Japan’s film rating body rejects the title “The Assassination of Bush”

In an interesting move, Japan’s film rating body has decided that it will not permit the title The Assassination of Bush:

The distributor, Presidio, had wanted to release Gabriel Range’s film “Death of a President” under the Japanese-language title “The Assassination of Bush.” [Bush Ansatsu]

“We have concluded that it is inappropriate to use a name of the head of a state in such a context,” said an official at Japan’s Administration Commission of Motion Picture Code of Ethics.

The future title of the film in Japan is still in limbo, said the official who declined to be named.

The public must be protected….from inappropriate film titles?

14 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - May 18, 2007 at 7:04 am

Categories: Odd / Strange Tags:

http://surfin-english.blogspot.com Jamie

I’m speechless. Who the f-

No. Not worth it. Typical actions of a two-bit dictatorship.
Mike

They are not protecting the public from inappropriate film titles, but rather respecting the position on the President of the United States. Kind of the same way that you do not call your mother a B*tch. You must respect the position, whether you agree with the person or not.

wes

but then why not ban the film outright?
the overthinker

If it’s so important to respect the position of the leader, no matter if you don’t like him or his policies, then why did the American colonists ever rebel?

Could they call the film “Daitouryou Ansatsu” perhaps? I think this is more about not wanting to rock the boat with perceived American media attention, say from worries that it will be popular (CNN News: “The film “Kill Bush” has opened in Japan to record numbers. Pundits say this popularity is yet another sign that Japan is tilting to the right, and will soon invade China again. Pearl Harbour is on standby alert.”)
http://surfin-english.blogspot.com Jamie

I’m sorry, Mike, but that’s just silly. No one must respect anything. When you are required to respect something, it no longer deserves respect. And when a government body ….

Bah! It makes me so angry!

I don’t care.

Dave

I can understand where they’re coming from, but under that logic, the movie shouldn’t air either. Either the whole thing, or nothing IMO.
Kazen

Maybe it has something to do with Japan’s crazy libel laws? Maybe in some weird way the movie is protected, but the title is not?

http://www.feitclub.com feitclub

I think you’re onto something. Japanese libel/slander laws (they don’t distinguish between the two) are very strict, so a movie called “The Assasination of Bush” could be seen as detrimental to the character/reputation of George W. Bush, while at the same time a more generic title might be acceptable.

However, I think other posters ask the better question: Why exhibit the film at all in Japan?

http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

feitclub: Japanese libel laws are anything but strict, especially from a punishment point of view – the weeklies treat it as just another cost of running their business as defamation sells more magazines than they are likely to get fined for the libel.

Oh, and for those of you complaining about the title change, I seem to remember when the USA distributors changed the title of “The Pope must Die” to “…Diet”.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Was that a business decision aimed at not offending potential viewers/theaters, or was it an order from a film rating body?

Pingback: Transpacific Triangle » links for 2007-05-18 by Graham Webster
http://www.yeminlitercuman.com a.erol

I don’t know their your libel laws, but Bush is free to pass laws for “killing of all humans living on a -specified- zone (this zone was Hiroshima in the past, and is Iraq today)”. Change your laws to punish the killers, not the victims!
John P.

The title should be whatever it’s creator of the movie wants it to be. Censoring, or changing it is kinda lame. People don’t have to watch it if they are offended. After-All, it’s just a lame movie.

The Overthinker

It is one thing to avoid the movie, another to avoid its title. Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” had its title changed in Japan as well, to “The Bells of Notre Dame” (a change I approve of, since the film was not exactly Victor Hugo’s story). This is because the word “hunchback” is considered an offensive word and not to be broadcast. And many many other movies also get their titles changed for various reasons – “The Karate Kid” becomes “Best Kid”, anything with Leslie Nielson in it is “The Man with the Naked” Something. “Memoirs of a Geisha” becomes “Sayuri”. Conversely, Disney changed the name of Miyazaki’s “Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa” as Laputa (la puta) is the Spanish for “whore” and while accurate to Swift’s original name for the floating island, would not make Disney popular among the Spanish-speaking section of the US.

Japan’s film rating body rejects the title “The Assassination of Bush”

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