M any filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation . But it’s not always a good thing. Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.
Often, this is a result of changing social standards . Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.
Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. Last year, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists .
Whatever the reason, it’s clear that the history of cinema is littered with examples of films that have become difficult to watch. Here are 19 of the most problematic films ever made. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley Kubrick’s controversial – and, for many years, banned – adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s cult novel is certainly not without its problematic elements, most famously the sickening depiction of rape.
It wasn’t just the public who found Kubrick’s film unsavory: the filmmaker himself pushed for A Clockwork Orange to be removed from cinemas amid fears of copycat violence. American Be.
