Censorship in America

Censorship in America has influenced how popular culture has developed within the last century.  Such influence can be seen through our ratings system which is essentially some form of censorship especially when it comes to the content the MPAA is repeatedly refusing to broadcast.  The MPAA being the Motion Picture Association of America which consists of a handful of super exclusive board members, whose identities are kept a secret, who ultimately get to decide what is "appropriate" for the American people.  Before I go into how censoring is problematic, let me explain exactly how censoring works as a whole within the motion picture industry: censoring is basically the media neglecting to broadcast to the American public everyday issues and injustices people within the United States experience.  In order to do such a thing, the MPAA runs their ratings by censoring topics such as gender inequality, the life of a soldier, same-sex intercourse, etc. 

A director being interviewed within the film, "This Film is Not Yet Rated," made an interesting point about a film he made about the life of an American soldier stating that if they are willing to censor a film he made about the life of an American soldier stating that if they are willing to censor a film that depicts the daily lives of real American soldiers that is not even scripted; why does the U.S. send them to war in the first place if they are not willing to show the public what really goes on out there and what those soldiers have to endure every single day out there.

Our society/culture still cannot makeup its mind up about what it wants and whom it wants to represent.  Films are meant to represent American culture which includes every diverse aspect of it whether it is a gay people, an interracial couple, war, mother nature, etc.  If we continue to portray minority groups in a stereotypical manner then the public will become accustomed to those stereotypes and it will continue to be a norm; same goes with not portraying the LGBTQ community - if we continue to censor what the media considers "abnormal" sexual intercourse then it will never be accepted and continue to be viewed as abnormal.  The fact that all of this can occur simply because of the power the MPAA holds over American films is absolutely horrendous.  The MPAA should not hold this much power and their identities should not be kept a secret from the American public.  It is time to change our censorship rituals and begin portraying America as it truly is without the need of extreme censorship.

References: "This Film is Not Yet Rated" film


By: Leslie Macias