Overshadowed by Controversy: Difference between revisions

* [[Charlie Chaplin]], while arguably an iconic and influential comedian to this day, had his reputation nearly plummet to the ground when he made no secret about his sociopolitical beliefs, especially during the height of the [[Red Scare]] where paranoid witch hunting against anyone and anything suspected or accused of being remotely socialist or communist was rife during the 1940s to 1950s. To further discredit Chaplin, FBI commissioner [[J. Edgar Hoover]] used Chaplin's affairs with various women as a leverage against the comedian, and on top of that, the Feds wanted Chaplin out of the country owing to [[Cold War]] fears. Chaplin denied of being a communist and maintained that he was a "peacemonger" (and later an "anarchist"), accusing the United States government and "powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's [[Strawman News Media|yellow press]]" of curtailing his civil liberties, but the damage against him had been done, and he vowed never to return to the States. Public perception towards Chaplin changed for the better however, and re-releases of his films garnered praise in the States in his later years. He received an honorary Oscar following a visit to the States in 1972, his first stay in the US since his deportation.

* ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' became more well known for its gratuitously visceral portrayal of [[Jesus]]' passion and death as well as accusations of anti-Semitism than [[Mel Gibson]]'s efforts at a period-accurate retelling of the crucifixion. The film's violence also caused controversy in the Philippines when the Movie and Television Rating and Classification Board reportedly gave the film a reluctant yet dubious PG-13 rating due to its religious content (especially as the Philippines is predominantly Catholic), and even some French bishops were also disturbed by the portrayal as a "distortion of Christian teaching" and questioned the necessity of said violent scenes.

* It's hard not to think about Filipino comedian [[Vice Ganda]] without the leagues of critics who take umbrage at his style of comedy, deriding it as a denigrating form of defamation at the expense of those targeted by Vice's sarcasm. Fans of the [[GMA Network]] variety show ''[[Eat Bulaga]]'' would brag about how their hosts' style of comedy is more "[[Blatant Lies|wholesome]]" than Vice's crass comedy club gags, and it shows with comments on videos about ''[[It's Showtime! (Series)|It's Showtime!]]'' and ''Bulaga'' critiquing Vice's edgy sense of humour. In fairness there has been those far worse than him, but still...

* Despite being well-received by critics when it was shown at international film festivals, the 2020 French film ''Mignonnes'' (''Cuties'') became the subject of controversy and government scrutiny over its portrayal of pre-teen girls. The film's writer and director Maïmouna Doucouré described ''Cuties'' as a commentary on social media and girls being pushed to grow up too fast (e.g. the likes of [[Bratz]] and girl groups such as [[The Pussycat Dolls]] pushing for a borderline mature image towards youngsters), but regardless of its stated intentions and Doucouré contending that the film has been a victim of the so-called [[Convicted by Public Opinion|cancel culture]], it was savaged on social media for what was seen as [[Unfortunate Implications|sending the wrong message]], with netizens taking umbrage at the film's release using the hashtag #CancelNetflix, threatening to cancel their subscriptions over the film's content and/or review-bombing the film on sites such as IMDB in protest. Some groups, such as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, claimed that it sexualised young girls, and politicians labelled it as "child porn" or something that would "whet the appetite of [[Paedo Hunt|pedophiles]] [and] help fuel the child sex trafficking trade". One particular point of contention was the promotional poster, which had the girls strike a risqué pose; following backlash, it was replaced with a different, more innocuous poster. The film's content also prompted other countries to give ''Cuties'' a harsher age rating, with the Japanese Netflix giving it an R18+ as if it was an adult movie, and Turkey [[Banned in China|banning]] it outright. However, it can be argued that this is part of a larger moral panic concerning children's welfare in general, particularly with the kids' videos and COPPA debacle on YouTube sparking similar controversy prior.

* Not only was ''[[Saving Christmas (film)|Saving Christmas]]'' derided as a hammy Evangelical Christian film for its [[Anvilicious]] premise, its reputation soured even further when [[Kirk Cameron]] vainly called for netizens to add positive reviews in an attempt to save the film's positive ratings from the "haters and atheists"; Cameron instead got the opposite response, with trolls review-bombing the living daylights out of ''Saving Christmas''.

* The 2014 FIFA biopic ''[[United Passions]]'' had the misfortune of being released just as when the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal was taking place. Director Frédéric Auburtin lamented about how he was commissioned to direct a propaganda piece on behalf of a corrupt organisation, adding that he tried to strike a balance between "a Disney propaganda film [and] a Costa-Gavras/Michael Moore movie" only for [[Executive Meddling]] from FIFA to prevail which further skewed the film's tone in their favour, and both Auburtin and the cast described it as a disaster, especially as Sepp Blatter was sugar-coated as a heroic figure vowing to stamp out corruption in the association (Spoiler alert: he isn't). A bemused [[John Oliver]] lampooned the film in a segment on his show ''Last Week Tonight'', wondering "Who makes a sports film where the heroes are the executives?"

* Fellow ''Red Alert 3'' alumna Jenny McCarthy would also share a similar fate with Carano as McCarthy became more infamous for her promotion of the conspiracist anti-vaccination movement, particularly the discredited belief about theomersal and its link to autism, than for her stint on ''Playboy'' and later theatrical appearances.

* The 1946 Disney film ''[[Song of the South]]'' based on the equally controversial ''Uncle Remus'' stories became better known for its racist caricatures of black people in a plantation than for "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah", the film's animated sequences and Splash Mountain. Such was the film's notoriety that Disney, in an effort to maintain its family-friendly image, wanted little or nothing to do with the film. It permanently locked it up the Disney vault as well as outright declining to release it on their Disney+ service; said animated portions from the film were however made available in their ''Disney Sing-Along Songs'' releases, and the film as a whole is released on home video in various European and Asian countries. The controversy also spilled over (pun not intended) to the [[Splash Mountain]] ride, which will be retooled into a ''[[Princess and The Frog]]''-themed ride amid the George Floyd protests as many have came to view the ride's theme to be of poor taste in light of civil rights and racism controversies.