Category: Censorship in Canada

Earlier this month, a Toronto Star reporter was arrested for taking pictures at a GO Transit Station. Eventually his camera was returned and he was given a $65 ticket for trespassing.  PEN Canada discusses the law concerning taking pictures in public spaces, and a review of recent cases, in this excellent article on their web… Continue reading Public Photography is Not a Crime

The American MPAA has announced a modest expansion of their ratings program, in order to provide more information about why a film has received a particular rating. This is a reaction to the NRA suggestion that violence in movies causes violent events such as the Sandy Hook school shootings, and more general desire for improvements… Continue reading New MPAA ‘Check the Box’ Ratings

The Vancouver Maritime Museum is currently hosting an exhibit called Tattoos & Scrimshaw: The Art of The Sailor. Scrimshaw can refer to any decorative object made by sailors, but in this case describes engraved and inked whale bone or teeth. Some of the engravings contain what might be considered “mature subject matter,” and the museum… Continue reading Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children II

Fast Company reports that the Egyptian government is using crowdsourcing as a way to censor the web. This is hardly new. Wikipedia has defacto crowdsourcing censorship, and many websites use crowdsourcing to filter offensive content. When you submit your photo to a social or dating site, the site does not have full time employees making… Continue reading Crowdsourcing Censorship

I periodically note the ratings assigned to films by the different boards in Canada. For some perspective I also include the ratings assigned in a few other countries. In most of the world, ratings are assigned by government agencies, but in the freedom loving United States ratings come from an industry association. Their mantra, also… Continue reading The Freedom of Government Censorship

Clement Clarke Moore’s 1832 poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” is often abbreviated, with a verse or two removed to protect young minds from boredom and corruption, so the release of a new censored version (by a Canadian editor) is not that surprising. In this version, the following lines are deleted: The stump of a… Continue reading The Night Before Nightmares

I have not seen The Hunger Games movie, nor have I read the book, so I can’t comment fairly on the portrayed violence or thematic issues. I find the notion of children being ordered to kill each other for entertainment a little unsettling, but perhaps it’s metaphorical or satirical. Even if it is, younger children… Continue reading Reconsidering “The Hunger Games”

Performer Kyrsten Ritter, seemingly topless in an ABC show. The hot new trend on TV is apparently pixelated nudity. Pixelation is a newer and less obvious approach to covering up naughty bits than the traditional black box, so it allows the appearance of nudity without violating broadcast standards. In other words, the idea of nudity… Continue reading Images and Ideas

One of my many delights in a particular Film Studies class was learning the concept of teleology. Teleology is a philosophical notion that states things have a natural goal or end, and all that came before was leading to that end. In some cases, this approach seems logical: I am the end result of my… Continue reading Teleology and Censorship

The recent theatre shootings in Aurora, Colorado, have given a higher profile to concerns about violence in movies. To what extent does movie violence reflect a violent society, or create a violent society? This is a difficult question, but it needs to be asked. There have always been violent movies, with 1903’s The Great Train… Continue reading Violence in Movies