Propaganda - Ranges

 

In 1918, artist Harry R. Hopps created the propaganda poster “Mad Brute.” This poster depicts Germany as an enraged gorilla stepping foot on an American shore as Europe lays in ruin in the distance. This was used by the San Francisco Army Recruiting District to help enlist men for the army against the "German militarism" threatening American liberty. American Liberty, in this poster, takes the form of a young women being held by the grasp of the “Mad Brute.” This type of poster was used to instill fear in the American public, typically by depicting Germany as a monster to be scared of.

Michael Jordan dunk contest

 

        After viewing the previous posts on the blog I had run across the famous photo capture of Muhammad Ali knocking out Sonny Liston. When seeing that image it speaks out to the viewer and where you can see that Ali was fighting to prove himself as Sonny Liston was favored to win before the fight. After seeing that image I thought of another sports icon, Michael Jordan. Mostly recognized as the best basketball player in NBA history, the image above is a capture of his freak talents. In the 1988 dunk contest, he had done the impossible by dunking from the free-throw line. Still, to this day people attempt this and always come up short, it just goes to show the freak talent Jordan had and how far apart he is separated from all other NBA talents.

Class Climate

 

Class Survey- Riley Coleman

 

scarface movie 1932 vs 1983

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGvbu2UMHeY

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTyqPsxiUb4

In class this week another student showed the final scene of the original Scarface movie from 1932 and while watching it for the first time I was shocked at how similar it was to the 1983 version I have seen multiple times in my life. I had known that the 1983 version was inspired by the 1932 version but the final scene from both movies is almost identical. Both Tony Montana and Tony Camonte are in a shoot-out from a second-floor where they are surrounded and trapped with their sisters (that both Tonys have feelings for beyond sibling love). Both sisters get shot and it leads to both Montana and Camonte getting crazed and retaliating in a gun firing furry to avenge their sister's death. While watching the scene in class I found it interesting knowing what would happen before it would occur in a movie I hadn't seen before.

The Hunger Games 2012 DVD Movie Censorship (Thallisa Joseph)

    

 

    Lionsgate bought The Hunger Games film, which was released on March 23, 2012. The British part of Lionsgate wanted the BBFC 12A rating, but to get the rating the movie was censored. Around that time, in Britain, they announced that they were censoring The Hunger Games for the safety of children so that it does not affect them. The 12A rating was suitable for children ages twelve and up. For children younger than twelve, 12A rated films had to be banned. The Hunger Games was censored because many scenes were hard for children to see, such as the bloody and violent fight scenes. The film producers wanted to make the fight scenes intense and similar to the book, making it more interesting, but since the movie was made for a younger audience, they had to soften up some scenes to be considered a 12A rating. The British Board of Film Classification still censored the revised version of the film because the edited parts did not do much to be a 12A rating. Later, after many edits, The Hunger Games film was fully released in the UK with a 12A rating. 

censorship blog

 

    Alex Hancock

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/china-bans-crypto-marvel-film-shang-chi-effeminate-men-what-ncna1279772

While we were presenting our censorship projects, I remembered someone sharing this movie. It really caught my attention and interested me because this movie just came out in September of this year (2021). It looked really good and action packed. I watched the movie trailer and I thought it was really cool and I honestly would like to watch it. As I was watching it I was thinking to myself, "why is it censored?" Turns out, this film is censored in China because, "Xi and his party want to keep China free of foreign and individualistic influences, with these crackdowns furthering his goal of greater control over all aspects of Chinese economy, culture and education." (nbcnews.com). I am still super surprised how the controlling the country of China still is. It seems as if China is still behind the times due to how they run their government and the power they have over their citizens. Even nbcnews.com stated, "They’re a sign of how increasingly difficult and elusive such government control is in a globalized economy and social media age." I just thought the censorship of this film was really interesting since it is so recent and the Chinese culture sparks my interest.

British Censorship

 British Censorship in Advertising 

by Kaleigh Hoole-Harman

Brief History of British Advertising and Censorship

   The Advertising Association (AA) is a trade association that represents agencies, media and research services, and advertisers in the UK and was established in 1924. Its role/aim is to promote the rights and responsibilities of advertising and its impact on society.  

    After discussions with other industry professionals in 1961, the AA found it important that consumers in non-broadcast media welcomed and trusted advertisements. This led to the formation of the Committee of Advertising Practice, also known as CAP. CAP produced the first version of the British Code of Advertising Practice.  

    Then in 1962 CAP established the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA functions as an independent advertising regulator under the code, as mentioned above. Its purpose was to supervise the work of the self-regulatory system in the interest of the public.  

    In 1988, the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations came out. This allowed the ASA to be backed legally by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). For the first time, because of these regulations, the ASA was able to refer advertisers who refused to co-operate with the self-regulatory system to the OFT where legal action could ensue.  

    Today the ASA still functions in the same manner. 

Example of Modern Day Censorship 

    In 2012 Toyota UK released a commercial, known as "The Real Deal," for their Toyota GT86. This commercial became banned in the UK due to it being seen as an encouragement for dangerous driving. 

 Toyota had told the ASA that it did not, in fact, condone unsafe or irresponsible driving.  As well as how its commercial is impossible to reproduce under real-world conditions. The commercial depicts a dystopian video game of sorts with a clearly digitally produced man. 

    Despite the ban from television, the commercial was still available online on Toyota UK’s YouTube page, but as of today it is no longer there but can clearly still be found on the internet.

 

Censorship project - Danielle Barberio

 Danielle Barberio 

Professor Hammond 

Visual literacy 

25 November 2021

The Tiny Toons episode called “One Beer” aired in 1991, only once. It was quickly banned in 1995 when many parents complained about underage drinking being in a kid's TV show. The legal drinking age was 21 during this time and people believed a kid's show should not be showcasing underage drinking, even if it was meant to show how to drink responsibly and not drink and drive. Parents were able to get this banned after the episode became quite controversial. In this episode, Buster asks Plucky and Hamton what they'd like to drink. They notice a bottle of beer in the fridge, and Buster thinks they should drink it. Hamton says it's not like Buster to do that, but Buster tells them that today they're going to show the viewers the evils of alcohol. They go to the park and Buster opens the beer bottle and dares Plucky and Hamton to drink it. Quickly after they begin drinking they become very drunk and are burping non-stop and scaring girls away with their breath and actions. Still drunk, Buster, Plucky, and Hamton go to a donut shop and Plucky notices a police car with the keys still in the ignition. They decide to steal the car and go for a joyride. They take the police car and go to the top of Death Mountain, where there is a “Danger road out ahead" sign. They crash through the sign and drive off Death Mountain, where the car dives straight to the bottom, and lands in a graveyard, where they die and their souls go to heaven. As the cartoon ends, Buster, Plucky, and Hamton take off their angel costumes and hope that kids get the message that drinking is uncool. The only public response that was made was Fox Kids banning this episode due to Buster peer pressuring Plucky and Hamton into drinking and then convincing them to drive drunk. This results in falling off of a cliff, which leads to their “death”. The ban was successfully carried out and the episode never aired again on television and to this day will never air. The ban is still in effect, however, viewers can watch this episode on streaming platforms such as Youtube. I personally agree and disagree with this ban. I feel as though a kids’ show should not be showcasing underage drinking, however, I also believe that it is smart to show kids the bad effects of alcohol at a young age so they will not drink until they are older. This episode might have been a little too intense for kids at the time and when they fall off of the cliff this could have been terrifying for younger viewers. I think it was smart for parents to get the episode banned, but I also like how you can still watch the episode on Youtube if you please. 

Class Climate Survey Participation - Gia Alonso

 

Thoughts on Censorship

     For about the past month, we have been discussing censorship in various media such as movies, television shows, and even gaming. While every individual has their own opinion on what is excessive or acceptable, it's interesting to think that organizations such as the MPAA have such a strong influence on the general American population - for better or for worse. This realization has me thinking about what life related to visual media would be like if these censors didn't exist. 

    First, I think that families with younger children would be in opposition because I do feel that the MPAA's ability to distinguish a "PG" movie from a "PG-13" movie makes a difference when parents decide what is appropriate and what isn't. Without this guidance, I assume that children would be exposed to violence, sex, language, etc., at a younger age than wanted. Furthermore, given my personal experience,  and the current state of social media, I have already observed how my thirteen year old brother is experiencing a higher level of explicitness than I had at that age. As a result, this begs the question: Is the exposing of explicit content to younger generations inevitable? Would it really matter if things weren't censored? 

    Second, the non-existence of censorship can be observed through the eyes of adults. More often than not, when watching a movie trailer, people are able to decide if that movie seems intriguing or not. If they don't like what they see, they will most likely avoid it when it's released. Without movie ratings or censorship, couldn't people avoid explicit movies based on their reaction to the trailer? How effective or truly appreciated is the censorship system by filmmakers? I would assume that some people would love for the MPAA to lose its influence. 

    Finally, I can see how some people appreciate the censorship system as well as how others despise it. I appreciate the class's in-depth study on this topic because it's something I never really considered until dissecting it. Censorship is a topic that I will continue to think about as I continue my path down media studies. 

Tristan Hilson