So I was bombing around looking for newsy bits to discuss–as I so often am–when I came across a little something on horror-movies.ca that got my ire up too.
Sometimes I agree with them over there…and sometimes I don’t. But when you get a load of this one, you’ll likely see why I’m on board this time around. Here’s the relevant portion, a good summation:
Despite very very similar ideas, Transporter 3 is a mainstream film that is bound to be a success while the Battle Royale series and Tokyo 10+01(despite being mostly a spoof) were deemed extreme films. Battle Royale had a large outcry upon release in Japan. Some of it had to do with the fact that children were forced to kill each other, some of it had to do with some political statements, but a lot of it had to do with people feeling it personified an increasingly violent trend in Asian movies. The collars were a part of this being deemed extremely violent and a somewhat taboo in it’s methods. So why no outcry when pretty boy Jason Statham gets strapped with an exploding device and must do what ever it takes to stay alive?
See, in Transporter 3, Jason Statham‘s going to be wearing an explosive collar that ensures he can’t get too far from his newest “package”. This movie will probably do well. Horror movies that relied on explosive collars like Battle Royale and Tokyo 10+01 did NOT do well, and where they were released pretty much went direct to video.
Indeed, this isn’t the first time action flicks have let the explosives do the talking–I remember the opening sequence of The Running Man very well, where all those prisoners had explosive collars and were desperate to deactivate the perimeter so they could escape. And by Hollywood standards, The Running Man did all right, making back roughly one and a half times its shooting budget just on theatrical releases.
Of course, there could be something of a cultural difference in there. Note that the horror flicks that use explosive collars as a plot device are Japanese–their action equivalents are American. Let’s face it–they’re two very different audiences. Americans reading this: bomb over to Netflix and try a copy of Crazy Lips. And just as much there’s an issue of context: Battle Royale had a bunch of high school kids trying to kill each other on a deserted island. Transporter 3 is basically a courier trying to take things from point A to point B and not get blown up. One is much less inherently offensive than the other; guess which is which.
But at the end of the day, bombs around the neck is bombs around the neck, and either way the heads end up just as blown off. Weird, pointless double standards aren’t just for discussions on sex and race any more…they fit with horror movies too!
Popularity: 3% [?]
