On July 24 Warner Brothers will release their horror film "Orphan." The movie is about a family who adopts an older girl, Esther, who "is not what she appears to be." The film is currently being promoted, and the trailer can be seen here. The adoption message is extremely negative, and plays into the stereotypes of adopted children, particularly older children, as damaged.
The adoption community is protesting the release of the film and was successful in getting the line "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own" removed from the trailer. Executives at Warner Brothers claimed they "messed up" and have re-cut the trailer to remove the offensive line. However, the promotional posters still use this tag line. If this movie focused on a (insert a word) child, would Warner Brothers be able to get away with it? But, stick an adopted older child into the storyline and its okay? This message plays into the fears of the general public. I can attest to the fact that adoptive parents and those planning on adopting deal with these fears, misconceptions, and prejudices on a daily basis.
While I myself love a good horror movie, I find it difficult to understand why Warner Brothers would promote a movie in such a way. I have to agree with Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Institute, who says “The film preys on who these older kids are. That's why we have so much trouble getting older kids adopted. I fully respect that they are not going to pull a multi-million-dollar movie out of the theater, but they can mitigate the damage and make the ads less corrosive.” I have only seen the trailer. I will NOT see the film. And right now I don’t feel like seeing anything that Warner Brothers, Dark Castle Entertainment, or Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way (who claims to support the world’s orphaned kids) has produced or distributed.
I urge you to contact, with me, the makers of the film, as well as your local movie theater chains, with your concerns. Maybe I am overly sensitive like many people think, but when it comes to my children can I really be too sensitive?
Contact information:
Warner Bros.
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522
818-954-6000
Silver Pictures
4000 Warner Blvd. 90
Burbank, CA 91522-0001
818-954-4490
Time Warner Inc.
One Time Warner Center
New York, NY 10019-8016
212-484-8000
2 comments:
Just something to remember. I have taken several PR (public relations) classes in college so far and they have all been taught by people who really did PR. They said one of the most effective ways to get their attention is to write a letter. They normally count one letter as represntative of a 1000 people and a phone call as representive of 100 and an email as even less. So write a letter hand written. It shows them how important this is to you and if its that important to you then there have to be a few others who are just to lazy or afraid to write but believe the same way.
I thought I had heard that as well. Good to know for sure. Thanks.
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