If you've ever travelled on an airplane, you probably already know that watching a movie can be one of the only viable distractions for a long flight. Airlines tend to offer a wide variety of in-flight movies, but these films often feature specific edits to the content just in case you find yourself sitting next to someone too young for a given film. However, a popular airline recently made some changes to one particularly benign film, and stand-up comedian Cameron Esposito was not happy. Check out her response below.
Cameron Esposito, a popular stand-up comedian whose sets often center upon her own identity as a LGBT woman, recently took to Twitter to voice her outrage at Delta Airlines over edits made to the movie Carol. Apparently all in-flight versions of the film have received edits so that acts of physical intimacy between the two leads (primarily kissing) have been removed from the final cut. Slowly but surely, responses began pouring in and it became clear that Esposito wasn't alone in noticing this phenomenon.
As those of you who have seen Carol already know: the depiction two women kissing are somewhat integral to the narrative of the film. The movie's plot follows Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) and Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) during the 1950s as their friendship slowly evolves into something deeper and more intimate. Carol features several kisses between these two leads, but nothing vulgar when compared to the content that Delta actually allows on its in-flight movies -- something Cameron Esposito was all too happy to point out as well:
Just in case you were wondering, it doesn't sound like this is a major practice across all airlines. Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy took to Twitter to chime in on the matter and reveal that American and United both feature versions of Carol that feature kissing between the two lead characters, making this phenomena particularly unique to Delta. Check out her response below:
When asked to comment, representatives from Delta revealed to After Ellen that they do not have the right to edit the film. Carol comes in two versions, edited and unedited, and the edited version removes all kissing between the two leads. Delta didn't necessarily go in and personally remove all of the film's physical intimacy, but it most certainly presents certain pressing questions regarding what's "explicit" and what is not. If Paul Giamatti engaging in BDSM is fine, and two queer women kissing is not, then we're going to really have to seriously reevaluate our standards of decency as a society.
Politics aside, Carol was one of the most critically acclaimed films from the last year, and physical intimacy between the two lead characters is incredibly thematically important with regards to progressing the film's plot forward. We're not saying airlines should show explicit content on flights for the sake of it, but they shouldn't be forced to compromise the integrity of a film either.
