Controversy just seems to follow the man wherever he goes. Even when he is not going out of his way to use controversial imagery to solicit emotive responses to his films and their themes, one of Miike's latest films, Sukiayaki Western Django, better yet, the first wave of promotional material for the film, raised storms of protest from the Association of Shinto Shrines - the head organization for the 80,000 Shinto shrines in Japan, who claimed that the scene was a violation of a sacred symbol.
The imagery, seen and highlighted in the picture left, comes from a scene early in the film, when a town mayor is hanged from a huge Torii Mon (Shinto shrine gate) by an invading gang, adding further insult to the gates purpose as a point of sanctification and cleansing. Is response to the protests Sony quietly removed all references to the offending scene from the trailer, as well as posters and fliers; replacing them with a character montage poster [logboy's post here]. Of course, nothing can be kept quiet forever and we're only hearing about this now after a report was printed in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Saturday.
Speaking to the Asahi, a rep from the Shrine org[anization] said, "Freedom of expression is important, but it's also necessary to consider how people affected (by the scene) feel about it."Sony reps reportedly apologized to the org[anization] and subsequently removed the offending scenes from all PR material, though it remains in the pic[ture]. "When people interested in the film see it in its entirety, they will realize that it does not insult Shintoism," a Sony PR rep said.