I have lived all but 3 years of my life in the U.S. A fraction of that time was spent living in the biggest movie producing city in the world, Los Angeles. I was raised being told that copyright laws were serious and strict. Anyone who makes a pirated movie is stealing. Every time I think about someone copying a movie a flash of a commercial comes into my head saying that movie plagiarism is illegal. The ad states that “you wouldn’t steal a car” and “you wouldn’t steal a handbag” then “you wouldn’t steal a movie.” This all adds up to the fact that buying or making a pirated movie is stealing and “Stealing is against the law!”
My dad worked in the movie business for a few years and many of our family friends are still very successful writers/directors and such. The way that these people make their money is through other people going to the theater and or purchasing the movie which they have created. It seems unfair that all the hundreds of people who spend their whole life creating movies will not be compensated for their works just because some people won’t bother to pay $5 at the theater or $10 at a movie store. It’s not just the actors, writers and directors who are affected, but anyone who has a job relating to movies. All the janitors and custodians at the theaters, the camera crew, the costume and makeup artists and basically everyone on the never-ending credit role at the end of a movie want to be paid for their job.
Until moving overseas I never saw a stand selling pirated movies. In many countries, it’s almost impossible to find a movie that is NOT pirated. I remember being in the Cook Islands the day that a law was passed banning all pirated movies. It’s just harder for places far bigger to make laws that will raise such protest. The Internet is another way to watch movies illegally. Sometimes there are legitimate sites that aren’t seen as illegal to watch movies or T.V. shows, but then there’s the 3 million other sites that will play a movie online that came out in theaters the day before.
I have gone to a few movie premieres, and during all of them I was asked to have my bag checked before entering the theater; now I know why. People will film the movies with video cameras and post them online. Occasionally there is an audience member who stands up and is able to be seen walking towards the aisle (kind of ruins the movie experience).
Some people say piracy isn’t bad when its legal in the country, however, it is Illegal everywhere, but some places aren’t as strict on the rules. No percent of pirated movies goes to those that made the movie. Do the movie makers a favor by going to the theater or purchasing their movie, and do yourself a favor by watching a high quality picture.
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