Tarantino grilled on NPR about movie violenceThe awkward, tense interview touched on 'Django Unchained' and the Newtown school massacre.Django Unchained director Quentin Tarantino took some hard questioning about movie violence during an interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross on Wednesday night.The tense and often excruciatingly awkward exchange on the popular radio program Fresh Air left the director feeling "really annoyed." Tarantino seemed surprised when the genial conversation suddenly turned to the serious subject of putting violence in movies after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting last month."So, I just have to ask you," Gross said. "Is it any less fun after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary? Do you ever go through a period where you lose your taste for movie violence?""I think it's disrespectful to their memory actually, the memory of the people who died, to talk about movies," Tarantino said of the 26 shooting victims. "It's totally disrespectful to their memory."
Tarantino was sailing through a lighthearted interview when things got decidedly tense and often awkward after the director laughed about the intense beatings in his new film, which he called "Spaghetti Western" beatings."And what do you like about that?" What do I like about it?" Tarantino asked with surprise, before laughing nervously. Gross asked: "Are there times when it is just not a fun movie experience for you, either to be making it that way or to be in the audience?""Not for me," Tarantino said flatly.After a few other tense exchanges, Tarantino added."Would I watch a kung fu movie three days after the Sandy Hook massacre? Because they have nothing to do with each other.""You sound annoyed," Gross responded.Tarantino wrapped up the subject with his thoughts on movies and violence."I've been asked this question for 20 years," he said. "About the effects of violence in movies relating to violence in real life. And my answer is the same as 20 years ago. It hasn't changed one iota."
Tarantino added that violence in movies does not affect violence in society."Obviously the issue is gun control and mental health," he said.Why you should careBecause while streaming movies on BitTorrent is not legal like Netflix, Popcorn Time might not feel as sketchy (even if you’re still in gray territory). Years of lawsuits, nasty viruses and hefty penalties imposed on peer-to-peer platforms or people downloading and sharing gigabytes upon gigabytes of copied movies and music has had quite a chilling effect. Plenty of people continue to illegally download media content, but the last decade’s popularity of iTunes, Netflix and Spotify — all legal avenues — proves that media conglomerates still hold the reins.But torrent movie-streaming services Popcorn Time and Time 4 Popcorn have emerged as the newest rebels, and people clearly love them. The Popcorn Time app (provided by both sites since the software was originally open source) is a free platform that searches the web for torrents that let you stream movies in high definition and even with subtitles.
The sleek user interface makes it easy to find everything from the latest seasons of Suits and Game of Thrones to newer movies that would cost several bucks to rent on iTunes. I tested it out via the Time 4 Popcorn version and sampled clips from a few movies with impressive speed and HD quality. Open the free software, select a movie or TV show, choose the HD version and subtitles you’d like, and all that’s left to do is pop the popcorn. You don’t pay a single penny. Time 4 Popcorn’s version of the app supports Mac, Windows, Linux, Android and even Google Chromecast, while Popcorn Time works on desktop platforms only.Sounds too good to be true? Well, it sort of is.The application’s popcorn box mascot is downright cute, but let’s get real: Watching illegally distributed movies without paying for them is far from cute when you consider what’s really going on. Even though peer-to-peer sharing platforms are legal, what applications like Popcorn Time do by creating the prime environment for consuming copyrighted content could technically be illegal.
In a statement to OZY, the Time 4 Popcorn team answered most of our questions but had no comment when asked about the legal implications. After the original Popcorn Time project shut down earlier this year, new versions of Popcorn Time emerged thanks to the project’s open-source nature. The Time 4 Popcorn team call themselves “fans and users [who] were heavy users of the original project.” Understandably hesitant to reveal too much about their identities, they went so far as to say they are “programmers from all around the world who have worked together on several projects prior to Popcorn [Time].”Time 4 Popcorn boldly states on its homepage that Popcorn Time “will never be taken down,” while the Popcorn Time site posts a more cautious disclaimer: “Downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk.” Might be time for Hollywood to think about negotiating better deals with legal market leaders like Netflix.To protect its users, Time 4 Popcorn says it offers torrent traffic encryption and a free, built-in VPN, so people can use the service anonymously.
Since I tested the application, the authorities haven’t come knocking at my door, but I confess I’m someone who feels guilty, especially considering I make my living in media and content.It goes without saying that OZY Media does not endorse streaming movies illegally, but Popcorn Time is worth knowing about. It reportedly has millions of users and gets tens of thousands of downloads on an average day.So it might be time for Hollywood to think seriously about negotiating better deals with legal market leaders like Netflix if it wants to curb the pirating hordes. I’m continually disappointed by the number of popular movies from the past year that aren’t available for Netflix streaming. Non-Stop (2014), The Lego Movie (2014) and Frozen (2013) are all available for streaming on Popcorn Time, but Netflix only offers them via its DVD mail service. And paying 5 bucks to rent a single movie on iTunes or Amazon Instant Video can add up.No one should ignore the legal and ethical questions attached to BitTorrent apps like Popcorn Time, but what will parents do when it’s late, the DVD player is broken and their sick kid is crying to watch Frozen for the umpteenth time?