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. Â Apparently, a couple was concerned that their [...]
On Monday, September 27, NCAC and BFA Department of Visual & Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts will screen a special not-so-late-night double feature picture show of controversial films Destricted and Ken Park. A discussion with the filmmakers about censorship and its effects on art will take place during the intermission. These films have been banned in countries [...]
China has been dominating censorship headlines recently, but, while we’ve been focused on the Great Firewall of China, a Great Firewall Reef has been growing in the democratic West. Australia has one of the harshest censorship regimes among the world’s democracies.  Films like Ken Park (Larry Clark) and Salo (Pier Paolo Pasolini) have been Refused Classification and are not allowed to [...]
John Stagliano had his case thrown out by Judge Richard Leon early this week. Â Rather than having been found not guilty based on the First Amendment, it was thrown out because the prosecution bungled their case, and the judge determined that not enough evidence was given to prove that Stagliano was involved with Evil Angel Productions. The counsel for the [...]
Massachusetts has become the latest state to try to try to protect minors from sexual content online at the expense of First Amendment rights. Like many states, Massachusetts has long had laws on the books making it a crime to provide minors with material deemed “harmful to minors.” But the law did not extend to electronic communications. Concerns about minors [...]
There is some good news in the prolonged battle of fleeting expletives in the media, FCC v. Fox Television Stations. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC’s ban on fleeting expletives is unconstitutionally vague. This comes off the heels of a Supreme Court decision upholding the FCC’s authority under the Administrative Procedure Act to issue regulations [...]
Over the holiday weekend, the town of Bemidji, Minnesota removed a piece of public artwork by Deborah Davis entitled Gaea. It is a statue of a beaver, one of ten in the city. The reason for its removal was over what was depicted on the beaver’s belly. The artist said it is supposed to be a depiction of two hands [...]
The activities and viewpoints of Elena Kagan have been put under a microscope since congressional hearings on her nomination to the Supreme Court have started, but one area that senators have not questioned her in are her thoughts and work on the First Amendment. Based on her writings and speeches, both in court and out, it seems that Ms. Kagan [...]
The online virtual environment Second Life headlines the latest censorship scandal: they took down an art exhibit because SL community guidelines do not allow nudity unless it is confined to a space that has a “mature” or “adult” rating. The work in question was an installation based on Rose Borchovski’s Susa Bubble, an anthology of machinema films following the surreal, [...]
Should states withhold film incentive because a film criticizes its anti-immigration policies or shows too much violence, or because a state official just finds it “objectionable”? As a way to bring business and revenue to their regions, various states have started creating tax incentives for filmmakers to make their movie there.  A film’s cast and crew can bring millions of [...]
Take a look at this panel from an iPad graphic novel app based on James Joyce’s 20th century classic, Ulysses. There is a part in the story where a character, Buck Mulligan, strips down and jumps in the Irish Sea for a swim. Here it is in Joyce's original: He nodded to himself as he drew off his trousers and [...]
Two teachers at Norview High School in Norfolk, VA were recently put on administrative leave by the school after a parent complained about a video that she saw in Government class. Â The video informed its audience on how to assert their constitutional rights during various encounters with police, such as during a car or house search. It was accompanied by [...]
The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to hear Curious Theatre Company v. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, meaning that the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that smoking can be banned from a stage stands. This means that issues could arise in any state where there is a catch-all smoking ban in public areas, without an exemption [...]