Controversial Movie Research Articles

“The Most Harsh and Frank Gangster Picture We Have Ever Had”: Censoring Howard Hawks’s Scarface1

Howard Hawks’s Scarface (1932) was one of the most violent and controversial movies ever produced during the studio era. The film was finished in September 1931 but was released only in April 1932, because of a prolonged fight between the Hays Office and the production company, Howard Hughes’s Caddo. This article not only reconstructs the relationship between Caddo and the Hollywood censors during the production of Scarface. On the basis of this historical evidence, it also addresses a question that has not been investigated yet: How did a movie that was so attentively – even obsessively – scrutinized by the Hays Office, which imposed numerous changes, still feature an incestuous passion between the protagonist and his sister? In an effort to answer this question, the article offers a broader hypothesis regarding the representation of criminals – especially Italian-American criminals – in classical Hollywood cinema.

Freedom of Expression versus Blasphemy: A Comparative Study of Pakistan and United States’ News Media

This study compares the freedom of expression exercised by news media of the United States and the Pakistan; with reference to the controversial movie trailer "Innocence of Muslims"; released on You-tube by July 1, 2012. Content analysis research design is applied. Our time frame is September 11-30, 2012 and 50 opinion articles from the Washington post, the Los Angeles Times, Dawn and the Express Tribune are our sample. The framing theory is applied; consistency and discord frame category system is adopted. Dominant frames and their changing trends in different quarters of the timeframe are studied. It was found that discord frame was dominant frame on both sides. The vitality of the discord and consistency frame coverage in Pakistani media was higher than United States' media. The US media was consistency oriented whereas PN media was discord oriented. However, overall trend of both media were found leaning towards the settlement.

The evolving perception of controversial movies

AbstractPolarization of opinion is an important feature of public debate on political, social and cultural topics. The availability of large internet databases of users’ ratings has permitted quantitative analysis of polarization trends—for instance, previous studies have included analyses of controversial topics on Wikipedia, as well as the relationship between online reviews and a product’s perceived quality. Here, we study the dynamics of polarization in the movie ratings collected by the Internet Movie database (IMDb) website in relation to films produced over the period 1915–2015. We define two statistical indexes, dubbed hard and soft controversiality, which quantify polarized and uniform rating distributions, respectively. We find that controversy decreases with popularity and that hard controversy is relatively rare. Our findings also suggest that more recent movies are more controversial than older ones and we detect a trend of “convergence to the mainstream” with a time scale of roughly 40–50 years. This phenomenon appears qualitatively different from trends observed in both online reviews of commercial products and in political debate, and we speculate that it may be connected with the absence of long-lived “echo chambers” in the cultural domain. This hypothesis can and should be tested by extending our analysis to other forms of cultural expression and/or to databases with different demographic user bases.

The Offensive Depictions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Western Media and its Consequences

The controversies and provocations generated by the West and its media over depictions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are not only related to recent caricatures or cartoons but are also about the display of historical artwork. Recently, many Western organisations, newspapers, magazines, social networks and even websites organised seminars and events like the cartoon Everybody Draw Mohammed Day! to hurt and provoke the Muslim world. Muslims believe that visual depictions of all the Prophets should be prohibited and are particularly averse to visual representations of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The key concern is that the use of images can encourage idolatry. Islam does not allow the depictions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW); to do so goes against the faith of the Muslims and hurts their emotions. This article will focus on providing an analysis of the distorted images, fabricated views, and overgeneralizations which typically characterize Western representation of the Prophet (SAW) of Islam with reference to some particular incidents, chiefly the Charlie Hebdo controversy, Danish newspaper, controversial movie Innocence of Muslims, animated films and social networks. This analysis comprises of works by both Western and Muslim thinkers; it also includes biased and moderate/ fair views depicted in the Western media.

Changing Real-World Beliefs With Controversial Movies: Processes and Mechanisms of Narrative Persuasion

Empirical research has found that exposure to specific fictional narratives exerts significant effects on attitudes and beliefs. However, there is little research about the persuasive impact of controversial movies. We present an experimental research study designed to analyze the attitudinal impact of one controversial film (Camino), according to narrative persuasion theoretical models. Because of its critical message toward Opus Dei, this film triggered some controversy in Spain during its release. The results reveal that the experimental exposure to the movie induced negative opinions toward Opus Dei and religion, and weakened the relationship between political self-positioning and the aforementioned beliefs. Furthermore, the attitudinal impact was mediated by identification with the protagonist. These results are convergent with the Extended Elaboration Likelihood Model.

Stability of Majority Attitudes toward Multiculturalism in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2007

The success of multiculturalism as an ideology to deal with cultural differences depends upon the level of support for multiculturalism by majority members. It has been argued that support for multiculturalism in the Netherlands has substantially changed in response to various national and international events, such as the terrorist attacks on New York (2001), Madrid (2004), and London (2005), and the assassinations of popular politician Fortuyn (2002) and controversial movie director Van Gogh (2004). We compared survey data on Dutch majority attitudes in 1999 (n= 333), 2001 (n= 1,266), 2004 (n= 246), 2005 (n= 170), 2006 (n= 306), and 2007 (n= 464). Contrary to popular belief, we found little evidence for enduring attitude changes over the nine‐year period. Implications for studies of multiculturalism and for policy‐makers are discussed.Le succès du multiculturalisme en tant qu’idéologie pour appréhender les différences culturelles dépend du soutien dont il bénéficie de la part de la majorité de la population. On a dit que l’approbation du multiculturalisme s’était profondément altérée aux Pays‐Bas à la suite de divers évènements nationaux et internationaux, telles que les attaques terroristes sur New York (2001), Madrid (2004) et Londres (2005), et les assassinats du politicien populaire Fortuyn (2002) et du metteur en scène controversé Van Gogh (2004). On a comparé des données d’enquête sur les attitudes majoritaires chez les Néerlandais en 1999 (n= 333), 2001 (n= 1,266), 2004 (n= 246), 2005 (n= 170), 2006 (n= 306) et 2007 (n= 464). A l’encontre de la croyance populaire, un changement d’attitudes durable est loin d’être évident sur cette période de neuf ans. On discute des conséquences pour les études sur le multiculturalisme et les projets politiques.

Book Review: Mel Gibson's Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and the Passion of the Christ, Jesus and Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, Pondering the Passion: What's at Stake for Christians and Jews?, On The Passion of the Christ: Exploring the Issues Raised by the Controversial Movie, Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and its Implications, Mel Gibson's Passion

Book Review: Mel Gibson's Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and <i>the Passion of the Christ</i>, Jesus and Mel Gibson's <i>the Passion of the Christ</i>, Pondering the Passion: What's at Stake for Christians and Jews?, On <i>The Passion of the Christ</i>: Exploring the Issues Raised by the Controversial Movie, Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and its Implications, Mel Gibson's Passion

Film and Religion the Hidden God: Film and Faith. Edited by Mary Lea Bandy and Antonio Monda; Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ: Religious Thinkers and Writers Explore the Issues Raised by the Controversial Movie; The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination. John W. Martens; Film As Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals. John Lyden; Alien Sex: The Body

Film and Religion the Hidden God: Film and Faith. Edited by Mary Lea Bandy and Antonio Monda; Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ: Religious Thinkers and Writers Explore the Issues Raised by the Controversial Movie; The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination. John W. Martens; Film As Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals. John Lyden; Alien Sex: The Body

Resisting the swoosh in the land of the long white cloud

In a recent speech from his Reith lecture series on globalization, Director of the London School of Economics Anthony Giddens recounts the tale of a friend's first encounter with the residents of a tiny, isolated village in central Africa. As the story goes, upon arrival, the anthropologist in question was invited to spend her first night at the home of one of the local villagers. Excited at the prospect of being able to personally experience their cultural mores and traditional ways of life, she attended with great anticipation. However, she was shocked to discover that the evening's entertainment consisted of watching the controversial movie Basic Instinct on video. What was even more astonishing was the fact that the movie was not even screening in parts of the “developed” world.

News and Comments

Calendar of Events Dr. Zimmerman ReceivesAnnals of OphthalmologyAward. —Thom J. Zimmerman, MD, of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Florida at Gainesville, is the recipient of an award from the Annals of Ophthalmology for the best article written by a resident in ophthalmology in 1972. The titles of Dr. Zimmerman's two-part article are Electroretinographic Changes in Normal Eyes During Prednisone Administration, Part I and Electroretinographic Changes: Pre and Post Renal Dialysis, Part II. Symposium on Enucleation-Evisceration-Exposure. — The American Society of Ocularists announces a Symposium on Complications and Controversies in Enucleation-Evisceration-Exposure, to be held on Saturday, Sept 15, 1973, in Dallas. The morning sessions will cover the complications and controversies of enucleation vs evisceration. The afternoon sessions will deal with the problem of exposure and the discussion of controversial movie films. Scientific exhibits will be included. For advance registration, please contact Pierre Guibor, MD, and Henry