Censorship in entertainment

Having just finished watching 'South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut' for the fifth or sixth time, I now understand a lot more about the message the movie is trying to portray than I did after viewing it when I was younger. The film focuses on the characters created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone as they attempt to prevent the execution of 'Terrance and Phillip', two foul mouthed Canadians whom have been blamed for poisoning the minds of the youth, a story not so unfamiliar from things we hear today. 

Nowadays the scapegoat deemed responsible for violent actions carried out by teenagers is video games, a debate which will no doubt be fuelled towards the end of the year following the September release of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V, a game series which is consistently blamed for numerous acts of violence across the world. Even the recent Sandy Hook shooting back in December sparked debates on how Grand Theft Auto was to blame for corrupting the minds of the assailants, leading some figures of authority to suggest a banning on this type of content. 

The highly anticipated crime game 'Grand Theft Auto V'

This brings me to the point I wanted to make. Of course if you deem it fit to blame a form of media such as a video game for current real-life events it is up to you to do so, but as soon as a powerful figure of authority begins suggesting a banning of this media, the story applies to a much larger audience. The proposition of preventing the masses from accessing something such as a video game is ridiculous. It sounds typical, but that is like saying that "guns kill people". Guns do not kill people, whatever you may believe, and it is in fact people who kill people. 

This is not a new topic either. Back in the 80's in the UK, specifically 1984, the 'Video Recording Act' was created. This led to new legislations on how movies were to be censored, and a list of 72 films was created detailing exactly which movies at the time were to be banned in order to prevent such movies getting into the hands of innocent and impressionable children. 

Although it may seem irrelevant, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is an important movie in this debate, because it brings to light how ridiculous censorship really is. Despite being made back in 1999, it is just as relevant today with the focus of controlling distribution shifting from movies to video games. 

This may just seem like a rant, and for the most part it is, but the final point I wanted to vocalise is how it is wrong to place the blame upon people like Trey Parker and Matt Stone for "damaging our youth". The only way to educate and inform the next generation correctly isn't to ban any form of violent or offensive media, neither is it to boycott said media. No, the only way this can happen is through correct parenting, something which seems to have taken a back-seat in favour of aggressive protesting. 

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Finally, I'd like to add how good South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is as a movie. As mentioned, it satirises censorship in the media to a hilarious degree, and does so in such a successful manner that it prompted me to write this post. Surely by now everybody has seen it, but if you haven't and are a fan of South Park, I urge you to do so.