The Effect Censorship has on Art Essay examples

Censorship is a highly controversial topic regarding the arts, controlling the freedom of expression of artists to convey what is deemed acceptable within society. Ai Weiwei falls victim under the power of the regime and the influence of censorship guidelines within China, limiting the display of his art due to the important messages he raises. Andres Serrano has experienced attempted censorship on his provocative image, Piss Christ, and has been attacked for producing offensive art. Censorship aims to conceal certain artworks which clash with the viewpoints of others; however, it should not be enforced as they are confrontational, challenging audiences and act in response to political, social and cultural contexts.

There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read. This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss

Art has been around since the beginning of humankind and it has been and will always be a visual form of human expression, ideas, and morals. Art is subjective and everyone will feel differently towards one specific artwork. But disliking an artwork because it offends you does not mean that you must destroy it. Recently, a white artist, Dana Schutz created an abstract painting of Emmett Till, a 14 year old African American that was killed by a couple of white men because he supposedly whistled at a white lady. Many people have deemed this artwork as a form of cultural appropriation and have demanded the artist to take it down. Despite the controversies of this artwork, art should never ever be censored because it violates the artist’s freedom

Censorship is defined by Caso as the suppression of speech or any other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive politically incorrect as determined by the government or any other control body (3). Censorship may be justified from the conservative view whereby the free speech can be maltreated where it undermines the customary principles and communal solidity as withheld by a particular community.

Censorship on television in the United States has been an issue ever since the television was invented. The public holds a variety of stances on the topic, and no matter what law is ever passed regarding censorship, it will never suit the needs of everyone. Some believe that censorship violates individual rights in the law, and others believe that censorship should be available through members in the family, not the government. On the other hand, some people strive to maintain government regulation of censorship. Television censorship is significant because it holds the future of our country. If channels continue to be censored, our rights will be violated. If not, then the future generations may change

The First Amendment speaks on the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition; so important, they found their place in the US Constitution. Even with these freedoms meaning so much to the majority of America, somehow today we still encounter differences in political and religious views that seem to provoke people to act violently against a piece of art or even physically against the artist that created it such as in the recent case of artist Illma Gore. Often the violent action of destroying a work of art is “more offensive” than the image itself. We should allow artists free reign of subject matter as well as style and work together to prevent art desecration and violence through education of the arts. Censorship is the result of the fear of art. When the fear of art turns into iconoclasm or, rejection of a valued belief system, that fear becomes lack of government funding, desecration, and physical violence.

Understanding this, I want to make it clear that censorship should not be the solution. I believe that artists should be able to make and

Overall governments, organizations, and those in power often times use censorship in order to shelter or hide things from people. For example, when a parent is just doing what is best for their kid and doesn’t just let them do whatever they want. There is always a reason, often times thought to be protection. However it could potentially be more, perhaps manipulation? Whatever may be the reason censorship will remain a vastly used form of restriction that some may just need to learn to

“The Diary of Anne Frank”, “The Catcher and the Rye” and “Gone With The Wind” are examples of some famous books that have been made unavailable to students in public schools. These books, along with many others have culturally shaped America. Future students will now grow up without the knowledge these books have given past generations. This is due to censorship. According to Vocabulary.com “To censor is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable.” In public schools censorship is a big problem. The schools district will take a book out of students education because the books themes does not fit in with their ideals. Other times, a parent will complain because a book is being taught that does not support their religious beliefs. Public Schools should not censor literature based on intolerance for other viewpoints, because it disadvantages students education by not exposing them to world issues.

In her essay, “Censorship: A Personal View” Judy Blume gives readers insight on the impact of censorship based on her personal experiences as a young reader and then later in life as a censored writer. She provides numerous examples of educators who were affected by censorship and chose to take a stand against it (345). Although the piece lacks evidentiary support for these accounts, and draws on sarcasm for emphasis, the original objective remains clear and strong. Blume succeeds in exposing what censorship is capable of, what this means for readers and writers, and how activist groups like the National Coalition Against Censorship [NCAC] can

“While most teenagers (60 percent) spend on average 20 hours per week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend closer to 40 hours per week, and about 7 percent are exposed to more than 50 hours of 'screen-time' per week”(Many Teens Spend). Many parents agree that they would rather not have their children view indecencies on the Internet and television, and the government should control the obscenities on the Internet. Others believe that it is the parent’s responsibility to control and censor what their children are watching on the Internet and television.

Censorship, is when a piece of art is monitored because the content is not appropriate for society or people of all ages. I believe that censorship hurts the artist and their right to freely express themselves.

As an essential part of culture, art is arguably at the core of culture, which naturally leads to the importance of art censorship in America’s Culture Wars. Also, decision for selecting art works which could own fellowship and funding reflected the conflict in politics between different parties and groups. So, the significance of censorship would be questioned and the standard of choosing some outstanding works to receive funds would be attacked in this American Culture war.

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable.

It is believed that, in society, we can be controlled by art and it can be used as a weapon to dictate the way we think and view things. Jazz composer and artistic director Tim Hagans states that people are afraid of artists; they possess the power to encourage open-mindedness, individuality, and celebrate the importance of freedom of thought. “That is why in any repressive movement, it is the artists, regardless of their race, ethnicity or religious affiliation that are neutralised first” he told the World Artist Network. This, in terms of historical evidence, is true. When Italy was under fascist rule (1922-1943), Prime Minister Benito Mussolini ordered nationwide censorship and supervision of all art: radio stations, newspapers, cinema etc were all monitored to ensure that they did not criticise the state and