Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

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  • Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

    The upcoming film "Captivity" has offended many people recently for its ad campaign with posters and billboards of star Elisha Cuthbert being captured, confined, tortured and inevitably killed in a gruesome fashion. Writer/director Joss Whedon has apparently spoken out directly to the MPAA about this in a letter he wrote to them directly. It reads as follows...


    From: Joss Whedon
    Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:17 PM
    To: Advertising
    Subject: CAPTIVITY BILLBOARDS/REMOVE THE RATING


    To the MPAA,
    There's a message I'm supposed to cut and paste but I imagine you've read it. So just let me say that the ad campaign for "Captivity" is not only a literal sign of the collapse of humanity, it's an assault. I've watched plenty of horror - in fact I've made my share. But the advent of torture-porn and the total dehumanizing not just of women (though they always come first) but of all human beings has made horror a largely unpalatable genre. This ad campaign is part of something dangerous and repulsive, and that act of aggression has to be answered.


    As a believer not only in the First Amendment but of the necessity of horror stories, I've always been against acts of censorship. I distrust anyone who wants to ban something 'for the good of the public'. But this ad is part of a cycle of violence and misogyny that takes something away from the people who have to see it. It's like being mugged (and I have been). These people flouted the basic rules of human decency. God knows the culture led them there, but we have to find our way back and we have to make them know that people will not stand for this. And the only language they speak is money. (A devastating piece in the New Yorker - not gonna do it.) So talk money. Remove the rating, and let them see how far over the edge they really are.


    Thanks for reading this, if anyone did.
    Sincerely, Joss Whedon.
    Creator, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

    I'm certainly with him on the running-rampant torture-porn sub-genre, that's for sure. Jill Soloway posted about this, along with Joss Whedon's letter, on her blog and pretty much summed up her opinion on the matter with this...


    "This wasn't just horror, this wasn't just misogyny... it was a grody combo platter of the two, the torture almost a punishment for the sexiness. It had come from such a despicable inhuman hatred place that it somehow managed to recall Abu Ghraib, the Holocaust, porn and snuff films all at once."
    Last edited by j over; 03-28-2007, 12:18 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

    With regards to the ad, ok it might be too much for some people's sensibilities.

    With regards to the whole torture-porn thing?



    I thought the Saw movies sucked but what business is it of yours if I wanna sit down and watch some torture-porn? If you're tired of the sub-genre, don't watch it.

    Now I'm not sure what Mr. Whedon is hoping for. If an ad crossed the line, the ad is taken down. What else is there? Or is the aim to punish the company for their "audacity" in posting such a graphic ad? If the point is to punish the company, fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with movie-making. For ex. I don't want to see suddenly much harsher ratings for torture-porn movies in hopes that fewer, or tamer, will be made.

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    • #3
      Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

      Originally posted by Jakkal View Post
      I don't want to see suddenly much harsher ratings for torture-porn movies in hopes that fewer, or tamer, will be made.

      Joss, as many others, is advocating for the MPAA to release the film unrated. They just are speaking out about how ad campaigns such as that should not be force-fed to the public and put up on huge billboards in every major city. There is such a thing as freedom of speech and expression but there's also such a thing as taste, too.
      Last edited by ComicBent; 03-28-2007, 09:55 AM. Reason: Inadvertant subject-verb mismatch.

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      • #4
        Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

        Originally posted by j over View Post
        Joss, as many others, are advocating for the MPAA to release the film unrated. They just are speaking out about how ad campaigns such as that should not be force-fed to the public and put up on huge billboards in every major city. There is such a thing as freedom of speech and expression but there's also such a thing as taste, too.
        Hence why I said,

        Or is the aim to punish the company for their "audacity" in posting such a graphic ad? If the point is to punish the company, fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with movie-making.
        In other words, I already agreed that people shouldn't be force-fed violent images as long as they're still available for them to consume whenever they want.

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        • #5
          Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

          ... star Elisha Cuthbert being captured, confined, tortured and inevitably killed in a gruesome fashion.
          I realize this is a serious topic, both artistically and culturally.

          That said: 24 would've been a far better series if Elisha Cuthburt had perished (however less graphically) in that mountain lion trap.

          I dislike the whole "torture porn" genre, but that's just personal taste. I suppose torture porn against females is worse than against males, and torture porn against children (when it arises) will be worse still.

          I bet torture porn against children wouldn't be coddled though.

          I can't help but think (imo) that "torture porn" as a genre plays into some sort of fantasy wish fulfillment on the part of some of its fans. That cannot be healthy to a culture (theory of katharsis aside)

          Does the Id know the difference between fiction and reality?

          But yayyyy for Joss Whedon for writing his letter. Brave stand, Joss. Good man, Joss.
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          that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves."
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          • #6
            Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

            sure I'm not the only one on this board who thought the whole woman-in-bath-of-sand-on-fourth-floor-balcony asiaticism didn't have 'potential'.

            But from the looks of the arenaceous Captivity one sheet, it's already been done. Badly . Why does the universe do this??
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            • #7
              Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

              I hate the MPAA and the power they wield. I worry that they are the ones they turn to in a case like this.

              That said...

              All I ask is a warning before televised trailers that contain graphic elements.

              Just a warning.

              Don't have to pull 'em. Don't have to cut 'em up. Just give a little heads up.

              I'd rather my son see boobies on TV than the trailer for The Hills Have Eyes 2 any day of the week and twice on Sunday. These visual atrocities play during reruns of the Simpsons that air before 8 PM.

              And yes, I've written my angry crank emails.

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              • #8
                Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                A little off-topic, but it gave me a small shiver... The British girl they found in the bath of sand worked at the same Tokyo English school where I worked. I was there 13 years ago, and it's a big school, so it's not like I'd know her.

                But. For one minute, yuck.
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                • #9
                  Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                  Weird. I posted a link over the weekend to an article about how the government was thinking of taking action against Hollywood due to the recent spate of horror flicks - exacerbated by this recent event.

                  But after I posted it (in the News section) it said the mods or 'the powers that be' had to approve it I guess, and that's the last I heard of it. Now I don't have the link and can't find the article.
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                  • #10
                    Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                    Originally posted by BROUGHCUT View Post
                    That's a freaking awesome poster.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                      I haven't seen any of these movies like Saw, Hostel, Hills Have Eyes, Wolf Creek, etc. But for those who have, can you tell me... is there any reason that these films should not be NC-17? Why is the MPAA providing the option for children to see horrific torturous violence so long as they are accompanied by a parent?

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                      • #12
                        Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                        I saw the Spanish trailer on Youtube. Whilst I couldn't understand the words, it didn't look anything worse than Hostel or Saw particularly. But in the end what are they trying to say with stuff like this? Is it a comment on the nature of voyeurism, that media is responsible for some sort of detachment to people? What's the point?
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                        • #13
                          Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                          Wait - did the Tokyo crime inspire the film? Or did the film inspire the crime?
                          Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                          • #14
                            Re: Joss Whedon's Letter to the MPAA

                            Originally posted by TheKeenGuy View Post
                            I haven't seen any of these movies like Saw, Hostel, Hills Have Eyes, Wolf Creek, etc. But for those who have, can you tell me... is there any reason that these films should not be NC-17? Why is the MPAA providing the option for children to see horrific torturous violence so long as they are accompanied by a parent?

                            I would bet if instead of Cuthbert this film stared Ian Somerhalder, no one would care.

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                            • #15
                              Captivity

                              So Lionsgate is the distributor in the United States and in charge of this marketing campaign? I'll keep that in mind.

                              I have no interest in this sort of "serial killer" pornography, (and, along with the SAW and TEXAS CHAINSAW franchises, it'd probably be viewed after I finally decide to see the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, if I'd ever get that desperately bored); but, I've gladly missed the television advertising and billboards for it.

                              I'm not against torture in films, (in fact, there's some bagpipe music in my film project); but, what sort of audience are they trying to appeal to? Serial killers, voyeurs, "splatter film" fans...?

                              Thusfar, it hasn't been reviewed by the Ontario Film Review Board, so it might only get released as an unrated DVD, hereabouts, with this ruckus.
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