Britain: Censuring of a movie poster exposes elite disdain for the "dumb masses"



We read:

"The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has censured the makers of an Angelina Jolie action movie, Wanted, because the posters advertising the film `glamorised guns'. This willingness of our moral guardians to clamp down on freedom of expression poses a graver threat to the health of society than any imaginary Angelina-inspired gun crime spree.

Wanted is a big-screen version of a comic-book story starring Jolie and James McAvoy. She's a kick-ass assassin, he's a bored office dweeb getting walked all over by everyone. But, as the poster declares: `SIX WEEKS AGO, I WAS JUST LIKE YOU. AND THEN I MET HER. AND MY WORLD WAS CHANGED FOREVER.' It's your regular `boy meets girl, girl gives boy a gun and several million dollars, violence and adventure ensue' kinda movie.

The posters captured the film pretty well. `One poster showed the profile of the actress Angelina Jolie', notes the ASA. `She was crouched with her elbow resting on her knee and was holding a gun pointing upwards. In the background the actor James McAvoy held a gun in each hand, pointing towards the reader.' Another poster showed a variety of images, including one of Jolie `laid across the bonnet of a car on her back. She was facing the reader and holding a gun, which pointed in the opposite direction.'

Yet for the ASA, these posters were simply too much. In its ruling censuring the film's promoters, the ASA states: `We acknowledged most viewers would understand the posters reflected the content of an action film. However, we considered, that because the ads featured a glamorous actress, action poses, several images of or related to guns and aspirational text, they could be seen to glamorise the use of guns and violence. We concluded [the posters] could be seen to condone violence by glorifying or glamorising the use of guns.'

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