HYPOCRISY WATCH: MPAA REJECTS TORTURE DOCU POSTER BUT TORTURE PORN POSTER COOL

I'm not going to waste too much time on this, but it pissed me off since it's a documentary which is effectively being censored here, while a violent torture porn film doesn't get snagged at all.

OK, so, here's the story in a cutting from a December 18, 2007 article at Variety reporting on why the one-sheet for Taxi to the Dark Side has been rejected:

The MPAA has rejected the one-sheet for Alex Gibney's documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side," which traces the pattern of torture practice from Afghanistan's Bagram prison to Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay.

ThinkFilm opens the pic, which is on the Oscar shortlist of 15 docs, on Jan. 11.

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

An MPAA spokesman said: "We 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."

So, this poster from Saw IV (which depicts a man's head on a meat scale and offended me when I first saw it) is fine, but the MPAA has a problem with this poster:

Sorry, I couldn't find a bigger version than that. Anyway, so the reason the MPAA says that poster is a no-go is because of the hood. However, a head in a meat scale for Saw IV is just dandy. The MPAA is not treating all films equally. By it's own standards it should have also rejected the poster for Bee Movie because it depicts it's lead character in a very dangerous situation that, in real life, would result in almost certain death. The poster for Darjeeling Limited features Owen Wilson with a serious head injury (this was the same Owen Wilson who had tried to kill himself in real life shortly before the release of the film). The poster for Mr. Bean's Vacation depicts him about to step off of a moving train. These are all examples of posters depicting dangerous or unpleasant things.

A hood over a person can ultimately mean anything. If a child sees and asks why the man has a hood on, how is that question any different from a child seeing that stupid bee about to get squashed and asking "will that Bee be ok?"

The point is, the MPAA is not treating films equally. They are being blatantly pro-American-government and as a result are being anti-truth.

I'm sure the Bush administration appreciates your help, MPAA.

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