| "Hounddog" Withdrawn!Dear Readers: This Friday, I received a somewhat rueful message of congratulations from Eric Parkinson, the CEO of distribution for Empire Film Group. According to him, more than 200 theaters across the country had cancelled their scheduled screenings of the motion picture "Hounddog", citing pressure from "vocal groups". Indeed, the groups he mentioned were all ones that I have ties to and/or am a member of. Judging from Mr. Parkinson's words in all our correspondences, it would seem that the film is, to all intents and purposes, withdrawn from the theater circuit and will not be released on September 19th as previously announced. Needless to say, I welcome this news. It is, in many ways, a personal vindication after so many months of research and personal sacrifice. While I will, for ethical reasons, refrain from any quotations from his text, I wish, for the record, to commend Mr. Parkinson; both for his decision to accept this situation and for the graciousness of his message to me. What follows is my reply to him. I hope that it reflected the same courtesy in return. Dear Mr. Parkinson: As I've said before, I grant you a measure of sympathy insofar as the business angle of this matter is concerned. You were, indeed, handed a loser in the worst sense of the term and tasked with turning a profit from it... despite its unremitting record of disaster. God knows what Bornstein was thinking! In any case, even without the opposition of Christian and parents' organizations, this film would have been a bomb. You couldn't have prevented that. Its fate will be the same as Kampmeier's depraved "Virgin" movie- a single, dust-covered DVD in the back row of a Blockbuster outlet. That's where I found it. Look at it this way. You and your company have been spared a profound embarrassment in the long run. Yes, I'm aware you've put a lot of funds into its recent revamping... just as The Motion Picture Group had before you. But- again- I submit to you that it was an ill-considered and foredoomed project from the start. Had you pressed it further, you would have only been throwing good money after bad. Take a little comfort from that. But that is only from the business side. Naturally, my concerns were based on the moral aspects. I've written continuously about the dangers of this film to children; to you, on my website and to many others over a 26 month period. I won't bore you with a rehash here. But I DO believe that a heightened understanding among the parents and citizens of this country in regard to the culture is presenting itself. This is not, as you infer, any suppression of freedom. Rather, it is a recommitment to the most basic responsibility of adults in any free society; the protection, nurturement and moral guidance of children. It's what civilization itself is for. "Hounddog" represents Hollywood's most profound denial of this to date. From the onset of my involvement in this sad affair, I made this my watchword: There can be no moral basis for the sexual exploitation of a child. I'm looking at those words now- faded writing on a scrap of memo paper lying beneath my monitor these past two years. They represent, to me, the wisest thought that ever impinged on my decrepit baby-boomer brain! But, then again, they merely express what shoud be (and once was) a statement of the most basic morality of all. I was only restating a traditional and universal truth. No real wisdom was needed. I urge you and your company to refrain from viewing this as a defeat. Instead, think of it as a God-given deliverance, a lesson and a challenge. Filmmaking is more than just a high-powered, high-risk and (potentially) high-gain profession. It is also an institution of public trust. Your products do more than just make money for your stockholders and boost the notoriety of actors and directors (for better or worse). They can also elevate the spirit of an entire nation, uphold its virtues, inspire the best from its children and provide America's "best foot forward" to a turbulent and increasingly savage world... as it once did. Or it can do, as it often has in the recent past, the precise opposite. As I've often said, there is no such thing as JUST a movie. Don't fight us, Eric. Join with us. Your company can be on the right side of history. Empire could work to reverse the decline of Hollywood by reviving its best and most responsible traditions. That's where true art lies... not in the depictions of mindless, graphic violence- or in the vilifying of the American nation- or, particularly, in the degradation of America's children. Dakota Fanning- "Hounddog's" now-fallen little star- had a similar opportunity. She came within an inch of becoming the living face of her entire generation... and for all the right reasons. But "Hounddog" finished all that. Likely, it also finished the decent essence of all she once was. That was the true source of her once-phenomenal popularity. Her loss is her young generation's loss. It's our's as well. And now, regrettably, other child stars are already following in her footsteps. It's fast becoming her legacy... a far cry from what it might have been. It needn't be your's. Let the future deeds of Empire Film Group reflect their higher ideals. I assure you, a vast audience is waiting to beat a path to your door. All you have to do is make it worth their while. Sincerely yours; Steven Mark Pilling P.S. In answer to your query: I had no direct word from my sources that any boycott was in the works... although I suspected it. I'm a member, subscriber and/or frequent poster on the websites of those organizations you mentioned and some others besides. I've likewise had the honor to exchange a few messages with the heads of those groups and provide them with sources of information and a few of my own insights. However, I think you overestimate my importance in this. By and large, I'm just a lone blogger doing what he felt called upon to do. |
