Politics and Horror Movies

[unicorn207]

It's come to my attention that horror movies are the target of politicians who rather want to make a name for themselves or who really do think these movies cause violence by teenagers and young adults(Columbine). Now before you start singing that old violin song of "Well if they don't like it they should turn it off" remember that they strongly do think that these movies and the rest of the entertainment industry do influence children and young adults to commit violence towards women and in general towards society. Some of them do want to regulate the industry while others just want to influence the industry. Now this is very important because imagine if they get it to a point that you're tagged for every movie you purchase on video or DVD, or for every movie you see in the theater. What I'm talking about here is the government running the industry. Can you imagine Blockbuster being partly owned by the government. A clerk comes up to you and says "Before you rent these movies we'd like to ask that you fill out this application so we can check to see if your eligible." There's alot of filfth in this industry but I don't think the government has all the answers.

What is everyone's opinions on this subject, since movies like JASON X and HANNIBAL and HALLOWEEN 8 will be effected by this next year or may really ignite the fury next year.

[A.J. Hakari]

The government should just leave movie-making to those who make the movies. Who cares if Strom Thurmond doesn't like "Final Destination"? Does that mean it has to be ruined for everybody else? Plus, if the government has any say in what comes out of the film industry, you can forget anymore "The Insider", "All the President's Men", etc., only movies that portray the government in a friendly little light. Butt out of business that isn't yours!

[The Arrow]

I stay away from politics and I would appreciate if politics would return the favor and stay away from the genre I love.

I can't count how many movies the MPAA ruined (Jack Valenti can kiss my arse!)or how many times politicians use horror as a scapegoat for everything that's wrong in the world. Movies don't kill people, people do. If its not a movie that will influence a sicko then it will be a book, a song, an ad, a porn...Why do we sane people have to suffer for every sick fuck out there! I hate this topic (but it is a good one) it makes me mad...I'm gonna go watch Friday The 13th Part 5...later...

[Jezka]

If horror movies influence the people who watch them to kill, why aren't there millions of people being killed each day? I don't think that horror movies alone influenced who the bigwig politicians say they did; I think that the violent individuals had a preexisting state of mental illness and that horror movies may have had a miniscule part in what they did, but it is certainly not the sole influence. It is also the duty of the parents to help their children distinguish between what is real and what isn't, so that some fifth-grader won't punch out someone and wonder why he doesn't automatically get up like that guy in the movie he saw. Basically, the politicians need to blame the parents, not the entertainment industry.

--Jezka, about ready to write a friggin' essay on the subject.

[the night watchman]

The government has no right to monitor the arts, period. However, the film industry is not strictly an innocent victim in all this. Although I agree with everything all of you have said so far, the studios, distributors, theater chains, and even Mr. Valenti's organization itself is partially to blame for the situation the industry has found itself in.

It's absolutely true that violence in the media is far, far, far less influential to a child's behavior than the violence she or she witnesses at home, or at school, or in the neighborhood. That does not, however, mean that parents should cease objecting to their children being exposed to content they deem inappropriate.

Let's face it: Movies are all about money. Film, sadly, is commerce. The people who foot the bill for a motion picture do so not because they want to create art, but because they want to make a profit. And of course the best way to line one's pockets is to make sure one's product accessible to the largest amount of people.

If studios didn't market questionable material to children, if the theater chains enforced the rating system, and if the MPAA designed its system with a sense of uniformity, then those protesting wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

The movie industry put its own neck in the noose. It can remove it by taking into account the concerns of the parents involved in the protests. There is a middle ground here, and the business end of film had best head in that direction before things go too far.

[The Arrow]

My biggest complaint about the MPAA (sorry if Im a tad off topic) is that they butcher the movies that ARE intended for a mature audience. I remember when Friday The 13th Part 8 came out and it was rated R. I couldn't get in to see it. When I finally managed to sneak in I found myself dissapointed at the level of gore the flick had...it was dry. People over 18 that go see a Friday film expect a certain something out of those films and the MPAA is ruining it for them Its not like the Friday films were rated G! They were rated R so let them be R movie! Jack Valenti always had a thing for the Friday series...I hate that guy...

[the night watchman]

No, you're not really off-topic; the MPAA is a big part of the problem. Their rating system doesn't work. I think it's a proven fact that the board lets certain movies slide by while it hands scissors to others. And, yeah, it did - and probably still does - have a vendetta against the "Friday the 13th" series.

The fact is, the MPAA playing stupid. Valenti says a filmmaker doesn't have to submit a movie to the board, but he knows damn well that releasing a flick without a rating is guaranteed box office death.

On a positive note, I heard that Valenti is retiring (or already has). It's quite possible we can get some new blood (no pun) into the MPAA who can work some changes.

Keep your fingers and longbones crossed.

[screamer581]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by the night watchman:
No, you're not really off-topic; the MPAA is a big part of the problem. Their rating system doesn't work. I think it's a proven fact that the board lets certain movies slide by while it hands scissors to others. And, yeah, it did - and probably still does - have a vendetta against the "Friday the 13th" series.

The fact is, the MPAA playing stupid. Valenti says a filmmaker doesn't have to submit a movie to the board, but he knows damn well that releasing a flick without a rating is guaranteed box office death.

On a positive note, I heard that Valenti is retiring (or already has). It's quite possible we can get some new blood (no pun) into the MPAA who can work some changes.

Keep your fingers and longbones crossed.</font>
Yea he is retiring....I heard they offered the job to Bill Clinton (he turned it down).......just think if he was the press of the MPAA......... ''What no boobs in this movie?!?......call up Miramax and tell them that the pres says for Jennifer Love Hewitt to show her cans!'''' tehee!

[This message has been edited by screamer581 (edited 12-28-2000).]

[Dehydrator]

People, I tell you this:
You're lucky to be living in the U.S.! I understand your anger on the Movie-Censorship and I can only agree.

I live in Germany (please excuse my horrible english )and here Censorship has a far bigger power on what people see and what they don't! Just some Examples :

- Texas Chainsaw Massacre got prohibited about 2 Months after it's official release in the 70s. None of the sequels ever faced a Release in germany, neither on VHS or Screen. Ca. 8 Months ago, a german Video-Company (ASTRO) released the original and the third sequel uncut. Part 2 + 3 still remain prohibited.

- The original Halloween was prohibited also shortly after it's release. The local Censorship cut it to pieces and after they realized how much this movie moved everywhere else in the world, cut it even more to a TV-Friendly version. The cut scenes off the movie count 14.. something minutes! Halloween 2 was banned before it even faced a cinematic release.

-Friday the 13th part III & IV are banned because in 1993, some kid ran amok. The boy slaughtered his stepfather and a neighbour with an Axe. Several sources tell that the two victims had sexually abused this kid before. But as the puplic opinion about things like that doesn't like to get hurt (" Kids abuse DOESN'T EXIST in Germany" - some politican who fortunatly retired ), they blamed it on the two Friday movies they found on the shelf of the kid.

-I've seen many Leprechaun movies and have never witnessed the Leprechaun acually KILL somebody!

Not only Horror movies are the center of attention: The Censorship ( mostly catholic-church run ) thinks about getting one episode of Harry Potter on the Index. Reason: Harry is a magican. Magicans use black Magic. Black Magic is dangerous for children.

Really, I'm pretty much jealous on you guys. You can actually witness a movie like Friday the 13th in Cinema uncut. Here - you couldn't.

[A.J. Hakari]

Exactly, Dehydrator. How come these Catholic and assorted Christian groups are all over a movie like "Dogma" for having a little fun with religion, but a cheesy and practically blasphemous piece of crap like "The Omega Code" gets off scot-free because one preacher thought it was pretty good?

[The Arrow]

Actually the reason Requiem For A Dream has such a limited release is because the director wouldn't submit it to the MPAA. He released it with no rating. When a movie goes out unrated the big Cinema chains don't take it. It's a shame that everybody didn't get a chance to see that movie. It's awesome!

[the night watchman]

Because movies like "Dogma" or "Last Temptation of Christ" challenge or question the status quo (i.e. force people to think) while a movie like "The Omega Code" pretty much sticks to convention (i.e. lulls people to sleep).

Like Dehydrator pointed out, the US has it much better than many European countries. I just want to make sure we never loose our freedom. (What am I, William Wallace?)

screamer581: "Yea [Valenti] is retiring....I heard they offered the job to Bill Clinton ..."

Image a world where Bill Clinton is president of the MPAA ... what a wonderful world that would be. /ubb/smile.gif

[unicorn207]

There was talk that Bill Clinton was going to join Steven Speilberg's Dreamworks or become the head of the MPAA. That would be disasterous for Hollywood to have a man who's legacy is his sex life as head of one of there companies. I think that I just figured out why Dreamworks made "Road Trip" this year. Now there's talk that he's going to host his own talk show. How many times do you think Hillary will be his main guest. I wouldn't be surprised if Bill really wants to host a Howard Stern type radio show but he'll make himself look like he doesn't enjoy the trash.

About religion, the reason religious people care so much about morality is because of that whole Heaven and Hell fate deal.

Oh and by the way, someone got me a picture of Bill Clinton posing with Hugh Hefner at a Democratic fund raiser. In my opinion Hefner is Hollywood (It seems like everyone in Hollywood will do what he says when he says it; no one in Hollywood says no to him?) and that picture shows how much Clinton IS attatched to Hollywood.

And I remember hearing that the likely result of this spat between Hollywood and politicians will be a rating system similar to what we have on TV. For instance, R-V (V for violence) and R-S (S for sex). Just thought you might want to know.

Added 2/8/01- What does Strom Thurmond have to do with this? I don't think he cares about this, he's so old he can probably remember that Dracula starring Bela Logosi didn't cause a spat.

McCain is a maniac who thinks he's holier than thou. He should have been shot at yesterday. Damn Accountants always miss their targets!! McCain's the type of evil guy who get's lucky in life and gets portrayed as a hero because he was in a POW camp.

Farwell's not a bad guy, he just doesn't want the world to have sex and violence accepted as 'open behavior.' I don't want that either and you have to understand what that means before you criticize it.

I hope Jason X ends this debate once and for all. The only thing we got from the TV ratings that Clinton helped to implement is more naughty behavior on TV because they can just call NYPD Blue and Queer and Grace TV-14. And also show meaningless nudity from Scheidler's List. Speilberg's a pervert!!!!

Added 3/02/01- There was just an attack by a man in a movie theater. He's nuts but here's a link to the article until the Washington Post decide to take it off. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010302/aponline073258_000.htm

You make the decision!

[This message has been edited by unicorn207 (edited 02-09-2001).]

[This message has been edited by unicorn207 (edited 03-02-2001).]

[the night watchman]

Regardless of the scandal, I think Clinton would be a good choice for taking over the reigns of the MPAA. First, he genuinely loves movies, and seems to have a fair understanding and appreciation of them. Second, he is a liberal. Third, to my knowledge he has never obfuscated a genuine issue by scapegoating movies (a la Dole, McCain (who I actually liked before he started in on this crap), Tipper, Lieberman ... and, heck, you might as well throw Jerry Falwell into the mix as well). And fourth, he loves the ladies.

As far as the rating system goes, Roger Ebert is a big proponent of the A rating. I don't quite understand why he thinks this will be more effective than NC-17, or the X rating before it. In my opinion, I think we should alter PG-13 to explicitly forbid anyone under the age of 13 from entering at all, and apply it to films like "Jason X," or "American Pie." It's simply ignorant to think that teenagers haven't seen breasts or gore, or heard the word "shit" before. R would remain the same, but be applied to movies with adult themes, like "American Beauty" for example. NC-17 should be reserved for movies like, I don't know, "Requiem for a Dream." I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's pretty harsh. It's the modern equivalent of "American Gigolo" or "Urban Cowboy," both of which received an X in their time. Anyway, you get my drift - NC-17 is for strictly adult-oriented, non-pornographic movies. A movie like "Evil Dead 2" receiving the equivalent of an X or NC-17 is absurd. Outside of the word "bastard," it doesn't even have any swearing!

So I don't think the rating system should receive a major overhaul, I just think it ought to be applied intelligently.


[This message has been edited by the night watchman (edited 12-29-2000).]

[killtheearth]

Dehydrator, I'm completely with you on this one, but I'm afraid most readers of these posts will never really understand the extent that censorship runs outside of the United States.

While stationed in Germany with the US Army in the early '90s, my barracks room became somewhat of a popular hangout for German horror fans; for them, it was the only opportunity to see horror and gore in all it's uncut splendor. Every movie available to them on the German economy was severely butchered (no pun intended) by the censors; even over-the-top gore like "Violent Shit" or "Nekromantik" was so cropped that the entire movie may last all of 45 minutes without a single drop of blood being spilled.

Having that in mind, I can't really gripe too much when I hear of some Capitol Hill dustbag crying for more control of Hollywood's "creative" edge. Even if a movie is dumbed down to an 'R' rating, chances are that a director's cut will be eventually available for home viewing.

Believe me, guys, we have it pretty good here.

[teenkiller]

This topic brings up important issues so I'm briging it back up. Do movies create serial killers or do they make serial killers more creative? I think neither. The government would love to use movies and other forms of media as a scapegoat for whatever goes wrong in society but as most people on this board would probably agree thats false. People have a brain of their own to use and know whats right and wrong. Its just a shame that everyone has to suffer because the mistakes of a minority. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[jessehart]

Well my take on it is that if your that crazy enough to be caught up in all of these movies that are not real then you got a problem more then just being too caught up. I personaly think that there isnt a "problem" with movies. Its the people (teens, adults etc.) that have the mental problems already and if there that unstable to go and slash some one throat or what have you then they should be in an insane asylum or get serious mental help.