EVALUATION: Censorship

The censorship debate is still rife, with some arguing that the media industry needs to censor more, because there is always someone who will be harmed by violent acts or obscene imagery seen in the media, and there is substantial evidence to support this effects theory (for example the Bobo Doll experiment). Yet, those anti-censorship suggest that the media industry cannot move at the pace of the most vulnerable in society, and if the harm to children is the issue, censorship should be in the hands of the parent rather than any media board.

Censorship is not a new issue, and it is applied time and again to risque music videos, which due to internet outlets such as Youtube or TV channels such as MTV can gain wide circulation very quickly. Consequently recent examples include Rihanna's S&M song and music video. Firstly the song title was changed to Come On, as the title itself was seen as too sexually explicit to appear in wide circulation. Similarly the video shows explicit sexual imagery, which given Rihanna's music tends to be most popular with girls in their early teens was considered to racy and lead to mass censorship in the countries that did show the video, and a complete ban in 11 countries.

An older example of a music video censored for its sexual content is Madonna's Erotica video, which due to the outcry at the time of its release has become on of her most famous music videos. Thus, the question arises, is it good to censor with the knowledge that it will only push the uncensored version into the public domain, and increase its popularity anyway? Similarly Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax was banned from the radio, for it's seemingly sexually suggestive lyrics, however at the time the band maintained that the song w as about motivation, but have seen agreed that it was about sex.

With regards to my music video, it does not contain any material that would be considered inappropriate. It does contain a dance routine, however it is not suggestive, and most RnB videos contain sexual dance routines but remain uncensored because they are not damaging to the viewer, and adhere to the 'male gaze' theory, thus gain popularity. Therefore I cannot imagine any distribution channel asking for censorship in my video, so it would be widely available for release.