Category Archives: Transhuman News

Comedians, writers, satirists and a cartoonist gathered Thursday night at Hollywood's Upright Citizens Brigade to discuss censorship and satire in the wake of the killings at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. But while part of the debate mirrored some of what has been said already on the case and included a broad condemnation of the violence there was also an expression of discomfortwith the racialized nature of the cartoons that have appeared in Charlie Hebdo.

As stand-up comedian Azhar Usman the Chicago-born son of Indian Muslims put it at one point: "[Screw] terrorism and [screw] these racist cartoons."

Organized by the progressive site Blue Nation Review, the boisterous hour-long conversation (warning: coarse language is used) included comedians Phil LaMarr, Paul Provenza and Usman; political cartoonist Matt Bors; "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead, and "Family Guy" show runner Rich Appel. They discussed the difficulty of producing satire, the ways in which different ethnicities are depicted in cartoons and whether artists find themselves self-censoring out of fear of reprisal.

But first the panel dealt with what seemed like a simple question: "Are you Charlie?" It quickly became clear that the question has become more complex in the two weeks since the Charlie Hebdo attack.

"It's an unfair question," Usman said. It forces "what should be a nuanced conversation," he explained, into an artificial demand: "'You're either with us or against us; you're either Charlie or you're not Charlie.'" He ended up defining himself as "an agnostic."

Bors was similarly conflicted. "As a political cartoonist who has an interest in not dying, I want to say yes," he said. "But I hate the hashtags... So, no."

LaMarr and Appel had few qualms about the question: "I was Trayvon, I was Michael Brown, I was Yes All Men," said LaMarr. "Why wouldn't I be Charlie?"

Appel, however, did discuss the trickier challenge of working on "Family Guy" within an art form whose very intent is to skirt what is acceptable.

"It's such a complicated question that I can't even pretend to be able to solve," Appel explained. "Comedy often offends.Every day at our show every other day at every show I've worked on for 20 years you skirt those questions. There's not a clear objective flow-chart you put everything through and you come up with your answer. It's kind of subjective in a way."

Winsteadsaid audiences can't expect to come away from satire without feeling some burn. "You don't have the right to not be offended," she stated.

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Comedians and cartoonist gather to discuss satire and censorship

Demonstrators protest against the release of MSG: The Messenger of God. A ban on the film has been overturned, sparking a crisis in Indias censorship organisation. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

Indias film censorship organisation is in crisis after the resignation of its chair, Leela Samson, amid complaints of interference, coercion and corruption, and more than half its board members.

On Monday, the Bollywood director Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed in Samsons place. However, Nihalanis connections with Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and those of the replacements for other members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) who walked out in solidarity with Samson have aroused considerable concern.

The controversy erupted last week after the CBFC refused to allow the release of MSG: The Messenger of God only to be overruled by a higher body tasked with settling disputes, the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT).

MSG stars a real-life spiritual leader, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, playing himself while tackling drug addiction and curing deadly illnesses. Singh is the head of a controversial religious organisation, Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), based in the north Indian state of Haryana.

The board accused MSG of being a feature-length advertorial for Singh and DSS. A member of the revising committee told the digital news outlet Scroll, on condition of anonymity, that the film promotes blind faith and has the potential to create conflict.

Singh has been a contentious figure for years, causing riots in Punjab in 1997 after he appeared in advertisements dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh, one of Sikhisms holiest figures. A number of Sikh organisations, including the Akal Takht, Sikhisms highest temporal body, had sought a ban on MSGs release, originally slated for 16 January. Finding its portrayal of Singh blasphemous, they staged protests against the film.

What rankled Samson and her colleagues was that it took the FCAT only three days to overturn the CBFCs decision. It usually takes a month to get a tribunal to hear a case, former board member Nandini Sardesai told Scroll. How can you constitute a tribunal overnight?

On discovering the FCAT ruling, Samson sent an email to her colleagues claiming the chain of events had made a mockery of them. She hoped they would resign en masse.

Samson has faced external pressure in the past, most recently last month when the CBFC refused a government demand to trim scenes from PK, a Bollywood send-up of organised religion and self-styled gurus. There was total interference on every film, big and small, she told Hindustan Times after resigning. A lot of pressure was put on the film PK to cut scenes.

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India's censorship board in disarray amid claims of political interference