# Controversial Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735 "2006-07-09T14:34:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/21 "2006-07-10T20:03:31Z")
You may be interested in [_Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11_](http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/22 "2006-07-10T20:59:26Z")
I must be living under a rock: what in the heck is controversial about _Aladdin_? ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/23 "2006-07-10T21:00:46Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I just heard about this Japanese movie called “Battle Royale” (in English) about a bunch of school kids that get kidnapped on an Island and have to murder each other. They tried to get it banned in Japan. > > Apparently New Line Cinema has bought the rights to remake it. We will have to start a mondo Battle Royale thread as this file gets closer to release in its US form, since there seems to be quite a bit of growing awareness about it. Of course, I definitely recommend the book (it’s been in an English translation for a while now) for anyone interested. The manga series is a little “ew” for my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/24 "2006-07-10T21:06:19Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > You may be interested in [_Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11_](http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm). [Debunking “59 Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11”](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/7/18/173312/462) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/25 "2006-07-10T21:44:14Z")
> [@Beadalin](#): > > I must be living under a rock: what in the heck is controversial about _Aladdin_? Wikipedia again: > [@](#): > > One of the verses of the opening song “Arabian Nights” was censored because of political sensitivity. Following protests from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, (ADC) the lyrics were changed in July 1993 from “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face/It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home,” in the original release to “Where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense/It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home.” The new change was seen on the 1993 video release of this title. The original lyric was intact on the initial CD soundtrack release that predated the movie’s theatrical release and subsequent protests. The soundtrack was re-released at the time of the DVD release of the film; on the re-released soundtrack, the edited lyric is used. The June 16 copy of Entertainment Weekly used this to suggest that Aladdin was the 25th most controversial film ever. And rjung beat me to the rebuttal link. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/26 "2006-07-11T02:42:40Z")
What a stupid list. What list about controversial movies wouldn’t include _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ or _Gremlins_, the two movies that started the PG-13 rating, or _Henry and June_ the first film to get a NC-17 rating? Given that they changed the rating system, shouldn’t they be in there by default? What list would bring up some unheard of “Arab-American” controversy for _Aladdin_ w/o mentioning the possible Mafia (and real Italian-American) rumblings about _The Godfather_? _Midnight Cowboy_? _Brokeback Mountain_? _Dog Day Afternoon_? None of them are mentioned? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/27 "2006-07-11T03:08:29Z")
_The DaVinci Code_?? _THE DAVINCI CODE_?!?!?! Over _Kids_ and _Caligula_ no less. Please. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/28 "2006-07-11T03:11:40Z")
Oh yeah, and they forgot _Harold and Maude_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/29 "2006-07-11T03:44:16Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Wikipedia again: > > And rjung beat me to the rebuttal link. . . . Wonder if Disney would have had to change those lyrics, if Aladdin had been released in 2003 . . . ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/30 "2006-07-11T03:46:49Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > What a stupid list. The OP did not request just a list of “controversial movies,” but, > [@](#): > > My question to you is, what supposedly controversial or shocking film have you seen and were suprised at how unshocking the movie was or why it got so much attention? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/31 "2006-07-11T04:07:28Z")
Ah, _Battle Royale_, the film that conclusively proves the tactical superiority of the machine pistol over the frying pan. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/32 "2006-07-11T06:11:02Z")
I finally got around to watching _Natural Born Killers_. This was controversial? It’s a slicker, artsier and less coherent version of _Bonnie and Clyde_, which itself was kind of a nothing movie, notable only because of the historical inaccuracies it spoon-fed the audience to make the criminal protagonists likable. > [@](#): > > 1. Aladdin Gah? Did they throw that in as a joke? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/33 "2006-07-11T07:48:36Z")
**Crash** (1996) caused a bit of a stir when it was released on video. Blockbusters wouldn’t carry it because of the NC-17 rating. Kind of unusual for a film with such well known stars as Holly Hunter and James Spader. Back in 1966 a lot of church folks were unhappy about **Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?** Didn’t like all that cursing, I guess. Or maybe it was the idea of a wife talking back to her husband. Or the alcohol consumption. Here in the South, we didn’t appreciate how rude they were to their company. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/34 "2006-07-11T08:57:51Z")
Another candidate is the 1960 British film [Peeping Tom](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054167/plotsummary) by Michael Powell. I think it was shown in the USA but in a heavily cut version. More details [here](http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/447463/) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/35 "2006-07-11T09:00:10Z")
Again: > [@](#): > > My question to you is, what supposedly controversial or shocking film have you seen and were suprised at how unshocking the movie was or why it got so much attention? ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/36 "2006-07-11T09:02:20Z")
Does anyone know if **The Children’s Hour** caused much of a stir when it was released in 1961? Accusations of a lesbian relationship leveled at female teachers by a student weren’t exactly everyday plot material at the time, I’d imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/37 "2006-07-11T09:24:18Z")
Following the release of _The Children’s Hour_ in 1961, the MPAA Production Code Administration decided to loosen up a bit, and declared that no _subject_ was off limits anymore, just how the subject was portrayed. Thus in 1962 there were movies with a middle-age man having a sexual relationship with his adolescent stepdaughter, a British soldier getting raped by a Turkish officer, brainwashed American soldiers smoking marijuana and casually shooting each other, the attempted rape of a lawyer’s wife and daughter by the psychopath he sent to prison, and a U.S. senator blackmailed over a homosexual affair in his past. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/38 "2006-07-11T10:36:34Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > When _Robocop_ was first released, it was nearly rated X for violence (IIRC). I’m not supersqueamish, but I figured the movie must be pretty horrific in order to flirt with such a rating, so I avoided seeing it for a long time. Finally I steeled myself up for it and watched it. > > That movie _might_ earn a PG-13 today, but certainly wouldn’t be rated R for violence. > > (Not saying it shoulda made the list, just that I was surprised at there being any initial controversy over its violence). > > Daniel Are you sure? I know American audiences are perhaps more immune to violent imagery, but the bit near the start of Robocop where the soon-to-be Robocop is shot to pieces by the cackling gang is pretty horrific in the uncut version… ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/39 "2006-07-11T10:56:43Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I’m a little confused here. Are you saying that the movie _JFK_ was not controversial when it was released? Because it was controversial here in the U.S., where many critics called it inaccurate and misleading. > > When you refer to the “BBC debunk of the Kennedy assassination,” what were they debunking: The findings of the Warren Commission (that Oswald acted alone), the beliefs of the conspiracy theorists, or the movie _JFK_? Apologies a hasty posting. Mates of mine who saw the film over here in the UK said it was “controversial” for the opposite reason, that it seemed to make a case for everything but Oswald acting alone. The BBC debunk was a debunk of the film and related nuts, quite good. Not as I put it, a debunk of the assassination, which made it sound like they were trying to prove that JFK was still alive :rolleyes: I see Robocop in the thread, I’ve seen it on TV and DVD, more and more steadily un-censored. From the UlsterTV showing where Dick Jones called his boss (shock!) “airhead,” to the surprisingly more liberal Irish tv showing where we see why Lewis needs to use her windscreen wipers and finally the DVD that includes the scene explaining why initially Robocop has only need of one prosthetic arm… So, its violence didn’t leave that much of a mark on me, years after its release. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735/40 "2006-07-11T11:30:39Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Again: My question to you is, what supposedly controversial or shocking film have you seen and were suprised at how unshocking the movie was or why it got so much attention? Ok, then. _Battle Royale_ seemed pretty underwhelming when I saw it. _Suicide Club_, on the other hand, definitely left an impression. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-movies/363735.md?page=3)