My husband brought up an interesting argument to me the other day, and I thought it was an interesting subject to address.

I am a Mormon, and being a Mormon, I do not swear and I do not watch R-rated movies. Let me clarify that not all Mormons ban themselves from watching R-rated movies, but a good portion of us tend to stay away from them. The reason we do this is because we try to keep the spirit in our lives. We want to live a happy and clean life.

Now, I must also tell you that I am a film major, and being in this major I am exposed to a lot of R-rated films and questionable content in movies. I'll admit I have walked out of class a few times because I couldn't stand the movie being shown.

One night, my husband and I came across Vid-angel, which is a wonderful thing to use when you want to watch a questionable film. A movie I had always wanted to see but had never dared because it was rated R, was The Revenant. We decided to use Vid-Angel to watch this great film that apparently got Leonardo his Oscar. We blocked all swear words and took out the nastiest sounding parts of the movie (including "man cuts open animal, removes organs, and climbs inside"). After removing probably about 5 minutes worth of the movie, we started it.

Now, I believe this movie is filled with 57 or so F-bombs. With Vid-Angel, all of these were edited out and there'd simply be a second of silence or so, along with all the other swear words that we blocked. Admittedly this cut out a lot of dialogue, but I still had a clear sense of the story.

Now, I think we have all heard about the controversy between Vid-Angel, directors, and Disney. Directors are upset because their art is being changed or edited by Vid-Angel. Personally, as a Mormon, I love Vid-Angel and I think it is a wonderful thing for many people out there that want to watch movies but not have the questionable content in it. I also understand the Director's point of view that they don't want their art altered. They made that movie the way it is because they felt it was the best way to tell their story. I understand that. I don't think a person watching the film has to be imprisoned to see those things if they don't want to.

The subject I really want to discuss, however, is this content really necessary to movies. As my and my husband were watching The Revenant, there was a lot of swear words taken out. My husband asked me if it was really necessary for movies to put so many F-words into a film. This is when I suddenly realized my real opinion on the matter.

If The Revenant had been made with no swear words whatsoever, I truly believe it would lose something. Yes, I did watch this film with no swear words in it and I enjoyed it. What I mean is that if the movie had first been made with no swear words, it would've lost something to it. The mountain men of this film are men that swear. That is who they are. Frankly, if I was being eaten by a bear, I think I would swear too. The point is, these men were swearing men. That was their personality and their character. If they had been happy little mountain men that never swore, this story would've been less true, less believable.

This goes for the gore of the movie as well. If the film had cut out most of the bear fight, or gotten rid of some of Leo's wounds or put less blood in the film, I think the film would've lost something. This was a story that was made of gore. To survive, Glass may have had to climb inside a dead horse. (Yes, I did have this part cut out when I watched the film, but I did see a glimpse of him climbing out, and I looked away before I saw the rest). Honestly, I think this part was necessary to put into the film. I don't think that I, or anyone else, has to watch it. I think anyone should be free to skip this part if they choose. I do think it helps tell the story, though, so I think it is necessary to put in. This is the story that the director chose to tell.

I know some of you may be thinking that I lost some of the experience of the film because I had things edited out for me. Maybe I did. I won't deny it. I choose not to experience that, however, and I am okay with just having an explanation for what I missed (ex: Man rips out organs of animal and climbs inside of it). That was enough information for me to understand what happened and still understand the story.

This goes for the swearing as well. The nice, soundless space that I hear instead of a swear word tells me enough that they are swearing at this point, and to be honest it fits. They probably should be swearing at those parts, because that is who their character is. I would not change this part of the movie either. That does not mean I will watch it with those swear words turned on. I still prefer to watch it without them, and just know that they exist even though I don't hear them.

I want to clarify that I don't believe every R-rated film out there is okay to have swear words and sex scenes. I don't believe this to be true. Not every film deserves that many F-bombs. I have seen plenty of movies where a sudden F-bomb is dropped and it was not needed. It was not needed for the script, it didn't move the audience in a way it should. Sex scenes have been added where they aren't needed. They are only there to make money. These are the types of films that I have no desire to see. When they are made to spread profanity and nudity for absolutely no reason, this is when I believe it is wrong to have.

To conclude, I believe that a select amount of films actually use questionable content in a way that helps to tell their story. I think that these films do have necessary reason to use this questionable content to tell a story. I do not believe that anyone watching them should have to watch those parts if they don't want to. They should be free to edit it out, or mute when they want to. They can still enjoy the art of a director and a director can still present and sell his/her art. It's a win for everyone.