In December 2000, Japanese lawmakers took unprecedented steps to ban Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale from theaters prior to its scheduled release. The film was deemed "crude and tasteless" for its portrayal of teen violence in a state run game of kill or be-killed and attempts to ban the film were pursued through the film certification process all the way to the floor of Japanese parliament. This thesis investigates the controversy surrounding the release of Battle Royale and the socioeconomic and cultural factors - in particular, the Japanese recession and widening generation gap of the 1990s - that influenced both the film's message and the extraordinary political reaction in Japan. This thesis argues that the objections to the film were not based solely on the violent content as is often reported, but rather were the combination of adult economic and cultural anxiety regarding themselves and the youth, the anti-authority message of the film that encouraged the youth to reject adult systems, and a political campaign that exploited the adult fears by using Battle Royale as a scapegoat for youth problems. / by Caren Pagel. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.