Right: A theatre audience: is there a case for a psychiatrist to be on the Film Classification Board to protect moviegoers, especially young ones, from harmful influences?
web links and documents
Internet informationThe trailer for 'Seven Pounds' can be accessed from the film's promotional Internet site at http://www.sevenpounds.com/
Other promotional video material can also be seen on this site.
YouTube also gives access to the trailer at http://www.sevenpounds.com/
On January 8, 2009, Neil Mitchell interviewed child psychologist, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg on 'Seven Pounds'' treatment of suicide. (Dr Carr-Gregg is a regular guest on Neil Mitchell's 3AW radio program.) The interview can be heard at http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/3aw-generic-blog/psychologist-attacks-will-smiths-flick/20090108-7ca3.html (Please note: If you go to this site, you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the interview.)
A full transcript of the interview is supplied below. (NM refers to Neil Mitchell. MCG refers to Dr Michael Carr-Gregg.)
NM: Dr Michael Carr-Greegg is on the line at the moment. He is the program psychologist. Now we must warn people that we are going to spoil a lot of the plot here but it's in the form of a warning so if you don't want to know what's happening in this film tune out now. But if you are a parent I advise you very much to listen to what Michael Carr-Gregg has to say. Good morning to you.
MCG: Good morning, Neil. I went to the movies last night and I saw the trailer and there is no hint whatsoever that this movie might contain disturbing scenes. My problem with it is that it actually has a graphic depiction of a suicide and it had received astonishingly an M rating. Now there is no hint of suicidal content in the trailer we have just listened to and there is quite clearly a danger that this movie will normalise, sanitise and potentially glamorise suicide. And that is a great, great problem.
NM: I was quite bamboozled when I heard you describe that to us because when I saw that trailer I was with my thirteen year-old. He's a huge Will Smith fan. Will Smith's been in so many action movies and so many movies aimed at teenagers he actually said he wanted to see it and up until I spoke to you I thought to myself I've got no objections to that.
MCG: Yeah, look ah the bottom line is this is a movie like the one I discussed with you this time last year, 'The Happening' that is really misclassified. An M rating means that it is recommended for audiences fifteen years and over. Now what you have to recognise is this is not a legally restricted Australian movie rating but, it's recommending to people that people under fifteen shouldn't see it. I think this should get an MA rating or at least an R rating and I wonder whether the chief censor has mental health people on board to review these movies to assess whether or not in fact they are going to be potentially problematic to people who for example might have mental health problems, to young children, to people whose lives have been touched by suicide.
NM: I think when a movie deals with an issue such as suicide a parent has a right to know that the movie is about that and from your description the whole movie is basically about a suicide and people should be aware of that theme no matter how old they are. They should be aware of that before they go in.
MCG: The actual depiction of suicide is very, very graphic. I'm not going to go into details but I think one of the things you have to recognise is there is enough literature to suggest that when we have these sorts of depictions of suicide they can influence not all people but some people and therefore the copycat component is one we have to take seriously and one would think that the director of the movie, Gabriele Muccino, would not want to have on her hands or on her conscience the idea that any of these people who have watched her movie have subsequently gone and hurt themselves.
NM: OK Michael, the basic premise of the move. Go through the basic plot line for us.
MCG: OK the basic plot is that Will Smith stars as a man who sets out to change the lives of seven strangers. He basically has been involved in a motor vehicle accident, which he was responsible for, ah, and seven people died in that accident. So what he's decided to do is take his own life and give his organs to worthy people. So he basically interviews seven people to try and find two that he thinks are worthy of his organs. Now there are so many problems with this it's not funny. One is that if in fact he is found dead the coroner would have to in Australia order an autopsy and I think that would make it very difficult for anybody to donate their organs so that is one small problem with the plot, that it is Hollywood.
But as I say the whole thing is profoundly disrespectful to people who have engaged in organ donation which I know is very important to 3AW but then the whole suicidality component is not made explicit in the trailer or any of the publicity for the movie.
NM: So is the issue - that parents should be warned or do you want to see these sorts of movies banned?
MCG: I wouldn't see them banned because I think that just drives them underground but I do think that the Chief Censor has to look at including mental health people on the classification of such movies, number one. Number two, I don't think it is acceptable for movies like this to come on without any hints to mums and dads that there might be disturbing material in them. And that's why I've kind of blown the whistle on it. My strong recommendation to any mums and dads listening is that it's not suitable for kids and it's particularly not suitable for anybody I think whose been touched by suicide in their life.
On January 9, 2009, Jim Schembri, the film critic for The Age, criticised Michael Carr-Gregg's response to 'Seven Pounds'. Jim Schembri's comments can be found on The Age's Internet site together with 75 reader comments about the issue at http://blogs.theage.com.au/schembri/archives/2009/01/seven_pounds_bl.html
On January 10, 2009, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg wrote a letter to The Age responding to Jim Schembri's criticism of his views. The full text of Dr Michael Carr-Gregg's letter can be found at http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/letters/will-obama-achieve-peace-20090109-7dmb.html?skin=text-only
The letter is headed 'Glorifying suicide'. Please note: You will need to scroll about halfway down the page to locate the letter.
Suicide Prevention News and Comment's (SPNAC) mission is to help communities keep up-to-date on developments in the fields of suicide prevention and suicide grief support.
The website is intended to be a reader-focused resource, featuring news and information from across the United States and Canada (some posts reference stories of interest from elsewhere that are published in English).
On December 23, 2008, SPNAC began drawing together a series of comments about the film 'Seven Pounds'. It finally included a reference to the debate which occurred in Australia between Dr Michael Carr-Gregg and Jim Schembri.
SPNAC's collection of comments on 'Seven Pounds', prepared and commented on by the site's editor Franklin Cook can be found at http://suicidepreventioncommunity.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/seven-pounds-is-guilty-of-irresponsibility-with-suicide/
On December 17, 2008, The Chicago Sun Times film critic, Roger Ebert, favourably reviewed 'Seven Pounds'. Included in the review is Roger Ebert's belief that an audience better appreciates the film if it views it without any prior knowledge of what the film is about. Ebert's review can be found at http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081217/REVIEWS/812179987