Keeping in mind the amount of gratuitous violence and rape that goes on in David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, India’s decision to bar the film from showing there is easy to understand, albeit unfortunate from a creative standpoint. But the highly publicized decision got us thinking about some of the less obvious justifications some countries have used to keep foreign movies from their theaters. We’ve rounded up a handful of the oddest bannings from around the world for your consideration after the jump.
Forty years ago today, a terrifying dystopian science-fiction film/pitch-black comedy hit American cinemas and changed movies forever. The film was A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick’s ultra-controversial adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel. Though widely acknowledged today as one of the great films of the ‘70s, initial critical response to the picture was mixed; Roger Ebert called it “talky and boring,” as well as “an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning,” while Pauline Kael criticized its “leering, portentous style” and accused its director of “sucking up to the thugs in the audience.” But The New York Times’ Vincent Canby set the tone for most critical responses, writing that Orange “makes real and important the kind of fears simply exploited by other, much lesser films.”
Audiences seemed to agree — the film grossed something like ten times its original budget in the States, its transformation into cult classic here and in England given an extra boost by its lengthy exile from availability in the UK. (Kubrick withdrew the film from circulation himself in the wake of possible copycat crimes.) Moreover, the picture’s iconic imagery and distinctive visual style made it a frequent touchstone for other filmmakers, musicians, and pop culture figures looking to inject a little droog mojo into their projects. After the jump, we’ll take a look at a few of the more memorable Clockwork Orange shout-outs in popular culture.
Locations from our favorite TV shows can seem as familiar as our own neighborhoods. That should explain the shock of recognition you’ll feel as you scroll through this selection of pieces from Tim Doyle‘s Unreal Estate show, which finds the illustrator and print-maker revisiting some unforgettable small-screen sets in a series of prints. See Arrested Development‘s infamous banana stand, the diner where Seinfeld‘s characters were regulars, and Moe’s bar from The Simpsons in a brand-new way after the jump. If you’re in the Bay Area, be sure to check out the exhibition in person, at San Francisco’s Spoke Art, between February 2nd and 23rd.
Oh my. While we usually strongly support rabid pop culture fandom around here, news of a blob of dried glue that kind of looks like Homer Simpson going up for auction on eBay — and that the bidding for said item is as high as £151K as of this writing — is just more than we can take. Come on people! We sincerely hope that this is some kind of hoax, a la the girl who had all of her Facebook friends tattooed on her arm.
“I’ve never actually sold anything on [eBay] before, so I thought I’d just stick it on for a bit of a joke to be honest,” says Christopher Herbert, the 36-year-old London man who came across the “collectible” item in a cupboard. “I didn’t think anyone would actually bid for an old bit of dried glue, even one that looks like Homer Simpson. I’m absolutely amazed and very very pleased and happy and wondering what to spend the money on.” We bet you are Chris. [via The Daily What]
Well, TV fans, the die is cast. Last week, The CW green-lighted The Carrie Diaries, that Sex and the City prequel network television has been threatening to inflict on us for years. Set in the ’80s, the show will follow Carrie Bradshaw’s high-school years in Connecticut, where we’re sure she’ll be asking a whole new, teen-focused slew of pseudo-profound questions (“What does ‘going steady’ really mean?”) and lusting over shoes at Contempo Casuals. But forgive us if we don’t intend to watch the show for long enough to find out. Like Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon, we’ve had our fill of Carrie. In fact, the only good thing we can imagine coming from the prequel is that it inspired us brainstorm some adult TV characters who already have kid equivalents on other shows. Find out who Zack Morris grew up to be, and which kid reminds us of Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess, after the jump.
The Simpsons are among pop culture’s most protean characters; if they weren’t, the show’s writers surely would have run out of story lines over a decade ago. So it’s no surprise that the Internet has taken one of America’s most iconic fictional families and run with it. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen The Simpsons mashed up with Breaking Bad, portraits of the sitcom’s characters as famous works of art, and — most bizarre of all — bizarre photo manipulations that transform celebrities into Simpsons. But we are especially amused by DeviantArt’s Claudia-R, who has created a series of posters that cast Simpsons characters in classic and popular films, from A Clockwork Orange to The Dark Knight. Click through to see ten of our favorites, and visit Claudia’s DeviantArt page for the rest.
It’s been almost a decade since Jennifer Saunders graced us with a new episode of Absolutely Fabulous, much to the dismay of fans around the world. But thanks to the magic of the BBC, where it’s never impossible to revive a great show, Patsy and Edina are finally back. To celebrate AbFab‘s 20th anniversary (yes, that makes us feel old), the original cast reunited for three half-hour specials — and the first one airs Sunday night, on both BBC America and Logo.
Having seen the first one, we can safely say that Saunders hasn’t lost her touch. Among other developments, we learn that one of the characters is in prison — and while it’s probably not who you’d think, nothing we could learn about the three generations of Monsoon women would shock us at this point. So, as an homage to one of our favorite dysfunctional families on the small screen, we’ve rounded up ten more we wouldn’t want to see on Thanksgiving but can’t stop watching on TV.
[Editor's note: While your Flavorwire editors take a much-needed holiday break, we'll spend the next two weekends revisiting some of our most popular features of the year. This post was originally published October 7, 2011.] Cartoon creators don’t always borrow personalities from live action film and TV, but when they do, it sometimes isn’t as obvious as we’d think. Have you ever noticed that Milhouse is a flawless animated rendition of The Wonder Years’ Paul Pfeiffer? And Doug Funnie’s retired neighbor? Y’know, that Dink guy who hangs around giving Doug strange advice? He’s most certainly an homage to Home Improvement‘s Mr. Wilson, the wisest man on the other side of Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor’s fence. Check out some quirky cartoons and their live equivalents after the jump, and hit the comments to let us know the others you’ve found. They’re everywhere.
The cities and settings and streets and apartments we see on television become, over time, our own; who doesn’t sometimes get the feeling they could actually stroll through Pawnee or buy coffee at Central Perk? These places become our second homes, each as filled with nostalgia as our old classrooms, friends’ houses, and playgrounds. But we’re not going to fool ourselves — some of the dingy joints our favorite TV characters spend their time in are just as bad as the worst ones we get dragged to in real life, which is why we’ve put together an honest tourist’s guide to onscreen nightlife. Below the jump, browse our ranking of ten TV hangout spots, in order, from the ones we wouldn’t step foot into to the ones we’re trying to book for our next holiday party. Which TV bar, club, or lounge would you head to on a night out? Read More »
Inspired by a recent episode of The Simpsons that featured Homer coming this close to smoking meth, YouTube user samuelk202 has created a really well-executed mashup of what was once one of our favorite TV shows (sorry, but it’s just not good anymore) with one of our current obsessions — Breaking Bad. Click through to watch the hilarious clip now, and let us know in the comments what you think of the casting choices choices he made (we agree with Josh at Warming Glow that Lionel Hutz as Saul Goodman is pretty perfect, but poor Jane!). Read More »
