--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "ShempMcGurk" <shempmcg...@...> wrote: > > This attempt by the Church of Scientology to get this film > blocked lessens my opinion of them. Simply because if you > want less people to see a negative film about you, the last > thing you do is try and get it banned. > > Haven't they heard of the concept of "banned in Boston"? A > sure way to make your movie or book a hit is to get people > thinking there is something that is so much of interest or > controversy that you try and squelch it. A guarantee for > good box office.
Interestingly, the producers of the recent film about Darwin tried to evoke precisely this result by claiming it couldn't get a distributor because the distributors were afraid of protests. Not sure it did them much good, though, given the film's very mixed critical reception. Even more interesting is this paragraph from the Guardian article at the link: "The filming of Valkyrie sparked numerous clashes between the filmmakers and the government, which initially prevented them from filming on several historical sites, including the Bendler Block where Stauffenberg was hanged, due in part to Cruise's association with Scientology. The ban was eventually lifted." The HuffPo article Barry quotes doesn't mention that the attempts at film-banning have gone both ways. It does note that the German government took a good stab at banning the Scientology organization itself: > > The following year the German government attempted to > > ban the organization after reports of illegal activity. According to the linked article, it had to drop the attempt for lack of evidence of illegal activity.
