September 25, 2010
It’s Banned Books Week.
It's a good reminder, I think. Even though America is a good country to live in – frankly, I'm just thankful that I'm safe, healthy, and in school – there are still serious flaws. I won't get too political here, but that first amendment is there for a reason.
With that being said… how is it possible that this week exists? How is it possible that this week someone who claims to be in Christ called Speak "softcore pornography" because it has two rape scenes? We should be worried. We should be angry. This country was founded so that people could say what they wanted without being prosecuted for it. And THIS IS STILL GOING ON? Does not compute.
What really makes me mad is that books with good, wonderful messages get roasted by the "moral guardians", and then all the other media gets away with this horrible, horrible stuff that's has no blanking point. I'm talking about the senseless violence and sensuality we see on TV and in movies, and hear about in music. At least in books there's a point. There's a deeper meaning. If there wasn't, the scene wouldn't exist.
I can hear you now. "Uh, Qzie? They don't exactly get away with the stuff. The moral guardians do get upset with them." Then where's Banned Music Week? Where's Banned TV Week? Banned Movie Week?
Yeah. Exactly. OK, I need to calm down before I make someone angry at me.
Some writers have made it their goal to be on this list someday. If they make it, I can only hope it's for showing the public the truth.
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I'm not familiar with this book Speak that you, um, speak of (I'm sorry, don't hit me for that lol), but I live in an area of the country where the Harry Potter books were banned in some libraries because they "were influencing kids to practice the occult" because Harry and his friends cast spells using Latin-sounding words and wands.
ReplyDelete?
Movies and music have had their problems. I'm 45 and I lived through the PMRC (Parent's Musical Resource Group), which claimed they wanted to "rate" music (just like movies are rated), but it always struck me as curious that a group headed by Tipper Gore, from Tennessee, wanted to rate rock music with its sexual references, but not a word was spoken about country music, with its drinking and cheating and talk of going to prison. Was there an agenda there? You tell me. She got the idea after listening to "Darling Nikki" by Prince. Look them up on Wikipedia (yes, I know it's not totally reliable, but that article is referenced and tells things as I remember them happening). No one talks about the PMRC today, but look at all the Parental Warning stickers on CDs now. That's the result of the PMRC in the 80s.
As for movies, witness what happened with movies like "The Last Temptation of Christ." Catholics especially protested this movie, and yet when asked, none of them had actually watched it. I don't know if you have, but it's a very deep story that uses Biblical characters for familiarity. End of story. Are there controversial things in it? Yes. But there is also a deep spiritual lesson for those willing to see it.
Having said all that, your larger point is well-made: why aren't there banned weeks for the other media? I have no proof of this, but I think it may be that books last longer than the other media do. Movies, songs and TV shows seem to fade away pretty quickly, whereas books, especially the good ones, stick around. Or maybe that's just a biased view from a writer.
And there's my two cents' worth.
Gil
I think the reason there's a banned book week and not other media is because while books can become banned, they still get printed. Movies, music, and the rest that could end up banned, don't get made because it's too risky. Probably because, as my dad mentioned there, they don't stick around as much.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when Brokeback Mountain came out as a movie, it was banned in a LOT of areas because of what it was about. So it does happen to other media, it just doesn't cause as much of a stink for as long of an amount of time.
And I think Banned Book Week is to make more money off of books, cause, come on, there's an allure in reading something that people say is 'bad' isn't there? That's why drugs are so popular. Tell someone they can't have something and they want it all the more.