Living in Utah, I’m no stranger to odd liquor laws. We can’t buy anything other than beer in our grocery stores. In a restaurant you can’t buy a drink unless you’re also buying food, and restaurant bartenders have to pour your drinks behind what we lovingly call a “Zion Curtain” so fragile people don’t see the scandalous act of pouring liquor from a bottle.
Because of all of this we were somewhat impressed when Brewvies was awarded a liquor license here in Salt Lake. The establishment offers movies, food and liquor to patrons 21 and over. It’s been an awesome addition to our downtown. But a vaguely written liquor law is threatening the fun and pitching the owners of the bar against the state, and the reason might surprise you, even for Utah.
The theatre played Deadpool. And – SPOILER ALERT – you see boobs and sex in Deadpool. Utah has a ridiculous law that says you can’t show nudity or sex AND serve alcohol. Because somehow, grown adults can only be trusted with either alcohol or movie sex scenes, but we cannot be trusted to indulge in both at the same time.
I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen if we do drink a vodka and Coke while getting a glimpse of a naked bum, but the state thinks it’s lose-your-liquor-license bad. To make the situation worse; if they had edited those scenes out and just shown you the fight scenes with the blood and the gore and the killing, the state would have no issue with showing Deadpool at Brewvies. None.
And that is what I have the biggest issue with. I need someone to explain, in a way that makes sense, why it’s perfectly acceptable to mix liquor with all the bloody violence Hollywood can cram into a script, but the second a boob comes out or people start knockin’ boots, we’ve suddenly gone too far? When are we going to stop being so afraid of naked bodies and fake sex, especially as adults? Really, we need to talk about this…