My paper was on the painting by Loyd Marcus called 3 A.M. This painting was banned because it was considered too religious because of the images portrayed. The paintings too religious content consisted of a “I love Jesus” hat and a billboard saying “Holy refuge church” and holy bible. These two paintings were supposed to be displayed in the lobby of Deltona City Hall during black history month.
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Smith
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adriana
In Somalia, the Academy Award winning film Milk was banned by the Somalian Censorship Board. When asked to comment on the banning, the Principal Censor declined to explain. He claimed that he needed authorization from the Chairman of the Censorship Board. However, it was assumed that Milk’s strong themes of homosexuality and support for gay rights caused the film to be banned because homosexuality is outlawed in Somalia. Many Somalians were outraged by this and felt that they deserved an explanation with regard to the banning. I do not feel that the film should have been banned. It is a biographical film that accurately depicts the life of a gay rights activist and politician. Although it does support gay rights, the film is more about life of Harvey Milk.
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gwendolyn
My last paper focused on the banning of the film Dead Man in Australia. The film was banned because of a four-second clip that demonstrated what was considered “lude conduct.” The clip was intended to demonstrate the decline from civilization, however the Australian Film Censorship Board determined that the clip would excite the viewer and influence them to re-enact the activity. The director Jim Jarmusch himself went on record in an interview saying that he never intended for anyone to re-enact the scene in the real world, but rather to discourage any act as the central theme in the film was how the regression from civilization essentially makes you an animal. Eventually film enthusiasts petitioned for the film to play in Australia and the AFCB was forced to release it.
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colinmann
I studied the censorship of the musical play “Hair.” The show contained a scene where the entire cast came on-stage naked. This caused a bit of an uproar in several more conservative cities and countries. The most extreme case happened in Acapulco, Mexico where the entire cast was told that if they did not leave the country following the opening night performance they would be charged with obscenity. This occurred during the 1968 world tour. However, in the Copenhagen show, the cast decided that one scene of nudity was not enough and randomly stripped on-stage at their own discretion, but in that case no one paid any attention to the nudity.
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jmeister
The pieces of worked I found to banned was by an artist named Robert Sherer. Here is a reply I received from him when asking why his art was banned.
What pieces of work were banned in November of 1989 in Ohio? During my first censorship battle the banned pieces were Celsius and Fahrenheit, Unholy Trinity; Jr. Exec. Odalisque, Vamose Ramos and Le Petite Morte.
How did it make you feel to have your work censored? I felt like all gay people whose lives are routinely swept under the carpet so that straight folks can pretend that we do not exist..
What do you feel were the true reasons why you artwork were banned? Because my artworks sexually excite heterosexual males who can’t handle the fact that they secretly desire men. Also, because I am gay and we live in a heterocentric, homophobic society. They only want to see women in those erotic positions!
I know his work should have never been banned and the real reason was due to his homosexuality and how it was portrayed in his artwork.
http://www.robertsherer.com/censored.htm... -
hgorell
For my last paper I wrote about Bethesda Softwork’s video game title “Fallout 3″. The game was released in America to rave reviews, but was refused a release in Australia by the Office of Film and Literature Classification due to it’s depiction of illegal drug use, while the visceral violence and gore saw no protest. “Fallout 3″ controversially depicts the use of illegal drugs leading to positive affects on the player, which barred the OFLC from giving it the standard MA15+ rating, the highest that can be issued in Australia — and thus suspended it’s public release indefinitely. Due to the standards for ratings in Australia, I believe the banning and eventual censorship of the game was just.
For more information, you can read Gamespot’s article on the issue here: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6193496.htm...
And, interestingly, this website has the OFLC’s documents: http://www.australiangamer.com/news/1798...
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lguzinsk
Brokeback mountain was banned by the Bahamian Play and Films Control Board by request of the Bahamian Christian Council. The film was principally banned for homosexuality, nudity, and violence. I thought all of these were interesting premises for two reasons. They are historically accurate to cowboys and also these are all 3 premises that we may use in our country to restrict viewing but never to prohibit screening of the movie.
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emontgo2
A piece I wrote on that I found interesting was the song “Gloomy Day.” The song was linked with numerous suicides which leads directly to our discussion of whether or not art can be dangerous. I understood why this song was banned from the radio because it did appear to be dangerous at the time. Here’s more information: http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/
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Laura
For my paper I wrote about the banning of the movie Saving Private Ryan because I thought it was interesting since it had been banned exactly 5 years ago yesterday. It was banned because of the use of the “f-word” throughout it. This caused a lot of controversy because of the fact that in reality these men fighting in WWII would have used that word. What I found to be really interesting about it though was how strongly people felt that it should be banned even though it was only portraying the people accurately.
In our country there are many special privileges given to soldiers, and much honor is given to what they do and how they protect our country. I personally would have thought that considering the fact that the movie was being played to honor soldiers on Veteran Day it would have been understood that more adult language will be used. Yet, besides looking at the overall picture and accuracy of the event, the FCC banned it over the language. -
colinmann
Hi there, I just found a story online that I thought was interesting and relevant to our class.
I can’t get the link to work, but it’s a story about the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow. Anthony Schrag and David Malone created an exhibit where people can write whatever they want into a Bible that’s on display with a sign underneath that says “If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, write your way back into it.” People have written things about not wanting a Fascist God or have changed some titles to things like “The Gospel according to Luke Skywalker” and several churches are getting upset at the display.
A lot of the comments on the articles I was looking at were saying that this display isn’t art. What do you think?
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NM
Here is a link to your story from the UK Times onLine:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6723980.ece -
Emily Montgomery
What a great find! I think this is definitely art because it is expression. Similar to graffiti.
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lguzinsk
The artwork that was banned in china is not in any way shape or form dangerous. The chinese, however would have banned it for talking about taboo themes in their country: tibet, human rights. I don’t think it is dangerous as much as it is threatening to the chinese government. The words will give citizens ideas and there may be an outcry against communism. Nothing dangerous, just a society trying to protect itself from upheaval
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emontgo2
I don’t know how to put up my own comment so I will do it as a reply. I am not at all surprised that China decided to ban this art, in fact I have a hard time believing they accepted it in the first place. Obviously, by the nature of their government they do not want to promote or expose people to things they question their policies, especially during a time such as the Olympics. And the issue of Tibet is probably one of their most controversial problems. I think their statement that the color was part of the reason is possibly partially true but mostly just another excuse.
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Laura
I agree that this artwork is not necessarily dangerous but it could cause social disobedience towards the government of China. But what is bad about that? If there is going to an uprising sparked by a beautiful painting it means that most people aren’t happy with the way things are and they want change. Art like this is a way for people to see that they are not happy and have the courage to promote change. Banning any work because it might be as “threatening” to the government is banning art for the wrong reason in my opinion. Art is a form of expression, and whether you are a part of a communist society or not, if you want the ability to express it you should be able to show it. Simple as that.
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gwendolyn
I think this site is so cool! I made a blog on accident, but I think I’m going to run with it. its gwendolyn.umwblogs.org
I’m not the most technologically savvy person who ever lived, so bear with me. I did have a thought last class that I wanted some feedback on.
Does art have to be man made?
I feel that our bodies are a form of art, of techne, and the sunrise or sunset. There are some natural processes that produce some of the most beautiful sights and sounds, which are more beautiful than a lot of man-made art. All kinds of aesthetic experiences which expose the ultimate truth… a sort of divine truth present in the natural world. Could God not be an artist?-
Matt Eby
I had the same thought sometime in this class, but I believe that according to Plato art has to be man made. The only thing I would have to question about that is who made Plato the authoritative figure in deciding what is art? I personally would say yes that God is an “artist.” The way I see it, anything and everything is art to different people and I think it may be a little difficult to give a textbook definition to something as abstract (pardon the pun) as art.
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Lauren Guzinski
Gwen! I think that’s a great point to make, but I think there’s a way of actually differentiation between something that has an ART to it. And something that truly is a piece of art. A lot of what we perceive to be art is a painting that copies nature, or a song that imitates a sound in nature. The list goes on and on. For me personally when I look at nature I feel there is a captivating message being relayed, but that message is more of an art in the sense of a honed skill, not art in the sense of a work of art.
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meby 2:11 pm on December 3, 2009 Permalink
I wrote about the diary of Anne Frank. This work was banned by the Wise county public school system because of some apparently “sexually explicit material.” In the book there are some entries about how Anne would feel some sense of erotic feeling when she thought of a naked woman. She also wrote about her menstruation cycle and just things pertaining to a girl growing up. The school system did not feel that the children in their school system should be exposed to things like this, but possibly the thing that made them want to ban this work so much was anne butting heads with her mother.