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Movies today are not what they are supposed to be. Movies are supposed to be art. First and foremost, movies are presently vehicles for major media conglomerates to make more money with. Artistry takes the back seat to commercialism. In a perfect world, commercial viability and artistry could co-exist and all film audiences would be happy. However, true art, the kind that really grabs a person and causes them to see something beyond their everyday experience very rarely can be considered socially acceptable. When something isn't socially acceptable, it is condemned by so-called moral leaders, causing it to be avoided or ignored, and money is lost. Every movie studios worst nightmare is to lose money, hence the current state of cinema. Psychotronic movies are often the ones that take the greatest risks, and if they're done right, can make a significant fiscal and cultural contributions.
The Motion Picture Association of America ratings board views every submitted movie and gives it the rating it feels most appropriate, without any kind of static criteria. Apparently, they have at least one now, though. Originally, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's film version of South Park was titled South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose. The MPAA ratings board told Parker and Stone that they could not release the film with this title, because now movies are not allowed to have the word "hell" in the title. This is the first of many changes that were made to Parker and Stone's original vision. In the end, the public was graced with a lewder title, South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut--a blatant penis reference. A good deal of discussion has recently taken place over the MPAA's rating methods with the recent R-rated release of Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut. The MPAA gave Kubrick's final cut of Eyes Wide Shut an NC-17 rating for a scene where Tom Cruise roams a house where an orgy is taking place. Masked figures were digitally inserted into the scene to block the offending parts of the bodies that were keeping the movie in NC-17 world. Some people can tell the figures don't belong and some can't. According to star Tom Cruise and fellow director Sydney Pollack, Kubrick would have no problem with the alterations since he was under contract to produce an R-rated movie. Pollack also says that Kubrick was one of the shrewdest businessmen he ever knew. Cruise vowed early on that he wouldn't allow changes be made the movie.
The copyright of the article State of the Cinema Address in Psycho/Horror Movies is owned by . Permission to republish State of the Cinema Address in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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