I don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion anymore to say that trigger warnings have gone too far. When you have the likes of Dame Judi Dench complaining about them, maybe the plot is kind of lost, so to speak. While many have taken issue with the false warnings before movies like Flaming saddles (a famously anti-racist film) and the very tame early James Bond films, perhaps the moment the warnings really went overboard came last week when AMC aired Martin Scorsese’s Good friends and attached the following disclaimer:
“This film contains language and/or cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance and may offend some viewers.”
Here’s the tweet that started it all:
So, let’s take a minute to look at all of this. First, Martin Scorsese’s Good friends is an adult movie about sociopathic gangsters. Does anyone actually watching this expect a comprehensive portrayal of the Italian mafia, which is, of course, famous for its tolerance and kindness (note the sarcasm)? The whole point of the film is to depict the more unusual aspects of this life. And cultural stereotypes? I guess this has something to do with the fact that the Mafia members are portrayed as Italian, which they were, so I’m not sure what the point is here. To be honest, I don’t see why I’m attaching a trigger warning Good friends, perhaps one of the most beloved films of all time. What’s next? A warning attached to Casablanca because nazis are really bad?
The bright spot in all of this is that trigger warnings have become so ridiculous that the backlash against them is steadily growing. Hell, Netflix is even releasing an ultra-violent Jessica Alba movie with the term Activation warning as its linguistic title. If you look at the tweet embedded above, it went crazy viral and no one is defending the use of a warning in this movie, which really doesn’t need one. AMC also edits its movies for TV, so its release Good friends the air was probably cut to ribbons anyway. I doubt there was anything left to really upset people.
Its funny; I first noticed trigger warnings becoming a thing when I attended TIFF 2022 and the Hugh Jackman drama was screened The son. Despite being an adults-only festival where you actually can’t even watch most of the films if you’re under 18, the film had a caveat in its program that spoiled its ending. I don’t know why movies these days are treated as something that should never challenge the viewers. Many of the best movies ever made specifically try to “fire” the audience because that’s what it’s all about. Think something like Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. Do you think he wanted the audience to leave the theater whistling a happy tune? No, he wanted to shock and upset the world to give an accurate portrayal of the brutality of the Holocaust. The fact is that movies are (sometimes) supposed to be provocative. Good friends it’s such a movie. Not all can fit, as they say in the trigger warning, “today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance.” While this may offend “some” viewers (although I think they’re overestimating the number of people who will actually be offended), this is too bad. Good friends it’s an adult film and if AMC chooses to air it, they should treat the film and the people watching it with the respect it deserves.
Let us know in the comments if you were as triggered by this trigger warning as we were.
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