Free Speech Matters 2010 Benefit

The NCAC Free Speech Matters Benefit was a great success. Over 200 people came to the City Winery in downtown Manhattan to celebrate free speech and honor YA writer Lauren Myracle, school librarian Dee Ann Venuto, and YFEP 2009 Film Contest Winner Jordan Allen.

All three work hard to promote free expression. Lauren Myracle is a NYTimes bestselling author of the Internet Girls trilogy—ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r. She was the most censored author in 2009.

Dee Ann Venuto countered Glenn Beck’s 9/12 group challenge of LGBTQ books in her library in Rancocoas Valley High School, Mt. Holly, NJ.

Jordan Allen’s film Freedom Thieves won First Prize in NCAC’s Youth Free Expression Project Film Contest in 2009.

NCAC honorees Dee Ann Venuto, YA writer Lauren Myracle, and YFEN film contest winner Jordan Allen

School librarians like Dee Ann Venuto understand the importance of fighting censorship, “Censorship has implications, especially when a country-wide challenge to LGBTQ books is organized by Glenn Beck’s local 9/12 group and motivated by political, homophobic reaction to public education and Obama’s administration… People recognize removing books meant to guide adolescents undermines their intelligence and society’s diverse values.”

The evening started with actor David Staller, director and founder of the Gingold Theatrical Group as master of ceremonies.

Master of Ceremonies David Staller

Executive Director Joan Bertin introduced Lauren Myracle saying, “…Lauren is in very good company with the likes of Toni Morrison, Sherman Alexie, Pat Conroy, plus a raft of wonderful and much censored authors… We need you Lauren – and Judy [Blume] and Robie [Harris]… and all the other brave souls who will stand up to the sanctimonious people who think they know what’s best for everybody’s else’s kids.”

Joan Bertin honoring Lauren Myracle at the NCAC benefit

For more photos of the benefit, see our gallery on Flickr:

 

Art school pulls student pieces from exhibition

A photograph of a male nude by Savannah College of Art & Design student Nicole Craine was among the several artworks taken down before an Open Studio Exhibition at the school in October. Reportedly, the students were given no explanation as to why their work was taken down. College administrators later admitted that the content would be “unacceptable” for a “family event.”

During the exhibition, a group of students and community members wore and passed out flyers with a photo of the censored piece, one of eight SCAD values, and the link to the censoredbyscad.blogspot.com site. The flyers were, apparently, confiscated at some point in the event by SCAD employees and some students were asked to either discard them or leave the premises.

On censoredbyscad.blogspot.com, anonymous writers described a group of security officers who they call “The Pretty Police,” who are known for acting as SCAD’s “censorship arm” and patrolling exhibits for artwork they do not like even though it has already been formally selected to be part of the exhibit. Atlanta blogger Scott Henry reports that this is not the first time he has heard of censorship of student artwork at SCAD, but it is the first time students have been willing to go public about it.

The administration of SCAD has created an atmosphere of censorship and self-censorship that should not exist at, above all places, a school of art. Though SCAD is a private institution that is not legally bound by the First Amendment, prohibiting students from showing their artwork interferes with the educational process and with general principles of academic freedom. What is appropriate or inappropriate for a “family event” is highly subjective (while the male nude was taken down, there were several female nudes and drug-related subject matter that stayed) and the best way to handle the possibility that children may attend is to inform their parents that some of the work may be unsuitable for young children.

Showing their work to an audience is, for art students, an important part of the educational process. Students that create art above the level of understanding and enjoyment of a 5th grader should not be condemned to an inferior educational experience. We hope that, in the future, SCAD demonstrated more respect for the creative freedom of it students.

Plano School District Decides Not To Ban Art Textbook

Last week, the Plano Independent School District in Texas decided to pull a humanities textbook that is used by freshmen and sophomores in the district’s gifted and talented program. The book in question, Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities: Alternative Volume, is a survey of various pieces of artwork throughout history.  Apparently, a couple was concerned that their daughter was exposed to some unsavory pieces of art that exposed full-frontal male genitalia.

You may ask yourself what historical artworks could have caused this couple to express their concern with the school district.  In case you aren’t sitting down already, make sure you do so.  49 offending photographs from the book were brought to the board.  Among them were Michelangelo’s David, The Kiss by Auguste Rodin, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, and works by Goya, Manet, and other well-respected historical masters.  These works represent the best of human creativity, expression, and civilization.  However, the Plano school didn’t bother to consider that when they started pulling the books from some of the classrooms.

This sad action, though, did come to a happy denouement.  The banning of the book sparked a mass action from the students and parents of the Plano school district.  They called and emailed the board of their displeasure with their actions, accusing them of censorship.  A former Plano student even created a Facebook campaign against the board’s decision.  It attracted more than 500 followers.  Finally, on Monday, the district announced that they were scrapping plans to get rid of the book.  An associate superintendent claimed they misinterpreted district policy and made a mistake as to how the book was “classified.”

Whether or not book classification was the true reason for this misunderstanding, the important thing is that Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities: Alternative Volume is back in the classroom so students can learn and appreciate classic art.  It is truly a breath of fresh air to see a community rise up against such senseless censorship that is due to just one set of parents.  I wish more towns would act this way when their local school board decides to ban some piece literature or other artwork.  As Plano student Abby Krach said, “It would be ridiculous for us to learn about Greek art without ever looking at some of its most famous and significant statues.  It’s just as ridiculous as removing everybody’s book because of one parent complaint.”

Announcing the 2010 YFEP film contest semifinalists!

This year we received more than 70 film contest submissions from youth all over the country in response to this year’s theme: “I’m All For Free Speech, BUT…” After viewing all the entries, we chose the top ten films — some personal, some provocative, some profound, some just plain fun! We congratulate the semifinalists and all our applicants for their hard work and excellent ideas! This year’s semifinalists are:

Blanca Barrera & April Dash
Lizzie Boone, Kya Gibson, & Christian Serra
Aaron Dunbar
Evangeline Fachon & Lindsay Tomasetti
Aidee Guzman
Moriah Love, Lauren Wirth, Jacob Waddle & Lauren Brunn
Sarah Phan & Lyndi Low
Tate Phillip
Zach Redpath & Daniel Nan
Allison Reed

Watch their films here!

The top three winners will be flown to New York City for the Youth Voices Uncensored event in the spring!  They will also be awarded cash prizes of $1000, $500, $250, and the first place winner will receive a $5000 partial scholarship to the New York Film Academy or a one week digital filmmaking workshop.

Films are judged on content, artistic and technical merit, and creativity. Our renowned panel of judges include:

Jordan Allen, 2009 YFEP Film Contest 1st Place Winner
Tom Shadyac, filmmaker/screenwriter (including Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, and Evan Almighty)
Cecily von Ziegesar, author of young adult books Gossip Girl
Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, a non-profit NY based film organization which supports women filmmakers
New York Film Academy

Stay tuned for more information about our Youth Voices Uncensored event in the spring, where we will award our winners and announce next year’s contest!

Visit YFEP’s website to learn more about our film contest.

Censorship News: The Video Game Issue

NCAC devotes the latest issue of Censorship News to video games and the latest in a series of efforts to “protect” minors by restricting their freedom of speech.

We discuss the video game case heard in the Supreme Court on November 2,  Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association. The Court will decide whether the state can impose criminal penalties for selling or renting violent video games to minors. It may seem inconsequential to non-gamers, but it poses a critically important issue even for people who will never play a video game: whether representations of violence will continue to be protected by the First Amendment.

Here’s an excerpt from “The Video Game Issue: The Case“:

Legally, the dispute comes down to two narrow questions: can the government restrict the sale of otherwise legal expression to minors and, if so, under what circumstances? California argues that violent video games should be treated like obscenity – by definition explicit sexual content that lacks social value – which is not protected by the First Amendment for either adults or minors. Whatever one’s views on the relative merits of sexual and violent content, obscenity is a historical and narrowly drawn exception to the general rule that speech is protected. Creating a new exception for a completely different type of content will open a Pandora’s Box.

We also give a brief rundown of “The Other Cases,” lower federal court opinions that unanimously hold that laws restricting minors’ access to violent content are unconstitutional, followed Praise for Violent Video Games, comments from those who take issue with the criticism heaped on violent video games.

In “The Ratings Game,” executive Director Joan Bertin warns about the many problems with ratings. She argues that “ratings … invite censorship,” citing the California video game case as an example. She says, “Once something is rated as adult fare, as most violent video games are, many legislators develop an apparently irresistible urge to criminalize its sale to minors.” Read Alexander Nehamas’ observation that the debate over video games “actually predates the pixel by more than two millennia. In fact, an earlier version of the dispute may be found in The Republic, in which Plato shockingly excludes Homer and the great tragic dramatists from the ideal society he describes in that work.”

Finally, check out “Revisiting the Culture Wars and Looking Ahead,” a series of conversations about arts and culture today, and read our roundup of some of the top censorship stories in The Long and the Short of It.

You can also download a pdf of this newsletter.

Want More? Browse the Censorship News archives.



Florida high school cancels production of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

A Florida high school production of a play based on Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer prize-winning novel about racial conflict, To Kill a Mockingbird, has been cancelled. At the center of the controversy that prompted the cancellation was the historically necessary use of the word “nigger”.

The reason “nigger” is a word that carries such painful weight, of course, is due to a history of racism, to which books like To Kill a Mockingbird testify. That history is evoked every time the word is used, even today. But history will not be erased even if we delete the word from every play, novel or historical document about racism.

A play like To Kill a Mockingbird will help a younger generation understand the brutalities of racism and the hatred that accumulates in words. Indeed, we cringe at the use of the “n-word” today – as well we should – precisely because we are aware of its history and of the degradation and tragedy racism has caused. “Protecting” children from history will only keep them ignorant.

We have come a long way since the events described in To Kill a Mockingbird thanks to an open and often heated debate on civil rights issues, a debate made possible by our national commitment to the free circulation of ideas. It’s a lesson that we forget at our peril.

The latest from Flagler, FL regarding the production of To Kill a Mockingbird: On Monday, a review committee of teachers and parents determined that the play is appropriate for a high school audience.  On Tuesday night, the School Board voted unanimously to allow Mockingbird to be performed.  So far, so good!

However, before we pop the corks and eagerly await opening night, there is one more hurdle that must be overcome.  Though the Board approved the play, it is ultimately the principal’s decision whether it will be performed by students at his high school.  This is the same principal who made the decision to cancel the play. Will Principal Jacob Oliva be prepared to admit his error and let the play go ahead? Though Oliva has said that he looks „forward to the opportunity when the community can join us to celebrate this literary work,”  he claims that some members of the  review committee did not think that a “proper foundation had been laid to ensure the success of this production.”  We hope that this is not Oliva’s way of postponing the production for some distant future when the controversy has died down and the students have all forgotten their parts.

Violent video games in the Supreme Court

There were quite a few surprising moments at the Supreme Court argument Tuesday about California’s attempt to ban violent video games. There were references to “gratuitous violence” as material that “appeals to a base instinct especially [in] minors.” It made me wonder whether the scene in the Odyssey where Ulysses puts out the Cyclops’ eye with a burning stake would be considered gratuitous violence that appeals to a base instinct. A video game in which the gamer played the part of Ulysses and inflicted the horrifying injury on the Cyclops would almost certainly be restricted to 18 and older under the California law. The more things change, the more they stay the same: Plato thought Homer’s epic poems were a corrupting influence and should be banned.

This is the latest in a long line of attempts to demonize popular entertainment, especially if it has particular appeal to young people. There was hysteria over dime novels, crime stories, comic books, TV, rock and roll, rap, the internet, and now video games. Like all the other forms of expression that were feared initially – including the printing press – video games will certainly become part of mainstream culture, and the anxiety over their effects on young people will appear foolish in retrospect.

There were hopeful signs on Tuesday, that a majority of the Court will see the danger to free expression in accepting these fear-based arguments. The Justices raised questions about whether violent films, books, fairy tales, and cartoons would be next. (Bugs Bunny and Wiley Coyote got special mention.) or whether the state could ban depictions of smoking and drinking. In response, Justice Sotomayor observed that “we don’t look at a category of speech and decide that some of it has low value.”

Several Justices were concerned about how a game producer or retailer could tell which games were violent under the California rule. Justice Ginsburg asked if the state had any advisory opinions as to what constitutes “deviant violence,” and Justice Scalia suggested that California should consider creating “the California office of censorship [to] judge each of these videos one by one.”

The fuss over GQ’s ‘Glee’ photo

The Parents Television Council has done a lot of things bordering on the inane, but this time they’ve outdone themselves by saying that the cover of GQ magazine “borders on pedophilia.” As Frank Bruni pointed out in the New York Times, the women pictured on the cover are 24. Somebody at PTC should check the dictionary before using big words. Pedophilia is “sexual desire in an adult for a child” or “the condition of being sexually attracted to children.” The women on GQ’s cover hardly look like children.

PTC seems to think this detail doesn’t matter, because the women appear in Glee, a “family show” on Fox-TV program. Ergo, Glee is no longer “appropriate for young viewers.”

The Glee audiences are probably not regular readers of GQ. But, thanks to PTC, those young viewers will probably be eager to check out the latest issue. It’s not likely they’ll be scarred for life. If you’re curious about what has gotten PTC’s knickers in such a twist, check it out here.