Piracy and fake goods

15 Feb 2008

Ive been wanting to write about this for a while, and after watching a show about fake goods on BBC 1 I decided to put my view across. Some how I managed to turn fashion piracy into a blog about film piracy and general piracy so enjoy.

A lot of DVDs these days come with terrible adverts before the DVDs main menu is shown, you probley know what I mean the ones saying 'you wouldn't steal a car … you wouldn't steal a handbag… you wouldn't steal a film. Piracy is illegal don't do it' 

They say that the money from pirate films goes towards criminal circuits, why I don't disbelieve this or doubt these pirates could make money a large sum of money other people have stolen these items for a lot less money if that at all makes sense. What I'm saying is purse snatching and car jacking's happen every day, and people do it as a desperate act for whatever reason, grouping pirate films with these crimes is unneeded and making an exaggeration.

  I don't really have a side I can fully support as of yet, while I see film cooperation's and fashion companies saying there losing money and playing the victims from fakes and pirates I don't have sympathy for them, If you're the humanitarian and into human rights and all that crap your probley throw your bit in about the workers in china or Indonesia or another unknown country in south east Asia, and there appalling conditions on how they work all day with little sleep making trendy items and other fashion products for the people in the west for '10p' an hour. And that's fair enough because clothes companies do the whole 'less for more' game.

 
Yes, losing money in a business is the worst thing for any company but when were talking about film companies (in general) they have enough money from there horrific income they like to call films. They have insulted movie goers intelligence with there cheap sequels and prequels. While I can understand the logic of creating sequels of films already with a large fan base which is guaranteed to have a large audience, this saves them enormous amounts of cash for a writing team to create something new from scratch. Hats off to them for exploiting this method, business wise your onto a winner every time but then you get the hardcore fans and punters who are the target audience and  they key to making you money, the people who will be buying tickets to your film.

I may be taking myself too seriously but take for instance terminator 3. the previous two films were enormous and when T3 was mentioned it was cheaply produced for pure profit from the terminator fan base. Punters wanted this movie to have a heart and a soul (most of them any way), not something put together slapdash for a profit. Typically film companies will hire cheap director's fresh from college or MTV with less than 3 films/productions under his belt then he suddenly fines himself now directing terminator 4 and it is only made for profit rather than the fun of making a meaningful film and being loyal to fans and what the original movie stood for.

If that wasn't enough there even tampering with a film franchises ratings. Films that were rated 15 or higher in the UK are now being turned into 12a's. Like Die hard 1-3 die hard 4 was a bloody 12a it's embarrassing. Its now coming to the point where you can probley tell how good a film is based on its certificate rating purely because the lower the rating the less action there will be.

Terminator and Die Hard aren't the only films that has been dropped through unneeded sequels; you got Rambo 1-4, Resident evil 1-3 (and probley 4), Saw 1-4, Alien 1-4 plus Alien Vs predator 1-3. Police academy 1-8, Batman begins and the dark knight, American pie 1-4 you get the idea… quadrilogy is the new trilogies.

So for that insult to my intelligence amongst other peoples that's why I don't have sympathy for movie companies and will result to finding other means than buying a official copy of the DVD or seeing it in the cinema. I don't dislike cinemas I dislike its role and what it now stands for. As with the majority of major companies it's the 'more for less' tactic this goes for staff, conditions, content and prices (weather it be food or the ticket price). 

Its only over the last few years these thin cheap shallow films have been produced, I blame scary movie and American pie personally.
Obviously those who know me know about my DVD collection and think I'm contradicting my self when I say I don't buy the DVDs, this would be fair to assume on some parts. The majority of my DVDs was probley £6 or under which for me is a fair price for a film. And I'm happy to pay that, any thing over £6 is too expensive. Selling real DVDs for over £12 is way too much. That said the films I got 9/10 are classics. I'm proud to say I don't own any modern day 'popular majority' films.

I got classics and indie films which are far more entertaining than commercial crap. You may assume I'm taking my self too seriously again and that films like scary movie were made to be humorous nothing more, that's fair enough if your 11 and don't have anything else to do. While I don't find any thing wrong with comedy films I don't find American teen humor funny. You want a short list of real films? A Bronx tale, Bad lieutenant, Brick, Bully, Deadbabies, Donnie Brasco, Dog day afternoon, Kidulthood, Kids, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Rules of Attraction and many many more in my collection.

As for these DVD sellers apparently the bigger picture is the money from these pirate DVDs go to 'oriental' crime circuits funding acts such as sex and child traffickers (as said by the BBC). The message the police and other authorities are trying to make you aware of is that if you buy fake shit your funding all these acts. As with the global warming adverts they are trying to make everyone switch lights off and all that crap. But there is no majority as of yet and nothing has changed, of course if everybody managed to make and effort of course things would be different but even if you took it upon your self to try and save the world and make a good example by 'turning to 30 degrees' you wont make a difference on your own, us English are to selfish for that the tides will still rise and your be sitting in the dark needlessly. ( that said I've contributed, I don't leave my  PC on all day and I turn lights off when I don't use them.)

 
 The same said with DVDs, just because you aint buying don't mean these people aren't gonna suffer. If they can't sell DVDs there find something else. Like what? Drugs! And I'm sure when you buy your drug of choice you don't think about the yardie gangster on the other end of the drug chain who profits from your addiction and lives it up in mansion with whores and more coke than he'll ever need ruining families, friends, relationships and other companies because hardcore drunk addicts are thieving to pay these morons back. Do you think about that? Or what your actions contribute to when your buying drugs? If no them I'm positive you don't think about the workers in South East Asia , Just because you stop don't mean they will stop so you might as well get your monies worth.

 
I'm done on pirate DVD's for now, other fake goods brought to my attention were obviously, designer clothes, fags, condoms (How you fake a condom is beyond me), designer bags, designer sunglasses, designer jewelry, toiletries etc.

I don't shop for fake clothes or any of the above. If I buy clothes I buy what I like but that's not the issue, as mentioned previously it is believed that poor oriental people are making clothes and other stuff to sell at knock off prices to the west. It has become apparent that these fake clothes are looking and feeling and becoming near enough exact to the real products. Sometimes even the owners can't tell the difference of a good fake. Whats the real difference? The price tag. Real shirts being sold for £100's of pounds in designer shops but at the market place you can find the same thing for a fraction of the price. The same rules apply the money funds criminal circuits. Does this go through your mind?

 
Its up to your ethics, do you spend a large some of money on the real product and feel content with yourself like you paid for quality, or spend a fraction of the price on a near enough perfect copy of a popular product, the only catch is it was made differently and the money goes to the wrong person.

To summarize if you buy fake products companies large and small lose money and your be ‘funding criminal gangs.' Or do you shop at the official retailers and spend massive amounts of money on material possessions.

I for one don't let these decisions get in the way of my choice. If I want a shirt ill probley go the cheaper option no ones gonna know. And its doubtful any one will bring it up in the first place. Same said with DVDs I only really buy DVDs or albums if I know I'm gonna enjoy them. This way I can enjoy them on a massive screen with surround sound. I feel ive droned on long enough. Where do you stand?