It is the same with cinema, and the same with Art. The controversy is the commentary, the breakdown of the status quo of society. Just as Art holds a mirror to society, cinema does the same thing.
That threat it creates, by merely inviting us to gaze into the mirror and see something from another perspective is dangerous - for a number of reasons, which I will summarise:
- It may not be a convenient truth
- It may show humanity's darkest moments
- It is a warning
- It is prophetic
- It is too real.
There are probably more dot points someone could add to this list, but cinema was (and hopefully) will continue to be, an important part of our culture, but increasingly, I feel like the line between "movie" (for entertainment, and money) and cinema (to tell a compelling story, without financial considerations) is moving closer to the captilism side of the equation, away from the Art.