The director, Alan Ball has stated that as a gay man, he does understand being referred to in a hateful way through a word or phrase, but nonetheless, he is refusing to change the name of the film.
The movie recounts the story of a 13 year old Muslim girl in Texas during the First Gulf War trying to find herself during a tumultuous time in her life and during a particularly tough time for American Muslims in general.
But here is the little tidbit that I notice has been conspicuously absent from the recent coverage of this controversy.
When the movie was being previewed and shown at Film Festivals, it was titled Nothing is Private, and the IMDB lists the movie under that title first.
So part of me thinks that the filmmakers changed the name to the name of the novel just so they could get some publicity for the movie. I mean, stranger things have happened, haven't they?
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4 comments:
I would not be surprised if you were right.
Thanks for pointing that out. Something says you're right.
I don't like that name, but if that was the original intent, so be it.
But I think they're looking for free press. shame on them if that's the reason they're doing it.
Towelhead is simply a better title. It's punchy, provocative, and, most importantly when you're hoping to put ticket-buyers in seats, attention-grabbing. Nothing is Private is boring and nondescript.
Compare the Swedish film Fucking Åmål and its English title, Show Me Love. If I'd only ever heard the English title, I'd have assumed it was some teenage romantic comedy with Rachel Leigh Cook and would never have bothered. (And tragically, I'd have missed out on all the hot teenage lesbian action in that movie.)
Megan: Just call me cynical.
Peter: I've seen the movie you are talking about under the second title and it was a pretty good film all around. That being said, the thing I noted was that there seemed to be a certain tone of indignity that anyone would ask them to change the title, when it had been titled something different anyway.
Semaj: Movies have often had different titles than their source material... I just think the whole situation is a little weird this time.
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