Someone in the CHUD message boards compared the American and International version of the movie trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Agent of Chaos discovered that a bunch of russian soldiers with guns had been removed from the American version. Check out the photo above. I'm pretty sure that this change was probably the result of an MPAA request.
Someone on AICN also noticed that the American Flag is mysteriously missing from the international version of the trailer. It always seemed a bit odd and out of place to me in the American trailer. I don’t think a movie blog is the place to explore why the American Flag and U.S. patriotism has become taboo in the shadow of the Iraq war (we’ll let the political blogs explore that, as that is not at issue here). The fact of the matter is that Indiana Jones has never been used a symbol of America Patriotism. The use of the flag in the trailer feels extremely out of place. Friends of mine brought up this point and I've played devil's advocate, saying that the American Flag was probably used in the film to establish the location. But truth is, it feels way out of place in the trailer. And if the international version proves anything (other than Ray Winstone has Computer Generated pants) it is that the shot was not needed (at least in the teaser).
User comment: By: jreffyI don't understand why the appearance of the flag in the domestic trailer is such a big deal? Indiana Jones is an iconic American hero. I think people are looking WAY too into the appearance of the flag rather than taking it a bit lighter. Spielberg isn't trying to convey some political message.
User comment: By: Hunter StephensonIsn't it ironic that in the United States the MPAA can presumably tell filmmakers to edit out guns (oh my, guns!) out of a trailer for an adventure film, while the international trailer remained intact, but in addition the U.S. trailer has to have a huge U.S. flag inserted (I guess international viewers can spot locations better and faster, if that's the argument for the flag)? The more I think about this, the more botched it all is for such a huge and iconic summer film. Whoever is to blame has given Indy IV a lamed start, in the horse-racing sense.
Visit here to subscribe to these commentsUser comment: By: Hunter StephensonYou have to wonder whose decision it was to prominently place the American flag in the U.S. trailer, and moreover who had it removed from the international trailer. This has nothing to do with the flag, but the way it blankets the entire screen in the pic above means it was there to convey a socio-political message, and not to identify location (that is a ridiculous argument in my opinion, but it can be argued Devil's Advocate-wise as Peter stated). It's an odd misstep of several in the trailer, and Spielberg has become quite political as of late (see the Olympics boycott, Munich, Chicago 7, presidential endorsements), so the scene baffles with its ambiguity. And one can bet that when the next trailer arrives, this will be gone.
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