{"id":2060,"date":"2007-12-19T13:01:50","date_gmt":"2007-12-19T13:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/media-news\/motion-picture-association-censors-out-us-torture\/2060\/"},"modified":"2007-12-19T13:01:50","modified_gmt":"2007-12-19T13:01:50","slug":"motion-picture-association-censors-out-us-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/media-news\/motion-picture-association-censors-out-us-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"Motion Picture Association censors out US torture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Motion Picture Association censors out US torture<\/a><\/p>\n

Denial of US torture is everywhere, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) had decided that the US public will not be allowed to see posters for the documentary Taxi to the Dark Side<\/a> because a hooded prionser suggests torture, which isn\u2019t suitable for children. Perhaps they should have told that to the administration before the US started torturing children in Iraq and Guantanamo.<\/p>\n

From Variety<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n

MPAA rejects Gibney\u2019s \u2018Dark\u2019 poster
\nOrg objects to hood on torture docu\u2019s one-sheet<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Anne Thompson<\/p>\n

The MPAA has rejected the one-sheet for Alex Gibney\u2019s documentary \u201cTaxi to the Dark Side,\u201d which traces the pattern of torture practice from Afghanistan\u2019s Bagram prison to Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>\n

ThinkFilm opens the pic, which is on the Oscar shortlist of 15 docs, on Jan. 11.<\/p>\n

The image in question is a news photo of two U.S. soldiers walking away from the camera with a hooded detainee between them.<\/p>\n

An MPAA spokesman said: \u201cWe treat all films the same. Ads will be seen by all audiences, including children. If the advertising is not suitable for all audiences it will not be approved by the advertising administration.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

According to ThinkFilm distribution prexy Mark Urman, the reason given by the Motion Picture Assn. of America for rejecting the poster is the image of the hood, which the MPAA deemed unacceptable in the context of such horror films as \u201cSaw\u201d and \u201cHostel.\u201d \u201cTo think that this is not apples and oranges is outrageous,\u201d he said. \u201cThe change renders the art illogical, without any power or meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MPAA also rejected the one-sheet for Roadside Attractions\u2019 2006 film \u201cThe Road to Guantanamo,\u201d which featured a hooded prisoner hanging from his handcuffed wrists. At the time, according to Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions, the reason given was that the burlap bag over the prisoner\u2019s head depicted torture, which was not appropriate for children to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot permitting us to use an image of a hooded man that comes from a documentary photograph is censorship, pure and simple,\u201d said producer, writer and director Gibney. \u201cIntentional or not, the MPAA\u2019s disapproval of the poster is a political act, undermining legitimate criticism of the Bush administration. I agree that the image is offensive; it\u2019s also real.\u201d<\/p>\n

ThinkFilm plans to appeal the ruling, although Urman admitted that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t know what that entails. I\u2019ve only appealed ratings before.\u201d<\/p>\n

If ThinkFilm ignores the MPAA and uses materials that have not been approved, it runs the risk of having the rating revoked, which is what happened earlier this year to \u201cCaptivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cTaxi\u201d ad art is actually an amalgam of two pictures. The first, taken by Corbis photographer Shaun Schwarz, features the hooded prisoner and one soldier. Another military figure was added on the left. Ironically, the original Schwarz photo was censored by the military, which erased his camera\u2019s memory. The photographer eventually retrieved the image from his hard drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the photo that would not die,\u201d Gibney said. \u201cThis movie is not a horror film like \u2018Hostel.\u2019 This is a documentary and that image is a documentary image.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motion Picture Association censors out US torture Denial of US torture is everywhere, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) had decided that the US public will not be allowed to see posters for the documentary Taxi to the Dark Side because a hooded prionser suggests torture, which isn\u2019t suitable for children. Perhaps they should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,7,18],"tags":[51],"class_list":{"0":"post-2060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-general","7":"category-media-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"tag-torture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}