Kevin Smith's movie, Zack and Miri Make a Porno has been critisized as of late and even banned by a number of U.S. theatres that refuse to play it."So what's the problem with this movie? The word "Porno" in the title. Aside from Larry Miller's theater chain, fifteen newspapers along with several TV stations and billboard owners have been refusing to promote the flick across the country because of that word. As Philadelphia deputy mayor Rina Cutler said in a phone interview with The Wall Street Journal, 'If they want to call the movie Zack and Miri, that's fine, but Zack and Miri cannot make a porno on my bus shelters.'" [1]
"Kevin Smith's" movie, however, is "surprisingly tame and sentimental." There are "...a few flashes of nudity, a handful of love scenes played mostly for laughs, and a whole lot of foul language. In fact, the film's raunchiness level is comparable to that of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Sex Drive, all of which screened at Megaplex theaters." [1]
Furthermore, and what might be the most interesting of all of this, is that theatres do not seem to second guess the showing of graphic horror such as Saw V, "which features beheadings and explicit self-mutilation."[1]
Why is it that sex is always more controversial than violence? Isn't graphic horror, death and killing more unnatural than sex? Which act is more uncivilized? The ratings system always seems to target nudity much more rigorously than it does blood and violence?
What do you think of all of this? What does this say about our society and our culture? How do you know?
ALSO:
The movie poster for this film has also been a bone of contention - again seemingly due to the word 'Porno' in the title. In an interview, Kevin Smith told Entertainment Weekly, "When you've got the word 'porno' in the title, naturally, the marketing materials are gonna be scrutinized more closely by the MPAA, I understand they've got a job to do, but c'mon...this image isn't that dirty; they're both fully clad." The poster depicted above features Zack and Miri as stick figures due to the fact that the original poster was deemed to be too risque. Smith is right when he says that the lead characters are "fully clad". The poster, however, is quite suggestive.
Check the following link and give your opinion on the poster. Was the original too much? Was the MPAA justified in deeming the poster too suggestive? What does this type of controversy do in the long run for films suich as Zack and Miri?
**NOTE: the poster was not banned in Canada. What do you think of this?
http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/the-banned-zack-and-miri-poster-youll-only-see-in-canada/
References
[1] Crow, Jonathan. 'Zack and Miri' Banned in Utah. 30 Oct. 2008. 2 Nov. 2008 http://ca.movies.yahoo.com/feature/zackandmiri_blog.html.
"Zack and Miri Movie Poster." 2008. Online image. Yahoo! Movies. 2 Nov. 2008.
http://l.yimg.com/img.movies.yahoo.com/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/weinstein_company/zack_and_miri_make_a_porno/zackandmiri_galleryposter2.jpg
