The 1950s: a time of poodle skirts, the Korean War, Elvis, and…
freedom from censorship?
That’s probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But in 1957,
the Supreme Court ruled that Allen Ginsberg’s poem
did not fall into the category of obscenity because of its “redeeming
social importance.” Makes sense,
right? Censoring “Howl” would be like putting boxers on
Michelangelo’s
>David.
But today, in 2007, the FCC’s regulations prevent “Howl” from being
broadcast over public radio due to its uses of the words “fucked” and
“bullshit.” You heard me right– we had more freedom to express
ourselves publicly fifty years ago than we do now, mostly thanks to
Janet Jackson’s boob.
Of course, we still have one means of avoiding censorship: HBO. The
new show “Tell Me You Love Me” portrays all aspects of romantic
relationships, including graphic sex. Of course, there’s been a bit
of
>controversy, but overall, whether the reviews are
good or bad, they tend to have the same opinion about the explicit
scenes. The sex is just another part of the show– it enhances the
viewer’s understanding of the relationship between the characters, but
it’s not pornographic, just uncomfortably natural.
So Americans aren’t offended by nudity and realistic sex on
television, but the federal bureaucracy is offended by four-letter
words that the Supreme Court found to be fully justified fifty
years ago? Yet again, the federal government contributes to
American ignorance and, by placing a too-strict line between right and
wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, influences American opinion and
attitudes toward any art not done by Norman Rockwell.
Not everyone can go to Penn and take a class on the Beat poets. Not
everyone can afford HBO. Censoring art hurts everyone involved– the
artist, the appreciative audience that has to seek it out in its
original form, and everyone who as a consequence never gets exposed to
it in the first place. The federal government needs a better way to
take the pulse of the nation or, better, to not censor art,
television, or radio at all. It’s 2007, and I miss the progressive
days of 1957.
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October 6th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
The issue of whether or not something is broadcast on the radio has nothing to do with censorship. The radio constitutes PUBLIC airwaves, meaning that anything sent out over them should be acceptable to the majority of the population. The same goes for network TV–it is public. There is no “censorship” of private media, as you note, such as HBO or XM radio. Over private airwaves, obscenity can and is broadcast on a daily basis. I fully agree that “Howl” is art and should be appreciated, but just because I judge it to be socially and aesthetically important does not mean that I have the right to force it upon those who would rather not be exposed to it. Parents who do not want their children to view/hear to non-age appropriate material have a right to expect that certain content does not appear on public TV or radio.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Gonna have to agree with the first commenter. I love Ginsberg and the poem, but I can sure understand how some mom who’s listening to NPR while she drives her kids home doesn’t want them picking up on the f bomb. It’s public radio after all. Just cause I want it there doesn’t mean it should be.