Matthew Modine is calling Amazon Prime Video for apparently removing the words “Born to Kill” from the artwork for his 1987 war drama. The metal jacket.
The Oscar-nominated film, starring Modine as Private/Sergeant JT “Joker” Davis, follows a platoon of U.S. Marines during training at a boot camp for the Vietnam War.
The film’s poster features a military helmet with the words “Born to Kill” and a peace sign. While the original art is still present on the film’s Prime Video thumbnail, the words “Born to Kill” appear to disappear from the banner at the bottom of the listing once you click on the film.
After noticing the altered image, Modine took to social media to explain the meaning of the iconic catchphrase.
“Who decided to eliminate ‘BORN TO KILL?’ “Not only did they alter an iconic work of art by Philip Castle, they completely misunderstood the point of it being there,” he claimed. wrote in X (formerly known as Twitter). “Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace button ☮️ as a statement about ‘the duality of man.’”
Social media users were quick to accuse the streaming platform of censorship.
“There is no censorship as powerful as corporate censorship and self-censorship. It goes far beyond anything a government can successfully implement. We oppress ourselves,” one wrotewhile another aggregate“It’s really sad that it’s censored so much because ‘someone will be offended’. Sometimes you have to be offended to understand something.”
a third person saying“Wow. That’s wild. Historical revisionism of artistic works knows no limits.”
Who decided to eliminate “BORN TO KILL”? Not only did they alter an iconic piece of art by Philip Castle, they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with “BORN TO KILL” and the peace button ☮️ as a statement about “the duality of man.” pic.twitter.com/9XQwINJj4l
– Mateo Modine (@MatthewModine) June 18, 2024
However, others noted that the words were probably omitted from the list as a design requirement, since, as we mentioned, the original tagline is still available on the thumbnail.
“Once again, this is not censorship. Many platforms have rules against writing text on the main background graphic,” one Offered. “It’s there to prevent studies from filling the graph with critical quotes, mainly.”
Other commented, “Matthew, someone posted the other day that it has to do with not allowing text on the photo on the home page, because if you allow it the promoters will put all kinds of reviews and stars everywhere. The thumbnail still includes the text, but not the listing banner.”
Someone else wrote“The alteration is not a statement, it is just a design choice so that the image does not compete with the text.”
DECIDER reached out to Amazon Prime Video for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.