Movie Matinee Jail Sentence

You know, as much as I would like to hate on the MPAA on this one, I think I’m actually on their side, overall. I think their general stance is bullshit, but their application of their established stance and the law is, I think, correct. As the saying goes, ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. Police officers are given latitude to introduce leniency in the interpretation of what to do once they witness a crime, but if charges are brought, they are duty-bound to bring the accused in and allow the issue to be settled in a court. After all, it’s a law, not a suggestion. And honestly, does anybody really not know that it’s against the law to tape a movie in a theatre? They might think they can get away with it, or that it’s not that big a deal so they won’t be bothered, but it’s a willful act to flaunt what is an established law.

And the quote that actually made me realize the balance was,

“We cannot educate theater managers to be judges and juries in what is acceptable," he said. "Theater managers cannot distinguish between good and bad stealing."

An excellent point, and I would have to agree.

The issue, of course, is what the company wishes to be doing as far as their theatre crowd PR is concerned. With a massive shift towards home theatre systems and away from public theatres, do they really want to be chasing *anybody* away from the theatre? I would say no.

 

So yeah. MPAA is lame, but everybody acted in accordance with the laws that were passed by our elected politicians. So if we think this is bullshit, we need not look any further than ourselves.