Crocodile Dundee | New 'Encore Cut' removes footage from original film
A 4K remastered 'Encore Cut' of Crocodile Dundee is being released this year - but one or two moments have been edited out. More here.
You're viewing a single thread.
I mean, George Lucas releases new cuts of his movies all the time. But it seems like it is just playing into the internet drama to have a new cinema release just for a new cut of the film that removes scenes.
Also, most 4K remasters are AI slop
The scenes removed are first where he meets a cross-dresser and discovers she has a penis, and then later he meets another woman and gropes her crotch to confirm she does not have a penis.
Given the current political climate, where trans individuals are being demonized and political leaders are demanding access to your genitals, it's not funny anymore.
It is a positive for anyone watching the movie, but also glosses over the transphobia that was prevalent at the time the movie was made. One movie is fine, but if we clean up all the movies it is a lit harder to look back and acknowledge how bad society was at the time when we lose the examples.
If we only clean up some of them, and keep the rest for context this is one that should definitely be removed.
I will also say that this article is definitely feeding into the outrage. Most other articles just see it as a cinema rerelease in 4K and don't mention the edits at all.
What would otherwise be an uninspired rerelease is now a culture war headline: "New 'Encore Cut' removes footage from original film".
While the article writer does whine about where thiis might lead to, as if it was the first time it happened, at least it includes the following quote from Hogan:
Hogan’s response is that people pointed out to him that “this guy is a folk hero around the world. He shouldn’t be groping people. And I thought yeah that’s right, he shouldn’t be, so take it out. I mean, he did it in all innocence, in naivety, but it’s better without it”.
It isn't specific to the underlying transphobic contrxt, but at least pointing out that groping is bad and a protagonist shouldn't be doing that plays a part.
The original is still available. It's not being erased, it's being removed so a new generation can enjoy an old movie without confronting the casual transphobia that used to be considered funny.
Commercial movies made for the specific purpose of manipulating people to turn over their money should not be any part of your cultural record. It's been updated so it can continue to fill that purpose, not so that we can get in touch with the 80s again.
I agree 100%, and I don't support the idea to add/include those scenes to films. It wasn't really a funny joke then when transphobia was prevalent, and it's definitely not funny now when people are more aware about the existence and struggles of trans people, and reactionaries are trying to claw back towards hate.