#controversial movies

[iamtryingtobelieve]

Up Your Fucking Borstal Scum (1979) Dir: Alan Clarke

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

I saw this as a kid on TV, it's the first time I felt myself start understand that the kids who weren't white in my school were treated different. Sometimes by whispers between white kids.

Strange way to learn a lesson about society.

My best friend was a VERY white passing biracial Puerto Rican. But his father was very dark. And the kids snickered and murmured the n-word when he came to pick him up. They told him often, "you must be adopted."

It was confusing for me because I didn't get it. He was just my friend's dad. Like my dad had a European accent, and I didn't.

I just remember I was about 8 or 9 and even teared up at the at the speech that James Earl Jones gives at the end. It really stuck with me for while. It effected me kind of deeply. That even thinking about that day, I'm choked up.

It was a goofy 80s comedy, but for a suburban white kid like me, the message hit me how it was meant to.

Professor Banks: You've learned something I can't teach them. You've learned what it feels like to be black.

Mark: No sir.

Professor Banks: Beg your pardon?

Mark: I don't really know what it feels like, sir. If I didn't like it, I could always get out. It's not the same, sir.

Professor Banks: You've learned a great deal more than I thought.

‐---------------------

Legacy & input by actors from the movie:

———————

Rae Dawn Chong defended the film, saying of the controversy:

It was only controversial because Spike Lee made a thing of it. He'd never seen the movie and he just jumped all over it… He was just starting and pulling everything down in his wake. If you watch the movie, it's really making white people look stupid… [The film] is adorable and it didn't deserve it... I always tried to be an actor who was doing a part that was a character versus what I call 'blackting,' or playing my race, because I knew that I would fail because I was mixed [Chong is of African, Chinese and European ancestry]. I was the black actor for sure, but I didn't lead with my epidermis, and that offended people like Spike Lee, I think. You're either militant or you're not and he decided to just attack. I've never forgiven him for that because it really hurt me. I didn't realize [at the time] that not pushing the afro-centric agenda was going to bite me. When you start to do well people start to say you're a Tom [as in Uncle Tom] because you're acceptable.

Spike Lee responded by saying, "In my film career, any comment or criticism has never been based on jealousy."

"A white man donning blackface is taboo," said C. Thomas Howell. "Conversation over — you can't win. But our intentions were pure: We wanted to make a funny movie that had a message about racism."

Howell later expanded:

I'm shocked at how truly harmless that movie is, and how the anti-racial message involved in it is so prevalent... This isn't a movie about blackface. This isn't a movie that should be considered irresponsible on any level... It's very funny... It made me much more aware of the issues we face on a day-to-day basis, and it made me much more sensitive to racism... It's an innocent movie, it's got innocent messages, and it's got some very, very deep messages. And I think the people that haven't seen it that judge it are horribly wrong. I think that's more offensive than anything. Judging something you haven’t seen is the worst thing you can really do. In fact, Soul Man sort of represents that all the way through. I think it's a really innocent movie with a very powerful message, and it's an important part of my life. I'm proud of the performance, and I'm proud of the people that were in it. A lot of people ask me today, 'Could that movie be made today?'... Robert Downey Jr. just did it in Tropic Thunder!... The difference is that he was just playing a character in Tropic Thunder, and there was no magnifying glass on racism, which is so prevalent in our country. I guess that's what makes people more uncomfortable about Soul Man. But I think it's an important movie.

Robert Downey Jr. referenced Howell and Soul Man when addressing the potential controversy over his role in Tropic Thunder: "At the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character. If I didn't feel [the role in Tropic Thunder] was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell [in Soul Man], I would've stayed home."

Mathcore band Botch has a track named "C. Thomas Howell as the 'Soul Man'" on their album We Are the Romans (1999).

[sevrinve]

avatar aang 💨

[spending-life-pretending]

conservatives really wanna act like the “woke left” is winning the culture war or whatever when people are out here making basil and dorian brothers and casting white men to play heathcliff in 2024

[mychemicalbrromance]

#1 like a prayer fan none of you understand (insane)

[russell-crowe]

robin williams as john keating in dead poets society (1989)

[adm-starblitzsteel-4305]

So anyway, about the critics and the audience score...

[screecherofthenight]

Going from binging malevolent to rewatching venom is so funny why are venom and Eddie nicer to each other than jarthur 😭😭😭 like they have their fights for sure but it’s nothing compared to the absolute divorce speedrun John and Arthur are doing at all times

[ohmanareyoucereal69]

[functioningtrashcan]

One thing that really bugs me about certain fandoms now (specifically the Spiderverse fandom at the moment) is that it's downright impossible to like certain characters around *those* fans.

Like, I can't say ONE good thing about Miguel's characterization without hearing about how Miguel fans are horny weirdos who condone abuse.

Sure, a lot of Miguel fans are horny as all hell, but liking a character =/= thinking they are perfect and can do no wrong. Hell, even *understanding* a character's motives doesn't even mean we're condoning it.

Yeah, Miguel was 100% wrong for chokeslamming Miles into a train. But, at the same time, I could understand getting pissed and freaking out about one (1) kid who's about to cause the multiversal apocalypse via messed up trolley problem. I can understand feeling like no one else is taking the situation seriously, and that you have to do everything yourself because you can't even rely on more than 4 people in your strike force of probably millions. I, too, would get mad at a hardheaded teenager who seems ready to make the same mistake I made that cost me my family.

I can, at the same time, understand being young and scared, trying to prevent a family member's death, not knowing who to trust, and running for my life because there's not a single person in the multiverse who seems willing to honestly help.

That's the beauty of not being trapped in the narrative: you can simultaneously see and appreciate *every* character's perspective, because all those perspectives influence the characters' actions and the story as a whole. I don't *have* to condone a character's actions to like them or their role in the story.

And it would DEFINITELY make the fandom space less insufferable to contribute to if half the fans weren't so obsessed with being perfectly moral angels who only support cinnamon rolls who can do no wrong. But that just me, I guess.

[iamtryingtobelieve]

"Today, people want sensationalism. The more you rape their senses, the happier they are" Cannibal Holocaust (1980) Dir: Ruggero Deodato

[nutmeggery]

can't belive i'm saying this but the movie about the homophobic cop that gets married to a ghost husband has more emotion than the rwarb movie

[alexjcrowley]

This Bond with this Q. Do you see the vision.

[arkygifs]

Bill Fordham August: Osage County (2013)

[bmpmp3]

sorry to be a bit of a hater but i do wish youtubers weren't so scared of making their videos just like, "reviews", whys everything gotta be a "video essay" all the time. every day my recommendations are filled with 40 minute videos titled "_____: An Underrated Masterpiece" where the first like five minutes are reading the wikipedia definition of "masterpiece" in a somber voice with dramatic themed text on screen. please just tell me how good or bad you think something is and use the rest of the runtime to explain why. you dont need to put on all these airs