Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: MPAA: Control over titles?

This is topic MPAA: Control over titles? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=001440

Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 05-10-2005, 01:06 PM:

I had heard that in order for Meet The Fockers to keep the title, the MPAA made the producers find a family in the US with the last name Focker. Does the MPAA do this? If so, what other titles had to be changed?

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 05-10-2005, 01:38 PM:

This is part of the text from the Motion Picture Association of America.

STANDARDS FOR ADVERTISING

The principles of the code cover advertising and publicity as well as production. There are times when their specific application to advertising may be different. A motion picture is viewed as a whole and may be judged that way. It is the nature of adveriting, however, that it must select and emphasize only isolated portions and aspects of a film. It thus follows that what may be appropriate in a motion picture may not be equally appropriate in advertising. This must be taken into account in applying the code standards to advertising.Futhermore, in application to advertising, the principles and standards of the code are supplemented by the following standards for advertising:

Illustrations and text shall not misrepresent the charcter of a motion picture.

Illustrations shall not depict any indecent or undue exposure of the human body.

Advertising demeaning religion, race, or national origin shall not be used.

Cumulative overemphasis on sex, crime, violence and brutality shall not be permitted.

Salacious postures and embraces shall not be shown.

Censorship disputes shall not be exploited or capitalized upon.

STANDARDS FOR TITLES:

A salacious, obscene, or profane title shall not be used on motion pictures.

Posted by Wayne Keyser (Member # 2420) on 05-11-2005, 08:42 PM:

I can't speak to the issue of MPAA requirements, but studios almost always get legal clearance on names (just so someone named Fokker can't sue saying the studio stole their name.) They either find a historic citation (example: the old Star Trek series, Captain Christopher Pike was cleared by finding an obscure Christopher Pike in British history).

So the job is simple and it's relatively cheap insurance: find someone named Fokker, pay him a modest fee and get him to license you the name. Any other Fokker comes down the pike with a suit, you can point to the actual Fokker whose name you used.

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 05-11-2005, 08:47 PM:

So then whats the point of the disclaimer in the credits saying something like any names used in this movie are purely coincidental, or something like that?

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 05-11-2005, 11:01 PM:

Yeah, "any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is not intended or implied" ... this means to me that you're basically acknowledging the POSSIBLE existence of the name (or character) in real life, but for all you know, there isn't.

What's so original about "Christopher Pike" that someone with that name could claim it couldn't possibly just be made up? I happen to know that there's another Brian M. Weidemann out there somewhere, unrelated to me; and I thought my name was a nice unique thing.

Now, as for Fokkers ... I think finding a family name in existence is a little silly. A Google search turns up 900,000 fokkin' results ... what with it being a German aircraft and all!

It would be like doing a movie called Meet The Shiites and needing to find that surname without realizing where the word comes from. "Ooh, ah, that word sounds like a naughty word, so it must be censored!" I don't think the title alone to Meet The Fokkers could be thought of as risqué ... it's just healthy, mindless, adolescent "Uh huh, he said 'fokkers'" sniggering. Which, funnily enough, was the whole basis for the movie's comedy. Oh, nevermind, they spelled it Fockers ... they're in trouble now!

Posted by Wayne Keyser (Member # 2420) on 05-12-2005, 12:33 AM:

"Any similarity..." - so it's double insurance.

No license, Fokker comes at ya with a lawsuit, claiming that every incident in the movie is a parody of some event in his life, you're gonna spend a good amount of money defending yourself. You're already overbudget when your lawyers are all in Hollywood and the suit is filed in Mississippi.

On the other hand, you have permission from a live Fokker, you can tell the scammer to go to hell for the cost of a registered letter on fancy legal stationery.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-12-2005, 12:39 PM:

Let's face it. They wanted you to think, "Meet the Fuckers." There is no justification for it otherwise.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-12-2005, 01:52 PM:

Ben Stiller's character was "Gaylord 'Greg' Focker" in "Meet the Parents", well before they wrote the sequel:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212338/

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-12-2005, 02:10 PM:

quote: Brian Michael Weidemann
Now, as for Fokkers....

quote: Wayne Keyser
you have permission from a live Fokker

What are you guys, blind? It's "F O C K E R S."

But Tim is right, they wanted you to think Fuckers (or Fucker, in the original movie).

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 05-12-2005, 04:53 PM:

quote: Oh, look, it was me!
Oh, nevermind, they spelled it Fockers ... they're in trouble now!

I suppose any sarcasm that might have been there was lost if the whole post wasn't read. Or, just maybe, I edited and appended that, immediately after posting, when I realized my whole argument was flawed. [Big Grin]

Yes, they're intentions were blaringly obvious, but that doesn't make it indecent outright.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-12-2005, 05:28 PM:

If anything, "Fockers" is more suggestive than "Fokkers" would have been.

Next will probably be a movie about Dustin Hoffman's mother, called "Meet the Mother Focker."

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-13-2005, 12:41 AM:

HAHAHAHAAA! LOL!

quote: John Pytlak
Ben Stiller's character was "Gaylord 'Greg' Focker" in "Meet the Parents"

Yes, I know that, John. They could just as well have called it "Meet the Parents 2," "Meet My Parents," or "Battlestar Miami."

C'mon, they were being salacious.

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 05-13-2005, 02:37 PM:

quote: Richard Greco
what other titles had to be changed?

I believe that "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" was originally going to be called "Bill & Ted Go To Hell" (hence the Megadeth song from the soundtrack). "South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut" was supposedly changed from "South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose" - both because of the word "hell" (which, if true, is crazy seeing there are plenty of titles containing the word "hell").

"Fucking Åmål" was changed to "Show Me Love" here in the states - I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the MPAA or not though.

I've heard of other instances (whether true or not, I don't know) but can't think of them off the top of my head.

Although there are some "set in stone" rules, I DO know that the MPAA is a very subjective organization, each film is individually screened and rated. Some words/images that are acceptable in one film are not in a different film.

-J

Posted by Dylan Marchetti (Member # 2764) on 05-21-2005, 12:52 PM:

I know they've changed some posters, too...the one for Half Baked comes to mind. I also recall the poster for Juice had to be altered because Tupac was holding a gun, which got airbrushed out on the final poster...despite multiple other posters with guns held by white folks. Hmmm...

Posted by Alan Dallas (Member # 2537) on 05-24-2005, 12:19 AM:

quote: Dylan Marchetti
despite multiple other posters with guns held by white folks. Hmmm...

James Bond 1 Sheets come to mind. [Cool]

Posted by Dylan Marchetti (Member # 2764) on 05-26-2005, 02:26 PM:

Terminator 2 is a great example as well. If I recall correctly, the films were out near the same time.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 05-26-2005, 08:46 PM:

My brief experience in production has been that character names are NOT licensed from real people. On the contrary, if there was a real-live "Greg Focker" or "Gaylord Focker" with any kind of medical background, this could justify a change of name (or career) of the character in question.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-27-2005, 01:50 AM:

"Fokker", or "Focker" which is just a minor spelling variation, nothing dramatic given the fact that many of the officers on Ellis Island couldn't spell a lot of foreign names anyway, is actually a fairly common name in The Netherlands. There is also the very well known brand of small aircraft under the name of "Fokker", named after the founder of the company who was from the Netherlands and worked for the German Air Force during WWI. He was the first engineer to come up with a working solution to enable machine guns to be fired through the propeller, by coupling the machine gun trigger and the propeller via a specially designed clutch.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 05-27-2005, 01:52 AM:

What would we do without Michael Focker?

...I mean...Schaffer. [Big Grin]

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-27-2005, 02:29 AM:

Michael,

As opposed to the French solution of merely armor plating the propeller so the bullet would bounce off the blade?

I don't think the the German gun thing was via clutch but a mechanical "AND" gate...such that if the trigger is being pulled AND the propeller is out of the way, FIRE...so it would be more of a CAM than a Clutch.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-27-2005, 03:36 AM:

..yea. Those dual Spandau machine guns used those syncronizers on the Fokker Dr.I Triplane, (the "Red Baron") and the better Dr.VII.

-Monte

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-27-2005, 03:44 AM:

quote: Michael Schaffer
There is also the very well known brand of small aircraft under the name of "Fokker"...

'Small?!'

OK, they're not as large as a jumbo jet, but whenever I go on one of these to a London meeting, 'small' isn't the adjective which comes to mind when I see it. It's called a Fokker 100, presumably because it can carry 100 people or so. And whenever the flight attendant gives the safety lecture, (s)he often makes sure to emphasise the word 'Fokker' in the hope of raising a giggle from those who haven't heard it before.

On the subject of co-ordinating film titles and related to the thread in Reviews, I'm a bit surprised that a second film called Crash has appeared, (i) so soon after the Cronenberg one, and (ii) in the wake of the controversy it created, thereby raising the possibility of confusion. Does the industry have any mechanism for co-ordinating this sort of thing?

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 05-27-2005, 03:59 PM:

sort of. when the italian film "the postman" went to video, it went under its italian name, "il postino", to avoid confusion with "the postman always rings twice". however, this was apparently not an issue when kevin costner's movie came out.

carl

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-29-2005, 02:00 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
As opposed to the French solution of merely armor plating the propeller so the bullet would bounce off the blade?

ROFL!!

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 07-08-2005, 11:10 AM:

For what it's worth, this morning's Atlanta-Journal Constitution "Ask Alan Smithee" column, "Some names really are a heavy burden" addresses the questions of real-life Fockers.

The question:

quote:
Dear Senor Smithee,

Since you seem to know it all about the film industry, I have a few questions that need immediate answers for the benefit of my own sanity:

1. I know that Gaylord is an actual name, but is there such a last name as Focker?

and the answer:

quote:
Dear Compadre,

1. Are you sitting? I hope so. As you know, Ben Stiller plays Gaylord "Greg" Focker in "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers." And a check at the Web site switchboard.com suggests not only the existence of three people named Gaylord Focker (one in Florida and two in Michigan) but the existence of two people named Greg Focker (one in Florida and one in Mississippi). Additional Focker listings are available through LexisNexis information databases. But many of these phone listings turn out to be hoaxes.

What's definite is that Universal Studios held a contest in the United States and Canada for a Focker Family Reunion. They found very few. But, according to the Los Angeles Times, some 20 Fockers were invited to participate from British Columbia.

--jhawk