Boycotting something for good is a fair practice. In a situation where things are not fruitful and you think the people and the machinery are taking undue advantage of people’s trust, it is a viable option to boycott such a thing, product, service, person or even a thought .In this article we shall try to understand Why do people or groups find themselves in a situation where they have to boycott a film, and what circumstances lead to films becoming subjects of boycott trends?”
Some popular recent boycott trends
YouTube
There has been a section of the audience who ask for a boycott of YouTube over its spamming of irrelevant content to unsuitable audiences, especially children. Unlike traditional publishing, YouTube is finding it difficult to moderate its content policies.
Publishers who are general public, can post abusing language, soft porn videos, hate speech etc. Such content is being easily posted by people and published by YouTube. For such contents the viewership is high and so does the revenue from advertisement.
Netflix
A group of people have boycotted Netflix over hyper sexualization of girls and boys in a French film called Migonnes known as Cuties in English language. During the month September 2020, #cancelnetflix became the top trending topic with 200, 000 tweets. The question is, Did the review committee who passes such movies for exhibition not have the slightest idea that such movies can become easy eye candy for paedophiles and child rapist?
MTV billboard music awards 2020
In response to the police violence and racism, people have boycotted the award show recently. Such award shows are organized on a huge scale where the general public are invited to grace the show.
Films and celebrities who have been boycotted recently
American film producer Harvey Weinstein
Rose McGowan, actress, alleged names like Matt Damon, Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck f0r covering and hiding the sexual misconduct by Harvey weinston on women for years. This results in a boycott trend of their projects by displeased cinegoers. Other celebrities include producer Brett Ratner, director Woody Allen and comedian Louis C.K.
Additionally, where the display of racism and discrimination found in the movies, have also been a subject of boycott by the public.
#BoycottBollywood
The mysterious death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput led to nationwide boycott trends in Hindi movies. Sushant’s case suddenly exposed Bollywood links with drug mafia, consumption of drugs and nepotism. Netizens keep the trend of boycotting Bollywood films time and again.
Creativity connects people and civilization- UNKNOWN
“One wrong expression and action of human behaviour can ruin the hard work of many experienced and aspiring individuals”.
List of films boycotted worldwide
Movies boycotted in Japan
1. The last Airbender -2010
The film faced the heat because of its casting white actors in roles related to Asian characters.
2. The interview -2014
The movie had become controversial due to conflict between North Korea and Sony films over an assassination scene of the North Korean leader.
3. The hunger games
Based on a lot of similarities with the Japanese classic, The Battle Royale.
4. The Great Gatsby
The movie was boycotted because of a scene where a character is eating pastry filled with cream. In Japan, pastry filled with cream is offered to the dead during their Obon festival. The scene in the movie was considered as insensitive.
5 The wolf of wall street based on share trading – 2013
The movie was criticized for its glorification of greed, drug use, alcohol abuse, criminal activities which are against Japan’s culture of respect for hard work, sanity and dedication.
6. The divergent – 2014
The movie Divergent was boycotted over one scene where one character stabs a doll with a sword. The doll in antiquity is famous in Japanese culture .
7. The Da Vinci code
The sensationalization of the catholic church and negative depiction of christianity was a subject of boycott trend of this film in Japan.
8. Batman vs Superman – Dawn of Justice – 2016
The violence in the movie did not adhere to Japanese cultural standards. Therefore, it was boycotted.
9. The walking dead- 2011
Along with Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia, this movie was boycotted in Japan due to strong language and violence.
10. The Cove – 2009
Documentary film the Cove was boycotted as it had exposed the side of Japan of mistreatment of animal and the annual dolphin hunting practices in Taili.
Movies boycotted in Europe
11.The age of innocence-1993 ( Germany)
The movie was boycotted by viewers and some critics duebita content focussing too much on the upper wealthy class and ignoring the working-class population. The movie also was criticized for its melodrama and slow pace.
12.Joker – 2019 ( UK)
The movie faced criticism by renowned psychiatrists and several UK charities citing the reason that it can induce violence in the people suffering with mental issues and people who are vulnerable to violence.
Others movies recently been boycotted for various reasons:
In America
13. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
14.. The Last Samurai (2003)
15. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
16.The Da Vinci Code (2006)
17. Mary Magdalene (2018)
In Europe
18. 1984’s The Last Temptation of Christ (Italy and France)
19. 2009’s The Dictator (Iceland, Norway and Sweden)
20. 2004’s Team America: World Police (France and Germany)
21. 1987’s The Last Emperor (Italy)
22. 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Switzerland)
23. 1993’s The Age of Innocence (Germany)
24. 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ (Greece)
25. 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded (Germany)
26. 1995’s Die Hard With a Vengeance (UK)
27. 2019’s Joker (UK)
In Africa
28. The Lion King (2019)
29. Black Panther (2018)
In India
30. Laxmi (2020)
31. Sadak (2022)
32. Lal Singh Chaddha (2022 )
33. Brahmastra (2022 )
34. Pathaan (2023)
Despite of the boycott bollywood trend, Pathaan and Brahmastra managed to achieve stupendous success at the box office.
In Russia
35.Red Sparrow (2018)
36.The Death of Stalin (2017)
37.Borat (2006)
38.Kony 2012 (2012)
39. Team America: World Police (2004)
40. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
41. The LEGO Movie (2014)
42. The Hunger Games (2012)
43. The Hollywood Ten (1950)
44. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
In Germany
45. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
46. Life is Beautiful (1997)
47. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
48. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
49. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
50. The Wolf of Wall Street (2014)
51. American Sniper (2015)
In UAE
52. The Interview (2014)
53. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
54. Wonder Woman (2017)
55. Deadpool (2016)
56. Logan (2017)
57. Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
58. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
59. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
60. Jurassic World (2015)
61. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
62. The animated series “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous”
In Australia
63. ‘A Quiet Place Part II’
64. Disney’s ‘Mulan’.
65.’The Hunt’
66.’The Lovebirds’
The psyche behind boycotting the movies by the group, fans , government is to show the disagreement with certain scenes, dialogues, songs, title of the movie and whatnot. If a movie is not fix in the bracket of social, political and religious bracket then it is most likely to face boycott by these sections.
Why do people create products and services that are subject to boycott trends?
1.Financial gains
2.Demand for the product
3.Desire to make a political or social statement or simply to challenge the existing state of affairs
4.Unaware or ignorance
5.Or any other reason?
Filmmakers’ responsibility to avoid boycott trend of their films
A filmmaker should be aware of potential issues that are blazing in the society. He or She should avoid inclusion of scenes, songs that may hurt sentiments of people, community and countries. Religious sentiments should not be hurt in the movie or tele series just to attract attention and hurting sentiments of audiences who spend their hard-earned money to watch your film is not a good idea. You may get some attention with negative publicity, but in the long run you may lose the loyalty of your sensible fans.
It is said that films are a reflection of what is happening in society. The real-life events when converted into a screenplay of a movie should be handled diligently.
It is better to consult your team of lawyers to avoid controversy. A controversial film may fetch your revenues, but sometimes unsubscribe your loyal audience.
“If you have rights of freedom then no one can stop you on what you wear, earn and think. Your mind should decide what is right and wrong , don’t let any group or individuals influence you.“UNKNOWN”
