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It's only a movie.
Keep telling yourself.
It's
only a movie...
It's always a treat to find that the Brits can be every bit as foolish as us yanks - and sometimes even more so. Take a look at the picture above. Ahhrrooooo!!!! As the late, great Count Floyd would have said, "Scary stuff, kids, very scary stuff."
From holdthefrontpage.uk.com (no, I'm not making that name up) come the story of the continuing trauma suffered by the residents of Lincolnshire, following exposure to this vile movie poster for 'Dawn of the Dead'. I'm sure you've read the story of the poor woman who was traumatized by this picture (if not, here's World O'Crap), but the aftermath continues to be interesting as well.
More than 70,000 people viewed the story on the Echo site on Monday and by 9.30am on Wednesday a further 125,000 people - more than the population of Lincoln - had seen it. The site usually gets around 2,000 visitors a day. Hundreds of people who visited the site wanted to put forward their views about the poster, which appears at a Lincoln bus stop. A deluge of e-mails continues to swamp the Echo's Your View inbox.
Hey, everybody's got an opinion - this piece said it was 82% positive, but visiting the forum 36 hours later, it looks like the newer comments are closer to 50-50. Let's take a fun filled look at some of the letters.
Filling your mind with beautiful things: If you stop making the creepy movies the posters will disappear. It's time people filled their minds with beautiful things instead of ugly things. The ugly movies are only a refection of what is going on in the mind of society. That in itself is even scarier than the movies or the posters.
Yes, the posters are offensive and most likely quite scary to children. However, the movie industry does not care about anything except money and will do all in their power to create shock effect. The few "rule" the many - speak up few! Mmm, if the few rule the many, does this writer really want them to speak up? But it's a great slogan, isn't it? Speak up few!
Excerpts from a confused Yank. ...But by putting this kind of advertising out in the public, my eyes and those of my child, don't get the choice of "turning the channel". Why should I have to go out of my way to avoid driving or walking by such offending advertising? ...I believe that making movies and even advertising is an art and should be protected by Fifth Amendment rights. Read this a couple of times, and am still not sure if the writer is asserting a zombies right to avoid self-incrimination, or their ability to go up up and away in a beautiful balloon.
A window into the H-word. THE Dawn of the Dead poster is a window into hell that no one should be confronted with - just as we shouldn't be confronted with pornography.
A typical secularist: I HOPE these same people who are offended by the Dawn Of The Dead poster are also equally offended by the horrendous posters for Passion Of The Christ. What hypocrisy! The people who are offended by these posters are scarier than the posters themselves!
HAS the protester seen the poster for The Passion of the Christ with a guy with thorns stuck in his head? Yeah, that guy... what's his name?
A righteous response: WOULD you expect anything less from the sewer called Hollywood? This is their revenge against the huge success of The Passion of the Christ.
A sarcastic, over-protective, silly, single mother weighs in. Once a scary image is in either your or your child's head you can't just take it away by saying "life is harsh", by "explaining the world" or telling them that they are "ludicrously over-sensitive". What frightens me most is the belief by many that this image could not possibly scare any child. Do we really believe that nightmares do not exist for children of the 21st century? It was interesting earlier that all the "fors" bar one were man but pleasing to see the gender mix on the "againsts". But I must surely be a sarcastic, over-protective, silly, single mother to even notice... mustn't I?
Guilty until proved innocent. The poster goes way too far. I want the burden to be on the ASA to prove that something is legal, not the public trying to defend themselves from someone's poor judgment.
Letter from a smart-ass. I agree. The poster advertising the new Dawn of the Dead film is horrible and should be removed. Posters promoting cigarettes and beer are also offensive and shouldn't be allowed to be displayed. Many cosmetics are tested on animals and may instil an unrealistic body image; ban the commercials. Fast food causes obesity and promotions for the fare should be forbidden from the public space. While we're at it sports cause injuries and therefore football advertisements should be prohibited from marring the environment. The only billboards suitable for the public domain are those depicting flowers and bunnies. On second thought bunnies can often be quite randy and might also elicit unwanted thoughts. So, just flowers.
And finally, a reflection on the good old days, in a letter that unintentionally captures the feeling of the movie. The posters have gone too far. Today any film with the words BLOOD, DEATH, KILL, MURDER, etc., do well and people, especially young males, rush to see them. It's a sad state of the world because we are exporting very violent images and films to the rest of the world. And many primitive backward countries are taking these films to heart, as well as American kids who play video "splatter" games. I can remember when we had great musicals and comedies. You don't see those anymore and I have to believe it's because we are not capable any more of anything nice, upbeat, or even happy. The kind of "music" that is listened to is very depressing indeed. Did you know that all the rappers are now involved in pornography and the drug trade? They are laundering the vast millions they receive and are destroying our culture. I think the 1960s and its freedoms and breakdown of all societal mores was the beginning of the end for us culturally and it's too late to stop it now. Poor us and the rest of the world.
Poor me. Poor me. Pour me another one. | 
