Friday, March 07, 2008

Should Tax Dollars Pay For Dirty Movies Pretending To Be "Art"?

Commentary here. h/t: Bourque.org

OTTAWA -Sex sells, so why does it need a government subsidy? Amid the balder and dash being served up on the subject of changes to the Income Tax Act, designed to allow the government to "better target" tax incentives for Canadian films, this question has received scant attention.
I suggest that Canadians are just fine with the changes made by the Conservatives to restricting who deserves tax subsidies for filmmaking. Surely funding crappy, offensive, dirty films masquerading as "art" isn't a Canadian value, therefore Canadians don't complain and don't even need to debate the issue. The issue justifies itself via common sense.

I see the Bloc Quebecois calls it "censorship". Stupid separatist weenies! It's not "censorship" unless the state apparatus actually uses or abuses its powers to literally stop the film from being made or dictate what can or cannot be in the film.

It is simply being careful with tax dollars while respecting Canadians' values with respect to what they don't want their money going towards.

See, the Conservatives are onside with the mainstream. Wonder why the Liberals didn't make this taxation policy change, other than they're outside the mainstream, owing to being progressive fools?

Crap moviemaker David Cronenberg illogically, wrongly calls the change "direct assault on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms." Can you believe his stupidity and absolute failure to even know what is and isn't in the Charter? Did the Conservatives take away his right to make movies as he sees fit? NO! They simply said that if he wants to film, for example, two guys sodomizing each other or scenes offensive to particular groups, then he'll have to pay for the whole production himself. And if he goes out of business, that's because he can't or won't make films that enough Canadians would bother to pay to watch in the first place so as to make him enough money! Toughen up, Cronenberg, you daft old poofter! Nobody's telling you what you can and can't have in the movie, as long as you pay for it yourself! We will not subsidize your crap out of our pockets! Now go crawl back under your progressiwingnut rock and fret and fume or whatever it is you think people do under rocks... just don't demand we pay for you to make a movie about it!

Incidentally, Canadians have to thank for this change coming about... guess who? Evangelical Christians, who are clearly onside with the mainstream, after all, disproving the progressinazis' malicious, hateful lies and slanders against them over the years. Charles McVety is the de-facto spokesperson for Evangelicals in this case. Good on ya, Charles!

I agree with him but not because I'm offended as a Christian: Rather, I'm outraged as a taxpayer. Telefilm Canada handed out $158-million last year, including to such productions as Sperm and The Masturbators. But while they or the other yet-to-be-released movies and shows may well prove to be the next Away from Her, Barbarian Invasions or Trudeau, all of which were award-winners and received substantial Telefilm funding, they are just as likely to be the next Web-dreams, Kink or G-Spot, titillating late-night fare designed almost exclusively to provoke hand-to-gland combat.

These three shows received substantial public funding over the years through Telefilm and the Canadian Television Fund. But why? Telefilm's mission is to foster productions that reflect Canadian society, with its linguistic duality and cultural diversity. Where's the Canadian distinctness in the G-Spot episode Sexorcist, where Gigi (Brigitte Bako), experiences a visit by a ghost that leaves her extremely "satisfied"? It's not that it's a bad show -- if it's on, I'll watch it because I'm Scottish and I know I'm paying for it. But the only connection to the Great White North is that Gigi is a struggling Canadian actress in Hollywood.

So, let's have another poll, then (progressinutcases who don't pay taxes anyway need not vote):

Do you want your tax dollars to subsidize crappy movies and TV?
Yes
No
pollcode.com free polls