Category Archives: Censorship

The censors' scissors were never idle during the Franco dictatorship. The movie industry, with all its provocative and insinuating images, was a great source of headaches for the watchdogs of public morality - especially since going to the movies was the main form of entertainment for society in the wake of the Spanish Civil War.

And so censors were very careful to ensure that any film that was screened in Spain contained no negative influences on issues such as religion, politics, the army, prostitution, divorce or adultery.

Sex became a real obsession for the regime, and it was persecuted with all the weapons at the censors' reach. Poster draftsmen and movie theater impresarios had to really stretch their imaginations to make their billboards reflect the American, English or French realities. This was not always achieved.

A new book, La censura franquista en el cartel de cine (or, Franco's censorship in movie posters), by Bienvenido Llopis, analyzes 40 years' worth of censorship in Spain through films. The conclusion is that cleavages were reduced, legs were covered up, and scenes with beds in them were avoided altogether.

Legs were covered up, and scenes with beds in them were avoided altogether

"Movies were banned and stills were cut out," Llopis notes. "But it was just as important to control movie advertising. Major Hollywood stars who embraced the Republican cause - James Cagney, Joan Crawford or Robert Montgomery - had their names pulled from Spanish movie posters, while titles that might suggest a double meaning were changed."

Llopis spent more than three decades acquiring posters, programs and magazines that reveal the work of the draftsmen and censors of the era.

"It was no easy task because many documents had been lost. There are six of them that I was unable to obtain, but they are included in the book courtesy of their owners," adds the writer and researcher.

The book includes movie posters, magazine covers, comic strips, novels, news stories, photographs, postcards and collectible picture card albums showing the work of censors who became nothing short of fashion designers in their efforts to please the regime. Esther Williams, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida were seen in Spain wearing dresses that had little in common with their original designs.

The idea for the book came to Llopis one Sunday morning at the Madrid flea market, the Rastro. There he was, sitting at his stand, selling movie memorabilia, when a man showed up saying he had a program for the movie Camino de Santa Fe, which had obtained the censors' approval everywhere in Spain save for the city of Burgos. The archbishop there insisted that Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland's kiss be hidden with a seal.

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Forty years of censorship

Phil Robertson UNSUSPENDED! - The Censorship Issue
Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty has been unsuspended just shy of two weeks after being suspended for homophobic and racist remarks in an interview he gave to ...

By: The Amazing Atheist

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Phil Robertson UNSUSPENDED! - The Censorship Issue - Video

Saints Row IV Playthrough Part 26 - Censorship
Saints Row IV is an action-adventure open world video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by Deep Silver. It is the fourth installment in the Sain...

By: TheRealInfamousGamer

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Saints Row IV Playthrough Part 26 - Censorship - Video

Censorship, Discrimination, and Stimulant-Dependence among Mathematicians.
This is not an opinion. If you need proof, I can give it to you.

By: nafindix

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Censorship, Discrimination, and Stimulant-Dependence among Mathematicians. - Video

The national commander of the American Legion is demanding answers from the Veterans Administration after hospitals in three states placed restrictions on Christian volunteers, including a group of schoolchildren who were told they could only perform Christmas carols from a government-approved list.

"Every Christmas, every religious holiday, Christians are more and more often targeted for censorship and restriction at VA facilities," American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger said. "Veterans in these hospitals fought to protect such freedoms."

In Iowa City, American Legion members were told they could not hand out presents to veterans if the wrapping paper said Merry Christmas.

In Augusta, Ga., the VA told a group of students from a Christian school that they could not sing religious-themed Christmas carols. Instead, the students were presented with a list of government-approved, secular songs.

And in Dallas, the VA hospital refused to allow children to distribute Christmas cards to patients because the cards included phrases like "Merry Christmas" and "God Bless You."

The American Legion has asked the VA Central Office for an explanation of why it appears Christians are being singled out for restrictions.

"First of all, VA's decision to prohibit the delivery of Christmas cards that mention Christmas is ludicrous, Dellinger said. "Second of all, VA has been down this road before, and recently. VA has been warned through a federal court decree to stop denying freedom of religious expression at its facilities. Its pretty obvious the Dallas VA did not get that memo."

On Monday morning boys and girls from Grace Academy in Prosper, Tex., were planning on hand delivering the cards to the wounded veterans. Math teacher Susan Chapman called the hospital to make final arrangements and thats when she learned there was a problem.

"I told him my students made cards, we'd like to bring them down for the veterans," Chapman told MyFoxDFW.com. "And he said, 'That's great. We're thrilled to have them, except the only thing is, we can't accept anything that says Merry Christmas' or God bless you' or any scriptural references because of all the red tape.'"

A VA official quoted the policy which is in the Veterans Health Administration handbook:

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TODD STARNES: American Legion outraged over VA Christmas censorship

GLAAD spokesman calls for censorship of anti-gay defamers
"Our program staff monitors the media to make sure that anti-gay defamation is corrected and doesn #39;t occur anymore so that those stereotypes that you see about gay people in the media or when...

By: Charles Johnson

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GLAAD spokesman calls for censorship of anti-gay defamers - Video

A protest against censorship that attracted global attention. A song cycle staged in a park district swimming pool. A Rahm Emanuel snit that became fodder for TV's Jon Stewart. Those were just some of the indelible moments in the arts in 2013, which Tribune critics and reporters observed and chronicled. Among the highlights and lowlights:

Protesters of 'Persepolis'-gate

March 15, Lane Tech College Prep High School, Chicago

Massive school closings, epic teacher layoffs. Chicago Public Schools officials had plenty to answer for in 2013. So much that their decision in the spring to yank Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel/memoir "Persepolis" out of schools and libraries because of a complaint (about a single image of torture) became something of a cultural blip. But what a blip: The banning led students at Lane Tech to rally against censorship in the rain outside their school. Which led to the news spreading internationally, the irony of the banned selection particularly poignant. (The 13-year-old book tells the story of Satrapi's childhood in culturally repressive Iran.) Which gave 451 Degrees, an obscure student book club at Lane Tech that reads only banned books, a popularity it couldn't have achieved on its own. Six months later long after the outcry led to CPS telling its principals to reinstate "Persepolis" 451 Degrees, founded by 16-year-old senior Levi Todd, was given the Illinois Library Association's prestigious Intellectual Freedom Award. Christopher Borrelli

Taken aback by savage beasts

March 16, South by Southwest Music Conference, Austin, Texas

The sign of a great band: One that makes you take two steps back when it hits the first chord. It's like a force field pushing out from the stage, at once thrilling and threatening. That's what it felt like to see and hear the British quartet Savages for the first time. The fury kept escalating until singer Jehnny Beth, bassist Ayse Hassan, drummer Fay Milton and guitarist Gemma Thompson ripped into the venomous "Husbands" and stalked off. Greg Kot

The glow of movies, music and beauty

May 21, Cannes Film Festival, France

At the close of "The Great Beauty," a modern-day "La Dolce Vita" from Italian fabulist Paolo Sorrentino, the end credits roll as a single, sustained shot of Rome's Tiber River is shown from the perspective of an unseen boat, gliding along as the sun casts a pearly glow. At the film's Cannes Film Festival premiere back in May, hundreds of people stayed through to the end, to bathe in Sorrentino's farewell shot and to listen to every last note of music accompanying the images. The music: Vladimir Martynov's "The Beatitudes," recorded by the Kronos Quartet. Sitting with that Cannes crowd, full of Chicagoans, I was reminded of the easily forgotten truth: Movies are communal, democratic, made for and by humans. My wife and I ended up using that music in our wedding. ("The Great Beauty," one of the 2013's best, opens Jan. 3 at the Music Box Theatre.) Michael Phillips

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These magic moments - fondly looking back to 2013

Full Video: Live censorship on Sri Lankan state TV station amid criticism of new broadcasting law
Reporters Without Borders condemns the government pressure that led to the debate programme "Ira Anduru Pata" being cut short as it was being broadcast live ...

By: CMBTelegraph

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Full Video: Live censorship on Sri Lankan state TV station amid criticism of new broadcasting law - Video

Each December, misguided government officials and fearful corporate executives eliminate...

Each December, misguided government officials and fearful corporate executives eliminate references to Christmas.

Inevitably, people object because the censorship seems so extreme and unnecessary. Amazingly, some deny that this Christmas censorship even exists.

But it does. ESPN recently relented from its initial refusal to broadcast the ad of a St. Louis-area Catholic hospital because it mentioned "the birth of Jesus" and "God's healing message."

As a constitutional attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, I have personally dealt with situations involving public school officials removing lyrics from Christmas carols or refusing to display student artwork because it contained the Nativity scene.

So when I hear someone deny that Christmas censorship happens, I feel like Neil Armstrong hearing someone claim the moon landings were faked. I was there.

It would be more honest (though wrong) if the deniers responded by claiming that the Establishment Clause requires such censorship, or that cultural sensitivity requires companies to ban "merry Christmas" and to order their employees to say only "happy holidays."

Instead, the deniers argue that Christmas censorship does not exist. Maybe they are confused by the vast array of Christmas decorations and music surrounding us each December.

A store festooned in red ribbons and playing "Jingle Bells" frequently eliminates the religious aspects of Christmas while leaving alone the holiday's less offensive secular aspects.

But people object to this suppression of the core meaning of Christmas that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ as the Savior from our sins.

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Christmas censors aren't taking the holiday off

Esquimalt Mascot Censorship
Esquimalt City Hall contact info; to send a message to Mayor and Council go here; http://www.esquimalt.ca/contactForms/Mayorandcouncil.aspx Please stand up f...

By: canuckfanjosh

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Esquimalt Mascot Censorship - Video