WurfWhile

Today’s Chicago Tribune has an interesting article about censorship and standards, “Poster rejected for Guantanamo film: Picture-rating agency won’t allow image of hooded detainee.”

“The Motion Picture Association of America has censored a poster advertising a film about the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The image that ran afoul of the MPAA … shows a man hanging by his handcuffed wrists, with a burlap sack over his head and a blindfold tied around the hood.

It appeared in advertisements for the new film ‘The Road to Guantanamo,’ a documentary with some re-enacted scenes, that follows the fate of three British men imprisoned at Guantanamo for more than two years before being released with no charges ever filed against them.

The distributors of the film, directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, submitted the poster to the MPAA, which must approve publicity materials for the films it rates, on April 24. It was rejected the next day.

‘The reason given was that the burlap bag over the guy’s head was depicting torture, which wasn’t appropriate for children to see,’ said Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions, which is distributing the film in North America. The film is to open on June 23, advertised by another poster, approved by the MPAA, showing shackled hands and arms.

Scrutiny for print ads

MPAA spokeswoman Gayle Osterberg said its standards for print advertising are particularly sensitive.

‘If it’s a poster that’s hanging in a theater, anyone who walks into that theater, regardless of what movie they’ve come to see, will be exposed to it,’ Osterberg said.

Though she wouldn’t comment on the particular reason for the poster’s rejection, and MPAA guidelines for what is acceptable in advertising aren’t made public, she did list some things that are not allowed: ‘depictions of violence, blood, people in jeopardy, drugs, nudity, profanity, people in frightening situations, disturbing or frightening scenes.’

Cohen is frustrated with the decision.

‘This is a film with a serious purpose, and this is the subject of the film itself, and the marketing materials were appropriate to the subject,’ he said. And, he added, horror flicks and slasher movies are often advertised with images far more suggestive of graphic violence.
….
Although Osterberg says torture is not specifically cited in the guidelines governing print materials, the proscription against violence, blood and disturbing scenes ‘would probably encompass’ it. So the MPAA’s decision puts it at odds with the U.S. government, which has repeatedly defended techniques, including hooding prisoners, as not legally torture, and not inconsistent with the basic American values the MPAA tries to uphold.”

Conservatives have often focused on Hollywood as destroying American values. Maybe they should focus on the Bush Administration too.