Censorship

Merriam-Webster define censorship as ‘the system or practice of examining writings or movies and taking out things considered offensive or immoral’ [1]. Personally, I view censorship as the editing or forced removal of content publicly available. This includes self censorship, which I define as editing your own actions or words to make them more appropriate for different audience. Censorship is an issue which frequently arises for debate, primarily because it can be viewed as a suppression of free speech. The debate isn’t whether censorship is suppressing free speech, because it undeniably is, but whether it is acceptable to do so.

I personally believe that while free speech is an absolute necessity, it should be used responsibly. Creating things with the sole intention of shocking, disgusting or distressing an audience is unnecessary, and it’s that that makes censorship prevalent. Rape is one such act which is often subject to censorship, and for good reason — as a concept, it is abused and overused to give s film shock factor (such as the brutal rape scene in Straw Dogs, where a woman is shown to enjoy being raped). Depicting graphic rape isn’t necessary. Rape is a repulsive act, and depicting it in lengthy, drawn out scenes is done for one of two reasons:

a) to shock the viewer, and thus make the piece of media more memorable

b) to titillate the viewer, e.g. in rape fantasy pornography (such as ‘Lost in the Hood’, a 2010 pornographic film depicting violent rape and torture, which the BBFC banned from DVD release in the UK [2]).

By taking the concept of free speech and creating content designed to deliberately shock, creators are necessitating censorship. Violent rape, child abuse, animal abuse and other such acts don’t need to be depicted in great detail, unless absolutely necessary to the plot of the piece of media — even then, such acts can usually be depicted far more tastefully and successfully without the need for graphic detail. As writers, directors and creators slowly run out of plots and ideas, they turn to shock factor to appeal to audience — “You won’t believe what happens next!” will attract a lot more consumers than stale content rehashed again and again.

I don’t believe in censorship. I’m the stereotypical liberal teenager — I’m a member of the Labour party, I support absolute free speech and I support people creating what they want to create. My only request is that people use their brains. If you do want to watch a graphic rape or violence scene, it may be worth examining why. It’s certainly not for the plot.

[1] — Anon. (1828–2016). Censorship. Available: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censorship. Last accessed 11th October 2016

[2] — Anon. (2010). BBFC REJECTS SEXUALLY VIOLENT DVD. Available: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-bbfc/media-centre/bbfc-rejects-sexually-violent-dvd. Last accessed 11th October 2016.