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Interview [published November 1997]
J.G. Ballard: Future Shock
Chris Hall finds out why J.G. Ballard thinks Crash is
the first film of the 21st century
One week before David Cronenberg’s Crash opened
in the UK at the beginning of June, the normally
reclusive author J.G. Ballard appeared at a regional
press conference and pre-screening of the film in
Wardour Street, London. Cronenberg’s film is based
on Ballard’s 1973 novel of the same title, and the controversy
surrounding Crash has brought Ballard back
into the public eye to defend a film which he sees as
a hauntingly accurate depiction of the book he wrote
nearly a quarter-century ago.
It is a measure of the confusion surrounding the film
that it was felt necessary to show Crash to regional
newspaper editors and reviewers, as well as having both
Ballard and Crash’s co-executive producer Chris Auty
present, to try and dispel the sensationalist media myths
that had grown up around Crash since its premiere at
the Cannes film festival … Thanks to the London Standard’s
headline that Crash was “beyond the bounds of
depravity”, four local English councils banned Crash
from being shown within their regional jurisdiction on
the grounds that it is nihilistic, sado-masochistic and
graphic in its sexual and violent content.
BUY J.G. Ballard books online from and
Such hysteria has not been confined to this side of
the Atlantic – Crash has only just been released on
video in the US this month, having been delayed for
over a year due to the personal intervention of media
mogul Ted Turner. As the owner of Crash’s distributor
Fine Line Features, Turner attempted to block Crash
being released in the States at all, and only backed
down when the press caught wind of his behind-thescenes
manoeuvres.
Ballard for his part is bemused and outraged by the
double standards in operation against Crash and cannot
understand why the film has been singled out for such
outrage. What about films such as Martin Scorsese’s
Goodfellas and Casino, he asks. Both are “bloodthirsty
and horrific” and “practically a handbook to any yobbo
wanting to beat someone up.”
Ballard is particularly appalled at the film “coming
up against little England at its worst” and characterises
the British as “a strange, nervous nation” unable to
defend anything on the grounds of freedom of speech.
Indeed, it was Cronenberg who noticed that nobody
had defended the film on these grounds. The absurdly
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