CENSORSHIP IN ART

The word art describes creations of human beings with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind or spirit through books, movies and music. Throughout the history there has been much controversy over art. Some people like groups or government officials have felt the need to suppress ideas that they find to be moral and politically harmful for the society. Some controversies have come up with musicians and genres such as Paul McCartney, Madonna and Reggaeton.

The topic of censorship in music is not something new. Authorities in Israel banned the Beatles 43 years ago; they thought that their music could corrupt the morality of Israeli youth. For this reason, the Israeli government sent a letter of reconciliation to McCartney, this letter represented a new opportunity to him. As a result of this, the ex-Beatle Paul McCartney performed a concert in Tel Aviv the last year. However, a Muslim cleric declared McCartney to be “the enemy of every Muslim”, and as a consequence, he was threatening of dead through religious militants from Palestine and Islamic extremist groups. But those threaten didn’t matter to him. Thus, I think that music is able to join people with different ideologies instead of divided them and also, music can change thoughts in a positive way. Despite the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the role that religion represents in each of these countries, it should not be grounds for threats against an artist who wants to bring peace.

Like, The Beatles were censor because their music could corrupt the Israeli youth, Madonna was banned by imitate Christ’s actions in a concert. In November 22, 2006 governments and churches from several countries like German, England and Italy denounced the crucifixion scene as distasteful. Religious leaders maintain that these actions are insolent and offensive because she used religious imagery. As a matter of fact, she contended that she used it to speak of poverty, famine, disease and discrimination that there is in the whole world. In fact, I do not agree with the form of censorship, because I believe it is a parody of crucifixion is not a mockery or insult, but the opposite. It is an exaltation of the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, and why not, a way of reminding us that God still beside us.

There are controversy with musical artists, there are also with musical genres. One example of them is the Reggaeton, which was banned on the radio in Dominican Republic and Cuba in January 2006. The governments of these countries often criticized Reggaeton because of controversial lyrics, moreover, its aggressive, offensive and sexual speech offensive towards women. However in 1990, the Reggaeton lyrics were “clean up” by new artists to ensure that their music would be played on the radio. Eventually, the forbid was lifted and it became available to the public through music stores. I do not agree with the governments’ decision, because Reggaeton is a new genre that is characterized by its slang. It is an artistic expression anyway and each person is free to decide whether to listen to it or not.

Censorship is a manner of restricting the freedom of expression. The music is an art; therefore it expresses emotions, thoughts, and belief of people. Musicians and genres such as Paul McCartney, Madonna and Reggaeton have caused conflict to other people because their ideas are not consistent with the opinions or manifestation of particular groups. In spite of that there are songs that have inappropriate content, there are others that just express traditions which I think is a free right of free expression and therefore should not be censored.