What book or movie is so controversial it would spark outrage today?

Question

Cinematic Lily · Accepted Answer

“Birth of a Nation” would cause absolute chaos today 😬. It’s historically important but blatantly racist and pro–KKK, and screening it now without heavy context would be a PR disaster.

“Gone with the Wind” is already under fire for romanticizing the Old South and slavery.

For books, “Lolita” would explode online if it were released now, even though it’s a literary classic.

rachel776 · Answer

the Fifteen Million Merits episode of Black Mirror

Anonymous · Answer

Once upon a time in America because along with glorifying violence the lead character actually rapes two women and there's a nude scene with a 12 year old Jenniffer Connelly.

American Beauty. The Dad in the show basically pervs on his daughter's 15 year old friend and fantasise about her being nude and perks off to her. there's also a scene where 15 year old Thora Birch goes topless.

American Pie. Not only does Pie F*cker Jim rape a desert he also uses his web cam to secretly record his crush getting undressed for his friends to watch but broadcasts it on to the internet along with their attempted love making and her masturbation which is a serious crime. This is a comedy.

Bring it on. there's a scene where a male cheerleader deliberately sexually assaults a cheerleader in public by inserting his finger into her vagina. Again this is a comedic moment.

Blue Lagoon 1&2. Features 14 year old Brooke sheilds with 14 year old male actor running around semi nude and depicts scenes of a sexual nature. The second movie has a 17 year old milla Jovovich toplesss running around semi nude and has sex scenes.

Kuffs. Millia Jovovich at age 15 playing Christian slater's pregnant girlfriend. Scenes with her dancing around in her underwear and sex scene.

The Hole. 15 year old Keira Knightly shows her breasts.

Cruel intentions. The movie's hero Sebastian at the start of the movie upset with his therapist and seeking to do her harm sleep with her daughter and posts nude pictures of her on the Internet. He also gets an underage girl drunk and takes inappropriate nude pictures of her afterwards he commits rape on her. He then to get sleeping with his sister pursues an innocent girl his sister hates for the purpose of reputation destruction.

Ace ventura. The scene with the trans woman at the end being used for commedy.

Leon. The sexualisation of Natalie Portman's character reaches Lolita levels of inappropriateness – she was literally 12 when she starred in the movie. The bond between her character and Léon is incredibly peadophilic.

Chazmatazz269 · Answer

Since someone already answered with “Blazing Saddles”, i’ll suggest “Fight Club”. It’s not pervasive, but there are a couple of sex scenes in it that are pretty edgy, and while the movie is a pretty respectful portrayal of the book, they deliberately left out some really far out situations and dialogue that probably would have gotten it shut down back then. It certainly would now.
I would also have to say “Pretty Baby”, since it’s still banned in its original form in the US. It’s a by far more graphic depiction of a grown man taking an underage lover than “Lolita”. The whole premise is extremely seedy, to be honest, but it’s not at all unrealistic. It baffles me that the mainstream media doesn’t balk at glorifying the horrors of war, but we still can’t get around to being honest about sex; particularly the darker side of it.
Decades ago i would have said “I Spit On Your Grave”. The original (1978) was blood curdling and was banned in the US & UK. Eventually the ban was lifted and the movie was remade in 2010. The remake is every bit as hard to watch. Possibly even harder.

BCRanger10 · Answer

Some of these have already sparked outrage, but who cares?

Malibu's Most Wanted
Tropic Thunder
Airplane!
Rush Hour
Blazing Saddles
Zoolander (possibly)
True Lies
Rambo: Last Blood

And honestly, I'm surprised every movie from more than 50 or 60 years ago that portrays a strong, willing, and intelligent man saving a woman hasn't sparked outrage yet, but that's probably coming soon to a phone screen that said outraged folks will say "yes, master! Yes, master!" obey unquestioningly near you.

Maybe_Maybe_not · Answer

I hope American Beauty would not spark outrage today, if it did, it would be really bad news. Because I believe the big picture, the society described in this movie, still feels very authentic lol There's the case of  , you get a scene with an underage girl freely masturbating in front of another woman, to expand her libidinal horizons. Also this case is funny because of what distributors thought, they would not make the same mistake today I guess:  Trivia 
 This is a relatively rare example of an X-rated, erotic movie released in the USA by a major movie distributor. Apparently, this came about because the movie had been particularly popular in France among women. The company reasoned that the movie would not be regarded as pornographic as long as women liked it.

Lliam · Answer

Blazing Saddles and Cheech and Chong movies couldn't get made today.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Challenged or removed in some districts due to the use of racial slurs and for reinforcing a "white savior" trope.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: Criticized and occasionally removed from required reading lists over the frequent use of racial slurs.

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is frequently banned or challenged in schools and libraries due to its profanity, depictions of graphic violence, and sexual content. Challengers often cite its anti-war, anti-patriotic themes, and perceived un-Christian or sacrilegious views as reasons for removal.

RavVid · Answer

Why are songs excluded? There are a series of 50's songs about sweet 16 girls, which make even me go hmmh.

Neil Sedaka "Happy Birthday Sweet sixteen... Tonight's the night".

Sums up the genre. There is more generally a category of love songs to what seems to be a suspiciously too young girl. Cat Stevens Wild World is possibly one on the nicer ones.

According to google AI there are so many songs about the allure of sweet 16's by so many bands a definitive list is not possible.

I think era has passed though.

Smashingdoozy · Answer

There is a lot of literature and media that spark outrage. Even newer ones.

Newer ones similar to Lolita include the film Miller's Girl and novel My Dark Vanessa.

The show cuties had a lot of controversy around it when it came out due to the depiction of little girls doing inappropriate dances.

There is a lot of novels that glorify and romanticize rape, abuse and pedophilia. Some have even been made into films or are about to be made into films 🙃

OneViewpoint · Answer

Oh, I think Mein Kompf would still piss off a few people. I think the book and movie about Jeffrey Epstein's exploits with the rich and famous on Fantasy Island may make some people feel a certain kinda way. The Satanic Verses would no doubt still cause a stir in reprint for a specific group. Cats Cradle would set off more religious freaks.

jennifer_bloom · Answer

Liar, Liar starring Jim Carrey, in the movie Jim Carrey refers to his pregnant ex-wife as a fat cow. As well as sound of music, because the female singer’s male lover sings that she needs somebody older and wiser to guide her in life, so it plays on the 1920s stereotype that women were viewed as intellectually incompetent and needed to be chaperoned by male guardians.

Nikki1989 · Answer

The title is 'A Serbian Film', and it was the first one that came to mind. It is still banned as far as I know. There is a review online somewhere that says, "Do not watch. The graphic images settle into your brain and will haunt you for the rest of your life." That pretty much sums it up.

Jersey2 · Answer

Blazing Saddles. It is streaming in Prime Video I believe. This movie could never be made today.

Anonymous · Answer

Malena for the scene where a grown woman gets naked in front of an underage boy and he’s lusting over her the whole film. I really don’t know why nobody has ever called this out as weird?

exitseven · Answer

When the Movie 2000 Mules which was about how the 2020 election was stolen came out it was not shown in most movie theaters and after a week or so it was scrubbed from the internet.

DishLady · Answer

Everyone seems "sparked" by everything nowadays. No one knows how to accept a joke or even a minor comment anymore.

AviatorTom · Answer

Any of the religious books (ex: Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon) are controversial to some people.

TonyMetal___1986 · Answer

None of these is outrageous to me, we were raised in such eras and found it normal, it's only outrageous to these new generations!

andreasderjuengere · Answer

IT Crowd, "The Speech" (Season 3, Episode 4)

LiamJHayden · Answer

Song of the South. Groundbreaking in the 1940's with a Black man as the clear hero of the story, but by today's standards it is racist.

AngryCarl3 · Answer

A Serbian Film is pretty much universally condemned. Nothing good ever came out of Serbia.

canamlusciouslad73 · Answer

Lolita, especilly with the rich chomos today !!!

OlderAndWiser · Answer

Blazing Saddles

robocop666 · Answer

There is a book called "The N***** of the narcissus".

Billlewis · Answer

'The Graduate', (Dustin Hoffman) 1967.

Dargil · Answer

Blazing Saddles could not be made.

Anonymous · Answer

Pretty Baby

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