Almost as soon as it was established, small-minded people already started to fight against NC-17 films. As could probably be expected, the pesky ultra-right-wing religious group, the American Family Association (with less than 3000 members in the early '90s) threatened to boycott Blockbuster Video if they ever started to carry NC-17 films. Soon afterward, Blockbuster Video caved and announced that no NC-17 films would be sold or rented in their stores. A similar morality group, Focus on the Family, pressured Burger King to stop advertising on allegedly violent or to them 'objectionable' tv programs, and BK likewise gave-in to a small minority of vocal loudmouths who put their narrow agenda ahead of the majority's interests. Likewise, Catholic bishops, continuing in their antiquated pseudo-moral arrogance, have judged the NC-17 rating sight-unseen. Fortunately, the notoriety of these prudes may result in more people seeing such films. Perhaps most disgraceful of all, even some major newspapers have refused to advertise NC-17 films. So much for the First Amendment! Those newspapers, Blockbuster Video, Burger King, and others deserve to be boycotted for promoting or giving-in to censorship. (to be cont'd)
[The original version of this essay first appeared in Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Lantern student newspaper in the early '90s, in mu unpublished manuscript "In Mediocrity We Trust... In Debt We Die" And Other Essays and appeared in UMass/Boston's Mass Media student newspaper in the mid-90s.]
No comments:
Post a Comment