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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Hollywood Afraid of "Muslim" in Title |
| 2005-11-14 |
| Posted in full. Link to pdf file â page forward to page 17. Sony Pictures got upset about a âbadâ word. They demanded it be taken out of the title of a movie. The word is âMuslim.â Give me a break. Do we have to be that sensitive? Or fearful? The movie is âLooking for Comedy in the Muslim World.â The writer and star of the movie, Albert Brooks, says he made the movie because he was concerned that, in the wake of 9/11, Americans hated even the word âMuslim.â âA part of me always thought,â Brooks said, âwhat are there, a billion-and-a-half Muslim people on this planet, and I never thought that all of them wanted us dead.â Brooks thought he could put his professional skills â heâs a comedian â to work on the problem. âI thought, what could I do to make a movie in ... my style to sort of soften this subject.â He imagined himself given a special assignment by the U.S. Government: âMaybe the only way to really understand somebody is to see what makes them laugh,â he is told. âGo to India and Pakistan, write a 500-page report, and tell us what makes the Muslims laugh.â Whatâs controversial about that? The movie is a comedy about humor and cultural differences. Brooks performs his stand-up routine in India: âWhy is there no Halloween in India? âCause they took away the Gandhi!â The audience doesnât laugh. Says Brooks: âI steered clear of religion in this movie. Thereâs no mention of the Koran â the whole point of the movie is looking for comedy, not looking for God. I was allowed to film in the biggest mosque in India, and when I told the imam the plot of the movie, he started to laugh.â Sony officials liked the movie, too, Brooks told me, and planned to premiere it last month. âPosters were made, trailers were made, and then about three months later, on a Monday morning, I get this phone call, we canât release the movie with the title.â The call came shortly after a Newsweek story claimed that soldiers at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Koran down the toilet, and rioting broke out in the Middle East. It turned out that the Newsweek story was wrong. They retracted it. And it turned out that the rioting may have been a previously planned anti-American demonstration that had nothing to do with Newsweekâs story. But Sonyâs president still said he wouldnât release a film called âLooking for Comedy in the Muslim World.â How cowardly. Hollywood used to make lots of big-star, big budget movies about Arab terrorists, like âExecutive Decision,â âRules of Engagement,â and âTrue Liesâ ... but not after Sept. 11. Tom Clancyâs best-selling novel âThe Sum of All Fearsâ is about Palestinian terrorists, but Hollywood morphed them into European neo-Nazis. You see, the rules of political correctness are very clear: No oneâs allowed to associate Muslims with anything bad. Even âThe Siegeâ â which said repeatedly that Muslim American leaders were patriotic, featured a heroic Muslim FBI agent, and put more emphasis on a federal elite inattentive to individual rights than on the threat of terrorism â was the victim of an âeducationalâ campaign by the Council on American- Islamic Relations. âThe Siegeâ dared to say that a few Muslims are, in fact, terrorists. And it came out before Sept. 11. And now Sony wonât even use âMuslimâ in a title. Even CAIR doesnât object to the movie, although I bet theyâll object to this column. The Los Angeles Times points out that Sony is the same company that pushes movies packed with crass materialism and sex, films that are much more likely to offend Muslims than Brooksâ film would. I wanted to ask Sony why its sleazy movie âDeuce Bigelow, European Gigoloâ is good to release, but âLooking for Comedy in the Muslim Worldâ wasnât, but they wouldnât talk to me about that. Fortunately, Warner Independent Pictures has agreed to release the film with its title intact. John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC Newsâ â20/20â and and the author of âGive Me a Break.â |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #4 I wish someone would construct a timeline of things that are prohibited or required in Hollywood. One thing is certain, in society as a whole censorship comes and goes, but it is a constant in Hollywood. The banned list is far larger than you might think, and would take a lot of effort to figure out. For example, when was the last time you saw a mini-skirt in a recent movie or television? Even non-formal dresses are uncommon. Other clothing, both men's and women's, are strictly controlled. While certain minorities, especially hispanics and orientals, are allowed to be shown, they must not exhibit any *old* stereotype, but *must* exhibit *new* stereotypes. And, of course, conservatism is right out. Conservatives are mistaken, ignorant or evil. Villains in non-historical settings are only permitted to be corrupt government and military officials or corporate businessmen. No person of a non-American nationality may be a villain, unless he is strongly outnumbered by others of his nationality who are good guys. Pants cannot show zippers, unless they are in the plot. The same with toilets and televisions. Adults are usually not shown to be smarter than children, and unless they are oppressed, children have very materialistic environments. Geez. Only Roger Ebert could make this list. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-11-14 15:26 |
| #3 jeesh. Talk about flushing marketing potential down the toilet. These days, the word "Muslim" is like "free", it gets everyone's attention. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-11-14 13:17 |
| #2 Follywood never gets anything right--well, maybe except for make believe such as The Wizard of Oz, etc. Anthing to do with politics, war, or firearms, forget it. |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-11-14 13:14 |
| #1 If you're looking for comedy in the muslim world, start with the "religion of peace" claim. Or anything from cair. It's all ridiculous. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-11-14 10:35 |