The Theocracy Starts Now!

Scott Holleran over at Box Office Mojo is one of my favorite movie reviewers and I've said so on many sites I've posted on. What I've always liked about him is that he has no tolerance for political correctness on either side and an engaging writing style.

So, I'm reading his latest column about censorship on the rise in Hollywood and because of my built-in respect for him, I start to get alarmed. You would too. Here's some snippets:

Conservative Congressman Mike Pence (R, IN) slipped a provision imposing restrictions on motion pictures into the Republican government's latest sex crime bill, according to The Hollywood Reporter's Brooks Boliek. ...

At stake are individual rights—absolute, 100 percent inalienable rights—the freedom to think, create and consume without government intervention. Boliek's important article, which correctly describes the new dictate as "chilling," points out that this law would be unenforceable, and, while that is true, it is not a fundamental opposition. ...

Oh, but it gets worse. Much worse...

So, besides imagining The Accused without the rape scene, or Inherit the Wind minus Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution—presumably replaced by so-called Intelligent Design—or Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry without Burt Lancaster's licentiousness, one must also prepare for a World Wide Web controlled—increasingly, insidiously—by the state.

And look at the effect the fear is already causing in Hollywood... (Gasp!) Christian Films!!!!!

Rather than resist the Bush Administration's faith-based regulations, studios are instead cozying up to religion's advanced role in society and state. Last month, the New York Times reported that the Walt Disney Co., producing C.S. Lewis's Christian-themed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, marketed The Greatest Game Ever Played to religious groups, and Twentieth Century Fox created foxfaith.com. Besides featuring what Fox claims are its Christian-based pictures, which include Satan Never Sleeps and the story of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, The Agony and the Ecstasy, the religious site promotes "church resources" and Bible verses.

So, what is this horrendous cloud of McCarthyism descending on the film industry? What horrible law is it that will take the Darwin out of any remake of "Inherit The Wind?" Hold on to your books America, because they're about to get burned...

Currently, any filmed sexual activity requires an affidavit that lists the names and ages of the actors who engage in the act. The film is required to have a video label that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found. The record-keeping requirement is known as Section 2257, for its citation in federal law. Violators could spend five years in jail.

Under the provision inserted into the Children's Safety Act, the [new] definition of sexual activity is expanded to include simulated sex acts like those that appear in many movies and TV shows. ...

Industry officials contend that the way the provision is written, a sex scene could trigger the provision even if the actors were clothed. While the language is designed to capture "lascivious exhibition of the genitals," other legal decisions have said that "lascivious exhibition" could occur when the genitals are covered. ...

Industry executives worry that the provision, which is retroactive to 1995, will have a chilling effect on filmmakers. Faced with the choice of filing a 2257 certificate or editing out a scene, a filmmaker might decide it's not worth getting entangled with the federal government and let the scene fall to the cutting-room floor, the executives said.

So, it's this: Provision 2257 has a porn stigma attached to it and the worst that could happen is that a lazy uninspired filmmaker decides to cut a raunchy scene instead of fill out some paperwork.

Does this sound like a law that will keep Darwin out of films? Holleran's outrageous ad hominem attacks in a column that doesn't even bother to go into what this law is really about (I had to find the Hollywood Reporter link elsewhere on his site) does his cause no good. It's not even rationale. And I don't even necessarily like the new law -- there's probably a way to do the same thing without bundling mainstream films with the porn industry. Sort of a NC-17 vs. X compromise.

But, please... I gotta hear Hollywood bitch about paperwork? The same industry that's set up a myriad of unions, permits, rules, and regulations to discourage small filmmakers from competing with them? Cry me a river, Hollywood. Cry me a river.

If Hollywood can call the 2257 certificate censorship because it discourages filmmakers from filming sex scenes because it's a pain and may invite arduous oversight -- I can call the three inch packet you get from SAG and all their absurd rules censorship as well. Imagine a world where an actor in a union can't work in any non-union film without risking severe penalties. And they're gonna whine about a form? They're gonna whine about freedom?

And come on, Scott... These new supposedly Christian films are being made to kiss right-wing butt? Could it possibly be the $612,000,000 million "The Passion" made? Maybe? And we Christians are still holding our breath to see just how "Christian" these films really are. Oh, and finally, horror of horrors (?) Hollywood has:

"...marketed The Greatest Game Ever Played to religious groups, and Twentieth Century Fox created foxfaith.com. Besides featuring what Fox claims are its Christian-based pictures,"

OMIGOSH (!) Hollywood is targeting their audience! Help us from the Theocrats!

Comments

[Mark]

Great post. I also get tired of the insuation that a theocracy is being created in this country.

[Muttley]

Uh, I don't think that Passion of the Christ made any $612 quadrillion, since that's about 1,000 times more money than is actually in the US Economy all told. How about $612 million, or $612,000,000?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.