taken to task for his rape of an entire film industry. This will not happen if we keep referring to “altered” or “edited” films rather than INCOMPLETE ones. The “average American viewer” (if such a person even exists) may not be too concerned about getting a film that’s been given a new title or dubbed into English (with no original language/subtitle option), but he or she is likely to be pretty steamed if they find out that they have paid full price for anything less than a whole movie.

INCOMPLETE should be our buzz word from now on. It is a red flag. It sets off alarms in peoples’ heads that other, gentler terms do not. If Miramax is removing 20 minutes from a movie that they didn’t make, don’t say they’re “cutting” it. A film’s original director “cuts” it; that’s part of how film making works. Instead, say that the upcoming release of the film will be INCOMPLETE. When you review these releases for Amazon (which is something that a lot of us should do more often), include the word INCOMPLETE several times in capital letters. The more outrage we stir up, the better. We must show Miramax how wrong they are in thinking that a film’s existence is only justified when they acquire the rights to it and that it is “legitimized” when their logo is placed on it. We must show Harvey Weinstein what a fool he is for assuming that people prefer redubbed, rescored, retitled, INCOMPLETE films when they’ve never even seen the original versions. And we must show anyone who cares that when they spend money on these releases from Miramax and Dimension, they are being cheated.

You wouldn’t pay full price for a six pack with five cans of soda in it.

You wouldn’t pay full price for a book with 20 pages ripped out.

You wouldn’t pay full price for a table with a leg missing.

Why, then, should you pay full price for a less-than-whole movie?

This is the reasoning we must use. This is how we must convince people that the Weinsteins are practically stealing their money. Lofty ideals of cultural diversity and artistic purity certainly have their place, but it is upon the issue of completeness (or lack thereof) that we must place the most emphasis. Paying full price for something that is not whole, intact, and entire is one thing that the American public simply will not stand for. (My apologies to those of you in other parts of the world where Miramax Syndrome has reared its ugly head; I continually refer to the American perspective because it is what I am most familiar with.)

Educating the unwary consumer should be our primary concern. If I’m not mistaken, it’ll be a long time yet before Disney and Miramax think twice about their treatment of Asian films. (I hesitate to use the word “think” in connection with these companies since all available evidence indicates that they do no such thing, but that’s besides the point.) Next time you see someone reading the package of a butchered release of a Hong Kong movie, looking as though they’re thinking of buying or renting it, make sure they’re making an informed decision. Don’t tell them “they changed a few things” or “you can only watch it dubbed” because they might not care. Tell them it’s INCOMPLETE. It’s NOT THE WHOLE MOVIE. If they have a lick of common sense, they’ll drop that tape or DVD like the proverbial hot potato.

I do believe I’m getting redundant. You folks get the point, right?

Okay then, I’ve said my piece. If this matter is important to you, I ask that you post this rassay, or a link to it, anywhere on the internet where you think it will be read, understood, and taken seriously. The world-weary “it’s Disney, what can you do” mindset must be opposed, and innocuous terms like “the American version” or “the Miramax version” must be taken out of our collective vocabulary. Let INCOMPLETE be the word around which we rally from now on. No compromising. No beating around the bush.

Tell it like it is.

And tell it to anyone who will listen.