Protesters outside “Deep Throat” on Seventh Avenue, NYC
The history of American film is also a history of protest. As long as movies have been made there have been controversial titles that have caused certain groups to voice their disapproval in the form of picketing and boycotts.
Collected here are several examples of protests outside of American movie theaters. The protesters span the political spectrum, from left to right.
Arguably, art isn’t art unless its pissing someone off.
We assume she’s protesting Monty Python’s “Life Of Brian,” though “Skatetown USA” was also fairly blasphemous.
Protesters outside of Walt Disney’s 1975 film “One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing,” picketing the stereotyping of Asians in films.
Cinema X in Baltimore was the target of a long and ultimately successful campaign to close it down, parodied in John Waters’ film “Polyester.”
Actress Valerie Harper protesting “Deep Throat” in 1972.
Protesters outside a showing of “Gone with the Wind.”
Another “Gone With the Wind” protest.
PETA protesters outside of “The Hobbit.”
Protest for “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
“The gospel according to Satan.”—Another protest over “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
Protesting the notoriously racist “Birth of a Nation.”
Protesters outside of Disney’s “Song of the South” (1946).
“Blue Lives Matter” protesters outside of “The Hateful Eight,” protesting Quentin Tarantino’s anti-police-violence comments.
Here theater workers picket their own employer: “Watch For: Poor Focus, Bad Sound, Broken Film plus much more”
Protesters in Minnesota, unhappy that “Harold and Maude” had too long of a run at Edina’s Westgate.
Here a St. Louis public access show host interviews protesters outside of The Last Temptation of Christ at the Avalon Theater in 1988: