Pro Censorship material?

D.T.

I'm in English 102, and the class is based around gathering research to build a ten page paper by the end of the semester. Everything is going fine and well: the entire paper is planned out, and I know it will easily pass the minimum page requirement, and will argue my point well.

But I've hit a snag: my paper is an arguement against the censorship of film, and I have to provide at least once source which supports the opposition to my arguement.

I am having a bitch of a time trying to find anything written from a pro-censorship perspective.

If anyone can point me in the right direction to where I could find a piece of material lengthy and substantial enough to cite for two and a half pages, I would be forever in your debt.

Thanatos

Tried the FCC?

D.T.

Yeah, I've tried them. The most I could find were short little blurbs about court hearings and the like.

Aldo

Maybe look into sources from China or ex-communist countries? It doesn't say anywhere that the source has to be peer-reviewed by western scientists, right?

Atlus Parker

What about christian groups? I remember reading about a christian organization that rented out "cleaned" up copies of movies.

Bliss 101

What's your argument against censorship, and what's the scope? Are you talking censorship to support a totalitarian regime, or censorship to protect children? Pro-censorship arguments can vary a lot depending on the angle.

Sentry

Perhaps phrase the argument in a different way?

I mean, you won't find a lot on pro-censorship, but if you found stuff on violence and sex in film and its effect on children, or subversive films... things like that, the pro side writes itself, basically.

Even if censorship is bullshit.

Philodox

Does it have to be about movies? Could you take Jack Thompson's lunacy are try to present it in a coherent manner? I'm sure there are many religious groups that feel that violence and smut in the media are corrupting our youth.

supabeast

Family.org has all kinds of crazy pro-censorship goodies, but you'll have to put up with the site’s terrible interface. You could also find some calls for censorship in the books of right-wing bomb throwers like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, etc. But keep in mind what Sentry said; you have to read between the lines to find this stuff. People in English-speaking nations don't tend to blatantly call for censorship because they'll just be written off as kooks, so they mix it in with “think-of-the-children!” grandstanding.

You'll probably have a lot of luck getting blatant examples by looking into censorship of television and the internet in Muslim nations. Those guys have no problem explaining exactly what they're doing and why they're doing it, just Google for “islam television smut” and so on.

Sharp10r

Perhaps you could apply Plato's Republic? I know he talks about music, but perhaps he addressed the theater as well, can't remember. He's the first cencorship person to come to mind, although his reasoning stems from Platonic Forms. *shrugs*
Being self-regulated, perhaps the MPAA has some interesting articles on standards you could use?

Fawkes

http://www.capalert.com/

All sorts of mad fundie fun about reviewing movies by the Word of Our Lord and why children should never be exposed to anything ever.

GrimmyTOA

Censorship is fairly regularly practiced in India (movies w/ special emphasis on sexuality), Korea (either one), Australia (video games and whatnot), Canada (federally but also by Quebec), all over the Islamic world, and in most militaries during wartime.

You could check the official literature of any of the organizations involved. You ought to be able to dredge up enough information fairly quickly.

D.T.

Sorry folks, I should have been more clear about the purpose of my paper.

I'm arguing that motion pictures are inherently protected by free speech, which is a right that all people are gifted with, and they should never be censored or regulated by governing bodies.

I'm using examples like A Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris to illustrate how filmmakers have used "questionable" material to illustrate important, insightful ideas and messages, but have been hindered because certain groups couldn't see past the explicit material.

I'm using the totalitarian government of South Korea in the 1980s and 90s and how the government controlled the film industry in order to create a false image of utopia for the general public, and the oppression of the natives of Tanzania by British colonists through use of film as scenarios/examples of governmental bodies having complete control over the medium. How film being completely controlled and used to maintain control effects the public of these two nations. The stagnation of the creative pool, followed by unrest and social tensions.

Basically, I could use anything that argues for the censorship of explicit materials, or (probably impossible to find) something that actually argues that it is the right and jurisdiction of a government to completely control the film industry of that nation.

The suggestions so far have been solid. Thanks, everyone.

kaliyama

look for law review articles. my suspicion is that there are some academic feminist theorists who would support forms of censorship - i.e. what spain is doing currently with the fashion industry with censoring images of really anorexic models to avoid #*!^ing people up.

poshniallo

The BBFC (the UK censors for film, video and possibly games) website www.bbfc.co.uk has lots of policy statements and downloads of policy and research.

I do think it is going to be hard to find explicit statements supporting censorship. Censors rarely present themselves as censors (even the professional ones). More... protectors. With that in mind you may find useful material googling 'violence effects' etc. However, the ideology of many censors is that it is self-evident that people need protecting, and few feel any need to explain why.

Having said that, I just did some searching. I recommend finding specific censorship laws (you're American? Then there is the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and many more - whether overturned or not). Some of these bills' main text includes the reasons for the censorship, but if not, searching the names of the members who proposed the bills has some good results. I think you will find specific statements regarding proposed or extant laws to be more fruitful than searching for general statements supporting censorship.