DO WE NEED CENSORSHIP

DO WE NEED CENSORSHIP

Censorship is the cuts and remakes of media mainly movies. Censorship is usually when ‘obscene’ scenes and actions have been removed from a piece of media. Censorship has been around for a long time, censorship is supposed to protect from the things which happen in media for example movies which contain horror, sex or violence.Censorship is said by the government to help us because it cuts out scenes which may mentally affect us for example a film about poverty and the working class which could trigger a revolution because our minds are not mentally strong able to take that it is just a film. We might even need censorship in some movies to protect young people from watching adult movies which could change them for a short or long term period.The areas of media I am going to look at are films, video, music, printed word and video games all these areas of media are widely available to many groups of people, this includes adults and children.

Censorship has been around for a long time but the censorship of movies really began in 1898 with the movie called “The Cheese Mite.” The cheese mite movie contains insects eating some cheese, this movie was banned, movies like these were banned by the British Cheese Foundation because the content of the films could cause a decrease in the sale of cheese, and this can go onto causing other problem factors e.g. loss of jobs. To hide the facts of movies like these being banned the tents were shut down for safety reasons these were two reasons. One of the reasons could have been they didn’t want the working class to see these films because of a revolt, or because the films were made out of nitrates which are highly flammable. By 1909 the safety laws were passed, and in 1913 the British Board of Censors were introduced.In 1916 films like A fool was therewhich included female sexuality and Intolerance, were banned. During 1916 Intolerance  was one of the most expensive films made at that time, Intolerance created trouble because it contained sexuality and Jesus, having Jesus in the film touched the subject of religion which was very sensitive, films like these were shown in theatres or a club called The Film Society. Films of these kinds were shown here because middle class people usually attended venues, and it was thought they could handle these films better than the working class. More action and horror films were starting to come out.A violent film called “Battleship Potemkim” was made in 1920 but was only allowed by the BBFC in 1959. Around the 1930s horror films were starting to make their release, in fact the first vampire movie was German it was called “Nospheratu”. America also had  a passion for horror films, this meant thy were watching them more so they had to create a new rating for films like “Frankenstein” and “Back from the Dead”. This was called H. This rating was brought in during 1933.

 In the early 1930s they even had to submit scripts so bits can be cut out.“Love on the Dole” a powerful movie about poverty in the north of England which was filmed in 1941 demonstrated some of the pressures which were going on with the working class society e.g. loss of jobs. This movie was supposed to be realistic as it included swearing and sexual immorality. The reason the BBFC didn’t want this movie to be shown because they were scared that a revolt might start and all the working class might fight against the upper class society, because their poverty and despair has been reflected to them on tape.During the run up to the war no film’s about Nazis were allowed to be shown (appeasement). This is because Britain did not want to do anything which could risk the state of their homeland e.g. unexpected chemical attacks, gas bombs etc. being dropped on Britain (films like Pastor Hall could not be released during the war). But once the war was over uncensored newsreels flooded the cinema these newsreels were usually prisoner war camps which showed graphic scenes of dead and decaying Jewish bodies.In 1955 the films ‘Night and Fog’ by Alain Renais was created, based on a famous war camp. This film was shown in a cinema club. This and films like it were shown in cinema clubs which were open to the middle class, these films were also in these clubs so they could not be viewed by minors.In the early 50s a new rating was created, this rating was called the ‘X’ rating. The new rating was only to be viewed by people of the age of 16. This definitely killed the film economy because the audience was reduced by 85%. In those days most of the films audience were young because adults didn’t really have enough time e.g. work etc. to go to the movies and watch a film. Films in this rating included ‘Rashoman the Wild One.’During this time the British government didn’t want British film makers to deal with the British society because they thought this was a delicate subject and would be touching on issues which may disrupt the country or represent the British wrongly to other countries.In the 1950s groundbreaking, ‘X’ films were released, like 1958 the ‘Room at the top’ and ‘Victim’ which was made in 1961 starring Dirk Borkarde. Both films were include sexual references and were shown at theatre clubs. The unusual thing about ‘Victim’ is that it includes homosexuality which was illegal at the time. ‘The L-shaped room’ made in 1961 was banned because of the subject of abortion, in those days abortion was illegal so if a woman wanted one she would have to get it done in secret, this was very dangerous because doctors and patients can be prosecuted for manslaughter and put in jail. A new boundary was made in 1965 with the film ‘Repulsion’; this film included graphic violence and female sexuality. The film is about a monster and a girl, the creator of the film called it ‘artistic’ instead of just a normal film.