The Effects of Film Censorship
Censoring a film is when you take out certain scenes that you find inappropriate or ban them from a country completely. During the late 1920s, the Hays Code was a set of industry guidelines that restricted violence, nudity, language, and even seeing a man and a woman in bed together. In 1968, the Hays Code was replaced with the MPAA film rating system that determines what age group a movie belongs to.
Restricts Freedom of Expression
Filmmakers have a vision of what they want in their movies. If they have an important message to tell, they want audiences to see a movie the way they see it in their head and not hold back. With the MPAA film rating system in effect, a filmmaker is sometimes forced to make sure that the content shown is suitable for a wide audience. For example, Mel Gibson had to replace gory scenes with less graphic versions in The Passion of the Christ so that a younger audience could watch it with a PG-13 rating. Five minutes of graphic footage was deleted. By doing this, younger audiences would not be able to see the brutality of Jesus Crist on the cross for how it really was. Even this attempt was considered too graphic for young audiences, so the “recut” version was “unrated.”
Limits Audiences
If a movie studio decides not to censor a particular film, it can fall into the risk of being banned by a number of countries. This can impact how it will perform at the box office. Every country has its own rules of what they consider suitable content. For example, Pixar’s Lightyear received controversy for there being a lesbian kiss scene. It was banned and was not included in Middle East’s Disney+ streaming service since content aimed at children is not allowed to have any LGBTQ+ references. The film only earned $34.6 million from 43 international markets during its opening weekend. While Disney’s decision not to censor the kiss may not have been the sole reason why Lightyear underperformed at the box office, it could have been a contributing factor.
Attracts Audiences
Sometimes, a film’s controversy can actually make audiences gain more interest in seeing it. If towns or countries were afraid of this movie being shown, audiences want to know why. That’s what happened with The Exorcist when it first came out in 1973. Audience members waited out in weather as severe as 6℉ to buy tickets for this horror film and be “part of the madness.”
Self-Censorship
There have been several movies throughout history where studios have had to make changes to avoid offending anyone. In the 1962 film Lolita, a lot of the provocative scenes that were featured in the book couldn’t be in the movie under the Hays Code. Stanley Kubrick felt that he could not accurately depict the erotic relationship between the middle-aged Humbert and 14-year-old Lolita that was in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel.
Even today, filmmakers have had to make re-edits, such as when Seth Rogan starred and directed in The Interview. According to BBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment told Rogan to tone down a scene when the North Korean leader gets blown up to avoid antagonizing North Korea. Eventually, Rogan amended the scene.
Film censorship always has a way of limiting the mass potential a movie could have for the world. Considering there’s an entire collection of films that had to live under the strict orders of the Hays Code, contemporary filmmakers are lucky that they have more freedom now than before. If filmmakers need to hold back on their film’s content and tone, this can negatively impact the message they’re trying to send out.