In-Flight Movies Are Censored for the Most Bizarre Reasons
Outrage over edits to Olivia Wilde’s ‘Booksmart’ showcases the tricky dynamics of serving up in-flight entertainment
Those who paid money to watch Booksmart in theaters saw high school seniors Amy and Molly living a rambunctious teenage life, coming of age in a critically acclaimed movie.
If they were to watch the movie on a flight, however, viewers would likely encounter a different experience — and not just the tiny monitor perched at an awkward angle from the seat ahead of them or the absence of Dolby Surround Sound. Those are a given. But the plot, pace, and action in the movie are different, too.
Olivia Wilde, who directed the movie, watched it on a recent flight and encountered the alternate version of Booksmart — one stripped of anything deemed “controversial.” In an angry thread posted to Twitter last week lambasting the practice of in-flight entertainment edits, Wilde detailed how everything from same-sex love scenes (featuring no nudity) to the words “vagina” or “genitals” were either cut entirely or lightly censored from the screening.
