Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (08/28/89)
Really-From: JONES%RPIECS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu
Hello there Andrew--
I saw your note in Love-Hounds regarding the banning of Martin Scorsese's
_The Last Temptation of Christ_. Sorry. I guess that, by giving a review
of the movie, I led you to believe that _Temptation_ was easy to find
around here. It isn't. I live near Albany, New York (the state capitol)
and I believe there was only ONE theatre around here that didn't ban the
film...and THAT theatre took more than it's share of abuse from people
picketing and so on. Once the movie left the theatre, the same people who
opposed the film were trying to ban _Temptation_ from hitting the video
rental places, and for the most part they were successful. There are only
a few places that carry the movie...that's why I was so surprised to find
the movie in, of all places, a local supermarket which has a video rental!
So..._Temptation_ is pretty hard to find. As far as the soundtrack goes,
there really is no reason that censors should ban it...(in my opinion at
least)...while it may be the soundtrack to a controversial MOVIE, the
soundtrack itself is just instrumental (no blasphemous lyrics). And as
for the author of _The Last Temptation of Christ_, his name escapes me too.
All I can remember is that it's something Greek-sounding, like Nikos Theo-
something-or-other. (BIG help, right?? :) )
Anyway, sorry if I misled you about _Temptation_. I'm just sorry that
you didn't (and won't) get a chance to see it. Have any friends in
America that you can visit?? :)
Take care.
All the best,
Deb WentorfLove-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (08/31/89)
Really-From: <RICHARD%HNYMPI52.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
The author of _The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_ is Nikos Kazantzakis
(1885-1957), also known for _Zorba_the_Greek_, by the way.
Richard Piepenbrockandy@fgp.hcru.uq.OZ (The Wubba Wubba Mon) (09/06/89)
In article <8908281244.AA12377@EDDIE.MIT.EDU> Deb writerered: >_The Last Temptation of Christ_. Sorry. I guess that, by giving a review >of the movie, I led you to believe that _Temptation_ was easy to find >around here. It isn't. I live near Albany, New York (the state capitol) >and I believe there was only ONE theatre around here that didn't ban the >film...and THAT theatre took more than it's share of abuse from people >picketing and so on. Once the movie left the theatre, the same people who >opposed the film were trying to ban _Temptation_ from hitting the video >rental places, and for the most part they were successful. There are only >a few places that carry the movie...that's why I was so surprised to find >the movie in, of all places, a local supermarket which has a video rental! I don't want to start up more legal arguments. It seems that Usenet is full of aspiring lawyers, who write "I'm not a lawyer, but <200 lines>". I wonder how far one a protester can go under the law. The Oz and US law systems are based on UK or European ideas, and so general principals probably port across fairly accurately. A basic tennant seems to be that one has the right to `injure' someone's beliefs, but not their physical person. So that <Salmon Rushdie> can write a book which is (allegedly) offensive to the beliefs of <Muslims>, and they cannot <kill> him becuase of it. This seems to be at odds with <Islamic {Fundamentalist} Law> though.... Take the case of someone protesting outside a movie. If they physically {but non-violently} block the door, then to get in, you have to move them, and therefore, probably in a legalesque sense, "Assault" them. This looks kinda crazy, I know, but I have absolutly no idea what the law says about this sort of pacifistic "unstoppable force and immovable object" situation. It looks to me like, given a sympathetic police force, whichever side uses less physical contact/force is more in the right. So that if the [extremist] protesters form a human mountain blocking the entrances, then they can validly stop [non-extremists] people getting in. (Unless they all go in through the unguarded exits! ;-) Any comments? Can extremism win through pacifism? BTW. How did Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" book go in other places of the world? Here there were marches and protests and some [illegal] calls for Rushie to be assassinated. Some bomb threats were made to book stores intending to stock it, but I don't remember any bombs being found/detonated. I think many book stores backed down, and refused to stock it. /\ndy "Confesing all the secret things, in the warm velvet box. To the priest, he's the doctor. He can handle the shocks." P.S. Re: KTISGOD. What about the atheists and agnostics out there? Anyone have license plate KTISDARWIN??????? Disclaimer: "I'm not a lawyer..." -- Andrew M. Jones, Systems Programmer, ACSnet: andy@fgp.hcru.uq.oz UUNET: munnari!fgp.hcru.uq.oz.au!andy@uunet.UU.NET [I think!] Snail: c/o French Dept, Univ. of Qld, Work Phone: (07) 377 2075 Brisbane, Qld. AUSTRALIA. 4067 O/S Phone: +61 7 377 2075 "No matter what hits the fan, it's never distributed evenly....."