Friday, May 7, 2021

Censorship in Film

 

Censorship: The Birth of a Nation

What is Censorship?

Censorship is when any part of a film, book, or event in the media is covered up because it is considered to be inappropriate and politically unacceptable. Censorship is extremely common in films where there are scenes that contain violence and sexual activity.

 

Example of Censorship

One example of censorship is from a film called “The Birth of a Nation.” The film came out in 1915 and is one of the most racist films that was ever created. In the film, the South was the focus and it showed how terrible life was back then for African Americans. It was an extremely disturbing film to watch, and many people had complaints. In the film, President Lincoln was assassinated by African Americans. Also, the actors were all white and wore black mask. Black mask is when people paint their faces black to resemble African Americans, which is extremely racist. There were two controversial scenes that people wanted to be censored. One of the scenes was when a white girl committed suicide to escape from an African American who was chasing after her. The other scene was when an African American politician tried to force marriage between the two races. The main group of people who called for these scenes to be censored was the NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). With the ongoing persistence from the NAACP, there were several scenes within the film that were censored and taken out from the film’s release.



Sources
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4966


No comments:

Post a Comment