‘Force Awakens’ Ad Controversy Ensues Before Film Hits UK Cinemas


Star Wars: The Force Awakens is upon us in less than a month, and according to the Guardian, is already creating controversy in the United Kingdom. Apparently, the Church of England is being refused by major movie theater chains to run an advertisement that features “The Lord’s Prayer,” which is already commonly recited. The main reason for this opposition is the fear of “offending” others.

Force Awakens
[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Entertainment]
Though the clip was cleared not only by the Cinema Advertising Authority, but it was also given the go-ahead by the British Board of Film Classification. However, the chain theaters themselves refuse to run it, and considering that 80 percent of these theaters take up the U.K. market, that’s quite a good chunk of theater goers not being able to see the religious clip prior to The Force Awakens.

The church failed to see the logic in this move and acknowledged the kind of serious impact that this would have on the freedom of speech. According to the Guardian, the Church of England’s director of communications, Arun Arora, stated the following.

“The prospect of a multigenerational cultural event offered by the release of Star Wars: the Force Awakens on 18 December – a week before Christmas Day – was too good an opportunity to miss and we are bewildered by the decision of the cinemas.”

Now, legal action is being taken by the Church of England, according to the Sydney Morning Herald and the advertising agency, Digital Cinema Media, said they have a policy that they are able to refuse religious belief-based and political ads for thinking they may offend viewers. This obviously includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

A very interesting spin on this in a report, made from the Independent, is that atheist writer Richard Dawkins does, indeed, back the Church of England with his support on having their ad shown prior to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Though he is critical of religion, he is a staunch backer of freedom of speech. Dawkins feels that offending people isn’t reason enough not to show the advertisement, and that those that offend easily by things such as prayer, “deserve” it.

“I still strongly object to suppressing the ads on the grounds that they might ‘offend’ people. If anybody is ‘offended’ by something so trivial as a prayer, they deserve to be offended.”

Force Awakens Movie
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images News]
The clips shows a span of different types of people saying “The Lord’s Prayer” which shows a form of encouragement.

There are things to consider, though, that regionally, there are countries aren’t religion-friendly. The U.K. is one of them, as it apparently has joined the mainstream of finding religion offensive, according to the Catholic Herald, and in some places, like Italy, it is quite normal. Also, this is deemed a cultural movement that is not uncommon, as it is and has been going on for quite some time now.

Also, according to the Catholic Herald, the method by which this ad entailing “The Lord’s Prayer” prior to The Force Awakens is a method known by the Catholic church as inculturation. Father Alexander Lucie-Smith explains.

“This is what Catholics call inculturation, and evangelicals call indigenisation: presenting the truths of faith in a way that the culture can grasp, without compromising the truth of faith.”

Digital Media Cinema took to Twitter to show in writing their policies and procedures regarding their approval process in the matter for The Force Awakens when it comes to “religious or political advertising.”

Though, this could be put in the same wheel house as local businesses right to refuse service, of course, they may not even have to give a reason. In this case, the Digital Cinema Media made this reason apparent and using their own brand of “the force,” metaphorically, to keep religion out of their theaters.

If one thinks about it, the Force in The Force Awakens is its own fictional religion of sorts that even Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, was first blind about and now, as seen in the trailer, now sees.

[Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images Entertainment]

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