Every Wednesday in December, Flavorwire will take a look back at the year in film — the stories, the performances, the movies that we were talking about in 2011. For this week, let’s revisit some of the year’s movie controversies, shall we?
We film folk can get worked up pretty easily, so while we found plenty of things to get all a-tizzy about in 2011, the assembled list of 2011′s film controversies doesn’t exactly read like end-of-the-world, stop-the-presses stuff. But these things are important to us! We’re easily excitable! Thus, ratings and posters and Oscars and Darth Vader’s scream were well worth talking about — then, and now. Join us after the jump to relive some of the year’s very big deals. Read More »
As an architecture buff, and one with an academic interest in the somewhat underrated field of vernacular architecture, I’ve been following the “Brad Pitt saves New Orleans” story with a healthy dose of skepticism. Yes, anyone using his celebrity and monetary largesse for a good cause is to be commended, and yes, I’m kind of psyched that Brad Pitt is into architecture and not just wine, women, and song. But a Hollywood celebrity swooping in to impose a distinctly modern taste onto an area known for its historic domestic architecture, a building tradition termed the “shotgun” house which traces its roots to Haiti and West Africa? Like I said, I’m dubious. And so is preservationist Clem Labine, writing about the issue for The CIVITAS Chronicles.
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What a tangled web they weave. After over fifteen years of on-again, off-again, romantic, platonic, and catastrophic relationship strife between Billy Corgan and Courtney Love, Corgan exploded earlier today on his Twitter feed, spewing pure vitriol in Love’s direction. In a quickfire series of tweets that started approximately two hours ago, Corgan fired shots at Love’s artistic ability, her facilities as a parent and decent human being, and musical credibility without him or Kurt Cobain to latch onto. It’s pretty vicious, and surprising after a month-long silence following Love’s attempts to reconcile after Corgan blasted Love as an “abyss” in a self-congratulatory Rolling Stone interview. Follow the twisted tale and tell us: whose side are you on?
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At this point, you must have heard about the Prophet Muhammad brouhaha stirred up with last week’s South Park episode, “201“. It is certainly nothing new for creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who have already tackled the issue of censorship and Muhammed with their “Cartoon Wars” two-parter, when Cartman also goes on his Family Guy witch-hunt. The bigger issue here, “Censorship In The Media,” is again referenced in the episode with a guest appearance from Bart Simpson, his skateboard, and his impeccable comedic timing. Noting signs of an animated alliance, we began to wonder when and where signs of such a “relationship” between the shows first took shape…
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One would think something titled the Erotic Heritage Museum and located in the T&A capital of the American West would be allowed to embrace the art of the birthday suit. And one would be wrong, at least in the public sense. Apparently the Las Vegas museum’s Ho-Down Mural Project has violated the county’s sign code that bans visible areola of female breasts. Thus: pasties! If that’s not indigenous local culture, we don’t know what is. And yet.
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Twitter and the blogosphere are starting to go abuzz with a video shot at a Miley Cyrus concert in Kentucky. In it, the pop star replaces a lyric from one of her songs with a gay slur. Innocent mistake? Or yet another example of this girl’s innate prejudices?
This isn’t the first time that Cyrus has been accused of being discriminatory. Last February there were accusations that she was racist after a photo of her making “slanty-eyes” circulated, generating headlines in major news outlets. After apologizing for the photo, claiming that she was just making a “goofy face” and that the media had taken it out of context, the controversy died down and her career survived without so much as a scratch. It seems odd that Cyrus would stir the pot up again intentionally, and risk alienating part of her core demographic.
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So hysterical, these architects and their brethren. Why on earth would an architectural paean to a Nazi sympathizer in the Arctic Circle be controversial? Knut Hamsun is one of the most highly regarded authors Norway ever produced; he also gifted his Nobel Prize to Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist and one of Hitler’s besties. And then there’s the building, constructed in time for the writer’s 150th birthday. We examine the issues after the jump. Read More »
The Prince of Wales is a study in contrasts: Britain’s first in line to throne after QE2 and tabloid target; simultaneously a proponent of organic farming and avid preservationist. Now Bonnie Prince Charlie is once again ruffling feathers by asserting his authority over two high-profile public building projects in the UK. What would Obama say?* Read More »
A group calling itself The Coalition for Responsible Midtown Development, a branch of the neighborhood block association surrounding New York’s Museum of Modern Art, has put up its dukes and is ready to scrap. The coalition has created a website to collect opinions and criticism of MoMA’s projected Jean Nouvel tower, currently awaiting approval and already making a nuisance. All the dirt and video proof after the jump. Read More »
The censorship battle rages on, this time in the arena where contemporary art faces off against animal rights activists. Should artists be allowed to show graphic depictions of animal abuse as a form of commentary, or do such images offend public decency and desensitize viewers? Closing arguments after the jump, then we let you be the judge. Read More »
