Case Number One:
The British Board of Film Classification vs. Tom Six
After director Tom Six released his film, The Human Centipede, much of the film world was both shocked and curious as to what he would do next. In various interviews he promised a sequel to his infamous work that would not only blow the original away but also be the most depraved and disgusting film of all time.
Shortly after completing the second film, he began releasing it to various film boards for ratings and edits. The British Board of Film Classification, who have a reputation for being harsh on film ratings, watched the film and refused to give it a rating. They then did something that is extremely taboo in the film industry, the released the entire plot summary and key details of the film to the press. They called the film unwatchable and harmful to its viewers, quickly banning the film from release in the UK.
The ban isn’t what angered Mr. Six, but the fact that they took immature measures and released all of the key plot details to the public before the films release. He immediately took measures into his own hands and took the fight to the film board. After various meetings, both legal and non-legal, the film board wouldn’t budge and kept the ban in place. Director Six bit the bullet and made the film entirely black and white which ensured him a much wider release than he was going to get.
Now, I don’t like Tom Six, nor do I like any of his films. I think he is talentless and uses shock purely to shock the audience without any kind of cinematic essence. It’s fine to make a crazy film about disgusting people, but there has to be some sort of cinematic factors involved in order for the film to mean anything to me. I do, however, side with Mr. Six when it comes to the plot details being released to the public. I feel like that is a real problem, and not only does it set a dangerous precedent for films to come, but it also takes away much of the magic in the film industry.
Case Number Two:
United States vs. Paramount Pictures Inc.
The second court case I want to touch on, isn’t as recent as the previous, but it is one of my favorite legal cases in the history of the film industry, because I feel like it is just as relevant today as it was in 1948.
The justice system went after film studios that not only owned movie theaters but also showed only the films they produced. This created major problems within the film industry, because there was no such thing as independent films at this point, and with the studios owning the theaters, there would never be indie films. It sounds a lot like a monopoly, because it was basically setting the precedent for one. Even with the positive decision of this case, we still see major corporations owning movie studios, newspapers and television channels, which is just as bad as them owning the theaters.
This case was not only the end of the golden age of the Hollywood studio system, but also a huge step for independent filmmaking. Without the decisions made by the court at this time, people like Roger Corman, Lloyd Kaufman, and Dennis Hopper would never have been able to create an indie movement throughout the 60s and 70s.
Case Number Three:
Ruggero Deodato vs. The World
In the world of horror filmmaking, there are many lines you do not cross. The biggest of these “taboos” is of course, the snuff film. No matter where you go in the world, in the film industry the snuff film is often noted as an urban legend, or a strange form of pornography sought out by the financially elite.
Italian filmmaker Ruggero Deodato released the most infamous and controversial film of call time, “Cannibal Holocaust” to huge censorship and international hatred. His film depicts a film crew that travels to South America to document the world of a cannibal tribe hidden deep within the jungle. The film, when studied, is actually about human nature and how so many of us in the film industry make it our goals to exploit and humiliate that which we don’t understand.
Upon releasing the film, the director was immediately arrested for snuff filmmaking, and forced to prove each special effect used in the film in front of a judge and jury. Nothing like this has ever happened in the film industry since, mostly because the effects today are all digital and the proof is on hard drives, but in the 70s this was a huge deal. He was quickly released from custody and the film was banned in over 20 countries. The major difference between this case and the case involving Tom Six is that this filmmaker was actually arrested for making a snuff film, while Mr. Six was fighting the ban on his film.
-Michael
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