Controversy. Provocative Literature. Scandalous movies. Are they all designed to push the boundaries of good taste or to make us think. Or, at a baser level, just to stimulate hormones that give us a natural high?
Scandalous books and movies
Think of the most controversial films and books of all time. Hollywood has often danced on the edge of censor-goodwill, courting big box office, pushig boundaries that inspire disgust, shock, anger. To a large extend, today’s push into “reality” television is built around the same concept.
A quick history of “controversy in films” shows a great affinity to Christ-bashing (read as organized religion bashing), sex sensationalizing and violence-sensationalizing, of course. In other words, anything that glorifies our taboos. And, it should be remembered, that my list is a partial list, and all were hits, many based on banned books or scandalous (and to a large extent, classic) books:
Religion Addiction
o 1976-The Message: The Story of Islam an epic drama by the producer of the Halloween horror films, caused riots and death threats.
o 1979-Monty Python’s Life of Brian: a tasteless romp into satirizing the story of Christ, and considered one of the funniest movies ever made by many experts.
o1988-Last Temptation of Christ shocked, appalled, delighted for the same reasons the 1955 book that inspired it by Nikos Kazantzakis’s became a best-seller-and banned book (a theme repeated in DaVinci Code-a graphic sexual relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus.)
o 1994-Gibson crucifies Judaism and glorifies violence in The Passion of The Christ.
Sex Addiction
o 1962-bubble-gum popping, underage Lolita shocks the world in Kubrick’s early masterpiece (and the book was banned for years as well!)
o 1972-Bertolucci’s masterpiece Last Tango in Paris, was is pornography or art?
o 1972 -the “repulsive” J. Waters Pink Flamingos, pushes even bad taste (feces eating, chicken sex, cannibalism, etc) to the limit but becomes a cult hit.
o1978-Pretty Baby, child porn? Based on Al Rose’s book Storyville, New Orleans, depicts Brooke Shields as a naked 12-year-old prostitute
o1999-Trey Parker’s South Park, Bigger Longer and Uncut is has been called one of the most “obscene movies of all time.”
Taboo Addiction
o1994-violence taboo champion Oliver Stone does it again with Natural Born Killers, a movie credited with inspiring a real killing rampage
o Almost anything by the master Tarantino
o 1974-Tobe Hooper’s squirm-fest Texas Chainsaw Massacre
o1985-Year of the Dragon, based on Robert Delaney’s novel, portrayed endless racial stereotypes
o 2006-United 93 sparked a “I’ll never watch that” furor that proved untrue. Everyone rushed to watch the “R rated violence” and gritty realism of this story of terror and heroism. People complained of “not being able to sleep” after watching, a natural result of hormone-stimulation.
Hormone Stimulation or Art?
Art in any form is designed, really, to stimulate hormones, to give us a natural high, and-for the majority of us who eschew illegal drugs and addictive substances-an addiction we can feed without guilt.
Great books and great movies have always been about addiction. The most memorable titles were considered scandalous in their time-Mark Twain was once “controversial, as were most notable authors-and often these “pushers of the boundaries” break taboos a create a new paradigm. Who would have thought, only twenty years ago, that we’d be thrilled to watch the explicit horror and sex we indulge in today? Take away the censors, it might all have happened earlier. On the other hand, censors add to the “forbidden fruit” appeal.
Censors and Books
Censors have always been with us, even in books. Publishers often refused to publish what as perceived to be too controversial. But think back on banned books and movies from the past. When the ban is eventually lifted, feeling guilty or not, millions will rush out to buy the book or watch the movie. Why? To find out what was so bad it resulted in protests or bans.
Censors and TV
Star Trek was made famous for its first “inter-racial kiss” allowed by censors only because Kirk and Uhuru were being “controlled by aliens.” Imagine, that not so distant time-many of us remember the airing of this episode then-when censors could tell us “no, no, a white man can’t kiss a black woman.” Clever man, that Gene Rodenberry. He got around Censors in every episode with uncommon rationales for his forward-thinking ideas.
Reality TV, the Heir Apparent?
Now, we have a wild-west on television, where realistic violence and graphic sex is portrayed at nearly any time of the day, and sponsored by advertisers who would have feared the “wrath of customers” only a decade ago. Reality TV, particularly the cable network shows that push the frontier, truly tests audiences limits when it comes to “good taste” and morality.