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| The Seductiveness Of Censorship
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March 14 2008
Here in Canada, the Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper recently snuck a clause about films into a bill that was about other matters entirely. The new legislation will deny financial assistance to any movie that the Government deems to be "offensive" or "not in the public interest" (meaning any film that they don't like). The Conservatives stopped short of massive book burning rallies or sending artists to the gulags. Such measures will have to wait until they have a majority in Parliament.
People who are consumed by ideology or who are members of the power elite cannot help viewing creative artists with suspicion. All those writers and movie people are such heretics and rabble rousers. They cause no end of trouble by causing the masses to think.
Censorship is always insidious and creeping. It begins by legitimately banning material that few people would defend, such as child pornography. From there, the restrictions invariably spread to forbid depiction of any sexual activity or any behavior that is considered to be anti-social. Finally, all political ideas that disagree with government propaganda are suppressed. The censors always know what is best for us and want to save us from ourselves.
I can remember two documentary films that share the distinction of being banned in the United States, even though neither had anything to do with sex. The first was Hearts And Minds, a 1970 film that took the shocking position that America had invaded Viet Nam illegally and had caused millions of civilian deaths as a result. The movie showed graphic scenes of civilian suffering, as well as that of American troops. The fact that it was all true only fanned the outrage of the American Government of the time.
The second movie was If You Love This Planet, made during the 1980s. This film merely repeated ideas held by most of the world's scientists. The arms race would lead to a nuclear war that would be worse than our wildest nightmares and there would be no survivors. The military-industrial comlex in the US was not amused and the movie was banned as "anti-American". The US Govermnment seemed to be taking the position that nuclear war was somehow exclusively an American pursuit, something even its harshest critics had not claimed.
The persecution of artists sometimes has unexpected benefits for others. Hollywood enjoyed a golden age of film noir during the 1940s due to an influx of film directors, such as Fritz Lang, Willy Wilder and Otto Preminger, who were fleeing the Nazis. Hitler wanted to kill some of these people because they were Jews. Others had simply made movies that Der Fuhrer found to be "objectionable" and "not in the public interest".
We can draw comfort from the knowledge that writers and film makers will be around long after this current Conservative Government has gone.
What are your views on censorship?
George
Visit my website at www.checkmatefiction.com
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Posted by gjcondon on 2008-03-14 14:00:57 | Rating: | Views: 81
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