Censorship in the Media

Censorship:

Examples of censorship (Disney)

• Disney animated movie 'Dumbo' crow scene cut out as the leader's name was Jim Crow - a reference to the racist laws that allowed segregation until 1965. This scene also wasn't recreated in the live action version
• 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier', a TV series on Disney+ was also censored in certain scenes that were claimed to be too bloody or violent
  
  

Censorship in other countries:

• 'Shape of Water' - in China they photoshopped a black dress onto the back of the main woman who was nude from behind, mostly covered by shadows. This was not the only scene cut/changed in the media, as apparently several sex scenes and things that could be offensive or against people's ideologies were cut from the film as well
  
  

• The movie 'Coco' was originally not going to be released in China because they're not allowed to show movies centered around death, ghosts or the afterlife. However, apparently after one of the censors watched the movie, they loved it so much that they released it
• 'Song of the South' was also not released in China as it portrayed stereotypical depictions of African-Americans and a cheery look at post-slavery Black plantation life
  
  

Should art be censored?

• Being for or against censorship is a controversial topic becoming more apparent today, and is something that directors and distributors are constantly being made aware of
• This brings up the topic of if something is wrong but part of history, should it be cut out as to not offend people today? Do older movies made which might have outdated political or social messages need a warning or to be cut/edited?
• By censoring movies, you run the risk of people not being educated and therefore have the potential to repeat these mistakes since they don't know about it, and therefore history repeats itself.
• In 'Sister Street Fighter', there's a shot inside the bad guy's lair with a poster of an obviously underage child in a sexually compromising position, which most people would agree is off limits and should be censored. It was later trimmed out, but that brings about the question as to how far do you go with cutting things out of movies; where do you draw the line?
• Obviously there are some things that should be censored such as the example above, but there's also the point that comes with different ideologies of what people think is acceptable. If there's something that someone might find offensive, we always have the option to not watch it. There's always going to be something that someone will disagree with about.
• Some movie directors and creators, e.g. George Lucas edited and changed certain aspects in his earlier films and re-released them, but because it was his art, many people feel it is ok. However, during the time when many books were burned because they had messages that were deemed bad for kids, this was done by libraries and not the original authors themselves, which people do not agree with.
  
  

Issues surrounding censorship in the modern world and our consumption:

• Today with all the censorship occurring, it's as if we see something that's inconvenient and within a couple of weeks/months it doesn't exist anymore. However, by doing this, it takes away from the work of the actors etc. For example, 'Song of the South', the actor wasn't allowed to attend the premiere due to the segregation, but Walt Disney pushed for equality and this resulted in him winning an Academy award. Despite this, he died about a month later, so by removing this film, everything he fought for and came as a result of this, and all his work dies with him.
• 'Creating our future by cancelling our past'
• Censorship is flourishing in the information/digital age. In theory, new technologies make it more difficult, and ultimately impossible, for governments to control the flow of information. Some have argued that the birth of the internet foreshadowed the death of censorship. In 1993, John Gilmore, an internet pioneer, told Time, "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it"