A Phenomenon of Censorship - Essay Example

A Phenomenon of Censorship In the present time period, our world has seen advancements in many fields. One of the most advanced fields is the entertainment field which developed in an obvious way, in a way that greatly helped humanity. At the same time, this industry’s development has some imperfections which challenged the traditional ‘rules’ of society and opened the door for censorship to appear on the individual media channels. Censorship is a phenomenon which appears in societies in order to protect the human mind and defend the community ideals from the bad effects of challenging media. Censorship has those who support it and some people who are against it with each group having their reasons, and censorship has its advantages and disadvantages which determine whether people will support it or not. The opponents of censorship argue that censorship may affect the quality and meaning of a performance and that is not necessary in an educated society. People who are able to think for themselves will not be poorly affected. However, censorship has been very helpful in the past. It has a lot of benefits that save and protect the ideals of the society. In The Ed Sullivan Show and The (Censored) Sounds of the Sixties, Sullivan claims, “open big. Keep it clean. Always have something for the kids.” According to what Sullivan said, censorship emphasizes the idea of what he wanted for his show which was to make the show not only for adults, but also for all ages. Because of this censorship, the show became understandable and available as a family program. It helped him define the kind of show he offered. It is true that entertainment can have an effect on the human mind, especially on teenagers. For example, imagine the consequences of teenagers watching violent movies that the writers and the producers made for adults. Teenagers are not able to separate reality from fiction and begin to believe that this is expected behavior. From my point of view, watching violent movies will have a definite effect on teenagers, as I saw through my brother Rashid. When Rashid had been watching boxing shows, he started getting in trouble because he was beating the other kids. Because teenagers’ minds are changeable and impressionable, this kind of movie quickly affects their way of thinking and they forget their limits. As a result, many teenagers think what they are watching is allowed and because of what they have seen, they will try to do the same. By rating the movies based on their content, this will definitely help control which age groups watch them and protect the audience’s minds. There is much evidence that shows the benefits of censorship because setting limits can help us organize and control our lives. However, censorship may cause some misbehavior within the audience because it knows it is being censored and blocked. This knowledge will lead some to rebel. For example, some writers and producers want to produce a movie which has some scenes that are not allowed for teenagers. They must decide if they want to keep the teenage audience by cutting the entire scene, using a creative way of showing most of the scene or if they want to keep the scene and restrict the audience. The movie American Pie has a lot of unexpected views which have been censored because of changing social values. To meet the requirements of the censors, the movie will be cut and this not acceptable for the writers and producers. This also begins to start problems with the sponsor companies. Changing censorship rules throughout our lives creates some changes in the way the human mind thinks and the way we accept the reality of our lives. As we can see in the present time period, some writers are still not allowed to practice their talent fully by producing their ideas and stories without censorship. As a result of shifting censorship patterns, they have not always had the chance to gain the advantages and the disadvantages of the movie industry and gain real audience comments. Censorship will not raise the risk of allowing the teenagers watch that kind of movie. Shutting the doors is not a way to avoid the mistakes. Directly addressing issues usually censored might be a good way to reach our goals and that will not happen if the censorship exists. When things are allowed, they usually do not develop into big problems. For example, drugs and smoking would not be so popular with teenagers if they were legal at age twelve. It is a teenager’s way of thinking psychologically to push their limits and rebel against the rules set against them. Considering that the disadvantages of censoring and cutting up a movie might not work or protect the teenagers, another approach should be used. On the other hand, educating teenagers about the disadvantages of the scene could protect and save the teenagers if they understand and realize that it is not expected behavior for them but it is included in the film for a reason.   If censorship worked to keep teenagers from watching movies that contain scenes that are not good for them or their development, there are many advantages to it. The young minds that are easily affected by the bad scenes intended for adults would be protected and writers and producers would be able to express their understanding of things more completely. But the ratings system does not work to keep teenagers from seeing these movies and so the censors cut the scenes out of the movie entirely, which the writers and producers don’t like. Instead, more attention should be given to making sure teenagers understand that this is not accepted or expected behavior. Read More