Paul Murray's weblog, with news you may have missed and my $0.02 worth on a number of topics.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it."
- Art Buchwald

I bet you don't have a friend who's an acupuncturist

E-mail me: pmurray [at] despammed.com

Thank goodness we have the MPAA to protect us. Here's a quiz for you. Which one of these movie posters is "not suitable for all audiences"?



According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), it's the last one, for the documentary Taxi to the Dark Side (website). They specifically objected to the hood, and pointed out that posters for horror movies that used hoods had been rejected as well.

Well, hooray for consistency.

I'm so glad that imagery of a masked woman strapped into some type of torture machine, fingers with ripped nails, and a woman suspended upside down with her hands apparently bound can be used for "torture porn" movies for "entertainment." But to promote an award-winning documentary with an image of a hooded man being led away by American soldiers -- an image based upon an actual news photo, mind you -- is unacceptable. As it was in 2006 for another award-winning documentary, The Road to Guantanamo.

This is as idiotic as the "zero tolerance" stories you hear about kids being suspended from school because they had aspirin or a butter knife. Heaven forbid that people in positions of authority use their judgment.

The producers say thay plan to appeal ... if they can. They can ignore the MPAA's ruling and use the poster anyway, but they risk losing their "R" rating if they do -- and very few theatre chains will show an unrated movie.

More info here.

Labels: censorship, documentaries, MPAA, zero tolerance

posted by Paul Murray at 2:05 PM | permanent link |