The term “censorship” gets thrown around a lot with varying degrees of interpretation and severity. There are entire books that have been removed from circulation, words edited out of radio broadcasts, R-rated films cut down to a PG-13 cable television airing; you get the idea. While we can’t say for sure this example is “censorship” per say- it is a bit odd that Amazon has seemingly altered the iconic poster from the classic war film “Full Metal Jacket.”
If director Stanley Kubrick was trying to drill at least one point home with his 1987 tale about the Vietnam War, it’s that war is horrific, and does horrific things to people. This is featured in a number of different ways in the films two distinct parts. We see the toll taken on Vincent D’Onofrio‘s character of Leonard and what happens to Matthew Modine‘s character, “Joker” and his squad mates when they come into combat with a sniper. Joker visually symbolizes the duality of man, especially in war, by wearing a peace sign as well as a helmet emblazoned with the words, “BORN TO KiLL.” The image is front and center on the poster for the film.
For whatever reason, if you go to Amazon.com and try to watch the movie, the image of the helmet is edited. Gone are the words, “BORN TO KiLL,” though the piece sign and bullets are still attached. It’s a bizarre alteration Modine himself pointed out on X (formerly Twitter).
If it’s some sort of form of censorship, it’s certainly an odd hill to die on by doing it here. There’s no justifiable reason to edit out the phrase, especially since it’s an extremely adult film. If you haven’t seen it, believe us, the words on the helmet are the least of your concerns. But also, the image Amazon uses when searching for the film, DOES, have the original picture. Why does it change when going from the search menu to the purchase/rent page? Someone had to code that image there, so why did they pick an image that specifically removes the “BORN TO KiLL” scrawl?
If you search for the film on Amazon, the results all show the correct image. But when you click the Prime Video option to rent or buy here, you get the edited image.
Maybe there’s some sort of odd circumstance where someone just randomly picked an image and threw it on there without a second thought. It doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense otherwise, but it does open up a conversation for understanding the context of things. Art is subjective and leads to multiple interpretations. Altering that art can subsequently alter the interpretation unfairly by stripping away the intent of the artist.
Hopefully this is an error that will be corrected. While it might be a small transgression at a service level, the intent behind it can have larger ramifications.
-UPDATE-
Deadline says Warner Bros. Pictures has “requested Amazon restore the correct artwork.” We’ll let you know if they do.
