# What Are the Most Divisive Movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289 "2005-08-30T17:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/21 "2005-08-30T19:50:33Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Dare I mention **Starship Troopers**? šŸ˜ƒ Somebody likes that? Iā€™ve never heard of anyone but Verhoeven himself defend it. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/22 "2005-08-30T19:58:50Z")
**The Piano** was a really upsetting movie to me. I have never seen another movie where the character was so repellant to me that I had to get up and leave the room. Harvey Keitel is a great actor, The Piano is probably a great movie, but it really, really disturbed me like no other movie I can name. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/23 "2005-08-30T20:00:42Z")
**Kill Bill I** , **Revenge of the Sith** , and **Sin City**. Just look at my thread. Iā€™ve never seen so many people divided in my life: > **[Lopped-Off Limbs in Popular Cinema](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=332512)** > > Over ther past few months Iā€™ve seen Sin City, Revenge of the Sith , and both of the Kill Bill films. Never in my life have I seen such a collection of chopped-off extremities. And itā€™s all in big-budget mainstream cinema, too. Not in the usual... ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/24 "2005-08-30T20:01:12Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > Somebody likes that? Iā€™ve never heard of anyone but Verhoeven himself defend it. ā€œStarship Troopers the Film is a viciously effective, multilayered satireā€ - banned Doper **lissener** ā€œI think his most successful text/subtext juxtaposition is with Starship Troopersā€ - banned Doper **lissener** ā€œStarship Troopers is up pretty near my lifetime top tenā€ - banned Doper **lissener** ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/25 "2005-08-30T20:06:04Z")
Donā€™t forget that the final straw in his banning was on that specific movie. ---
**Author:** ![Berserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Berserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berserker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/26 "2005-08-30T20:09:55Z")
Any of Todd Solondzā€™s films, as well as American Psycho. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/27 "2005-08-30T20:11:08Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > Somebody likes that? Iā€™ve never heard of anyone but Verhoeven himself defend it. I canā€™t see it as a good film, but I find it highly enjoyable as schlock. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/28 "2005-08-30T21:01:45Z")
You know how people who have read the book always complain that the film of that book is so much lessā€¦ well, to the OP: I read the screenplay of **Magnolia** , and LOVED it. When I saw actors in the roles, I disliked all of them except Philip Seymour Hoffman. But, I put the film in my ā€œso-soā€ category. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/29 "2005-08-30T21:58:33Z")
**The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension** splits people into ā€œabsolutely love itā€ and ā€œthe stupidest movie Iā€™ve ever seenā€ camps. Iā€™ve never met a ā€œit was OKā€ person. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/30 "2005-08-30T22:07:45Z")
**Citizen Kane**. There are those who think itā€™s the ā€œbest everā€ film and those who think itā€™s pretentious garbage. The \*\*Matrix \*\* films. I have friends who love these. I thought the first was such a waste of time that I refused to accompany them to the second and third. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/31 "2005-08-30T22:11:15Z")
Great googly moogly! We have 30 posts before anyone mentions [Santa Sangre](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098253/)? I love this movie, but many people actually become [violently](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3063634&postcount=96) [angry](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3063634&postcount=96) after watching it. In fact, that seems to happen with a lot of Jodorowsky moviesā€¦ hmmā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/32 "2005-08-30T22:12:59Z")
oops! one of those links should have been to [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3066347&postcount=115). In fact, after reading his posts in that thread, Iā€™m pretty sure that **hamlet** just flat out did not care for the film šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/33 "2005-08-30T22:40:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Fahrenheit 9/11, although thatā€™s not strictly for cinematic reasons. I think the same could be said for **The Passion of the Christ** ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/34 "2005-08-30T22:49:00Z")
I love **Starship Troopers** **Titanic** made a buttload of money, but every other thread on this messageboard has a post where somebody claims that itā€™s the worst movie of all time. (It hasnā€™t happened in this thread yet, but just waitā€¦ 5ā€¦ 4ā€¦ 3ā€¦) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/35 "2005-08-30T22:50:27Z")
Divisive? Just about anything by Spike Lee. Someone once threatened to hit me because of my (negative) views on the artistic importance of Spike Lee. I canā€™t recall that any other opinion Iā€™ve ever expressed on an entertainment-related subject has ever drawn a threat of physical violence. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/36 "2005-08-30T23:19:38Z")
I havenā€™t seen ā€œFight Clubā€, but my understanding is that men and women often have different takes on it. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/37 "2005-08-30T23:34:18Z")
ā€œClerksā€, though mainly because it tends to lead to a discussion of whether Kevin Smith is a hack or not. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/38 "2005-08-30T23:35:14Z")
Iā€™m a woman and I loved the violence in Fight Club but thought the overall philosophical message a lot of guys seemed to be getting from it was overrated and frankly funny. Would watch again. Neither love it nor hate it though. The Piano has come up surprisingly often in my hearing - either art film brilliance or ā€œewwww, Harvey Keitel naked.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/39 "2005-08-31T02:32:53Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > Opinions of ā€œFight Clubā€ seem to be split very cleanly down gender lines. Huh. I saw it once, thought it was OK. Wouldnā€™t watch it again. My friend thinks itā€™s High Art. Weā€™re both women. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/40 "2005-08-31T02:41:07Z")
I thought this thread was going to be about stuff like Birth of A Nation A Clockwork Orange Lolita (both versions as well as the book) The Last Temptation of Christ Blue Velvet Happiness Hail Mary which are more controversial morally, religiously & politically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289.md?page=3)