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STUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND MICKEY'S ON THE PRODUCTION LINE JIMINY CRICKET WROTE A VICTORY SPEECH GOT AN SS TICKET I'M FEELING FINE |
Posted on 07/13/2003 2:52:14 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
"Here in the UK no one gets upset, but over there, where the President is fighting these military campaigns in the name of democracy, the first casualty seems to be freedom of speech, the cornerstone of any democracy." - BUFFALO SOLDIERS Director Gregor Jordan
The WALT DISNEY CO. is set for maximum controversy when it releases a "warts-and-all" portrait of U.S. Army life with the fuss-film BUFFALO SOLDIERS.
As American men and women put their lives on the line in Iraq and other locations throughout the world, DISNEY and its subsidiary MIRAMAX have set a July 25 opening for the story of enlisted man running a profitable drugs and stolen goods business out of an Army base!
[A promo snap for the film -- "Steal all that you can steal," a riff on the US Army's own pseudo-empowering "Be all that you can be" slogan, while below actor Joaquin Phoenix stands before an American flag -- comes just days after TIME magazine alleged in a cover story that American troops looted and vandalized the Baghdad airport after it was secured.]
The film's director Gregor Jordan describes SOLDIERS a robust satire illustrating the corruption, drug use and violence that goes on in US Army bases.
At the film's open, a painted US flag is on the ground and is stepped on by marching soldiers.
The film features an excessive amount of profanity by senior officers, suggestive sex [oral sex in bed, sex in a car, sex in a swimming pool], theft of government property, and rampant drug use by soldiers.
Actor Phoenix explains, "I don't know why anyone would be offended. It wasn't a movie that was intended to offend. And if we don't show things as they really happen, then what's that about? Censorship!"
The movie studio has been receiving complaints from military insiders, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
One letter written by a retired Army Colonel warns of the film's racial overtones.
"Scenes show MP's, who are black, committing acts of violence and engaging in corruption," writes Col. Franklin J. Henderson. "These scenes, intentionally or unintentionally, provide a bad image of black soldiers and degrade the sterling service of the real 'Buffalo Soldiers' who were mostly black men."
Director Jordan was so concerned by the mood of the country during the most recent military activity in Iraq that he asked for the movie's release to be delayed.
"I thought, This is not the time to be putting this movie out. If we leave it a couple of months, the war'll be over and off all the front pages. Then we'll go."
Developing...
As Ed told me, it was either that or castration.
They meant to say at Democratic party fundraisers.
Huh? So it's not the right of Americans to NOT buy Dixie Chicks CDs, go to their concerts or call radio stations and ask them not to play Chicks music? Gee, all this time I thought it was.
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STUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND MICKEY'S ON THE PRODUCTION LINE JIMINY CRICKET WROTE A VICTORY SPEECH GOT AN SS TICKET I'M FEELING FINE |
It's your right to NOT buy or participate in cultural things. It's your right to call a radio station and ask them to not play something, and that station should evaluate the call and decide whether or not to play the music.
I don't have any problem with freedom of speech. In the '60s, musicians sang about what they cared about. There was a creative explosion at the time...stuff you'd like to listen to, other things you wouldn't agree with. But what's wrong with listening to other views? Are you so insecure in your views that you think they won't hold up to opposition?
And look at the '60s, not through the distorted view you get. There were plenty of songs like MASTERS OF WAR and MONSTER and AMERICAN WOMAN, sure. But don't forget that one of the most popular songs of the time was Barry Sandler's BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERET.
If artists are stifled, so is thought. (And this is from someone who remembers the '60s!)
The blurb states that it's set in Germany as the Berlin Wall is about to fall, when there was not a lot to do, because there was no conflict going on. It's based on a book. I thought the short writeup was trying to avoid any connection to the current situation.
Who's trying to stop anything? All I have read are comments from people who state that they are not going to see the movie.
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