So this week our exercise has been to work on our annotated bibliographies in research for our PB4. I have found my six readings that I have researched and added to my annotated bibliographies, here is one of the readings that I found particularly interesting.
Lancto, C. 2003, “Banned books”, The World & I, vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 259-277.
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The reading itself covers censorship in the form of several books that have been banned because of their content in terms of explicit nature, language and themes. Lancto notes that whats more “unsettling” than the content of the books is that they have been opposed and banned by people who are unable to read past the literal meaning of these books.
The list of books that the thesis focused on included:
- Anthony Burgess ‘A Clockwork Orange’
- Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’
- George Orwell’s books ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and ‘Animal Farm’
- Lois Lowry’s ‘The Giver’
- Hawthornes ‘The Scarlet Letter’
Something that really drew me to this article is noticing how half of these books that were written about, that were once banned or removed from education because they had content that was sexually explicit, language, violence, political theories often challenging the views in society of that time. It became apparent to me that perhaps the books that are banned are based upon the placement of society at a certain time. Whilst in the past these books were not allowed to be exposed to the public, in this era I myself have read and studied half of these books. Not only that but ‘The Giver’was recreated into a movie.
As was ‘Animal Farm’
and The Scarlet Letter whilst a movie was also referenced in more modern movies such as ‘Easy A’ which in a way was a recreation of the themes evident within The Scarlet Letter.
I find it interesting to perhaps see how our society has changed that what was once banned is now acceptable. This could represent how we adapt and change to content that politically challenges the social values of our time, furthermore we are more accepting of explicit content in terms of sexual, violent and offensive language becoming more and more common. However is this just because that is where are society is at? maybe what is banned to us now is a reflection of our society in terms of views and values.
This piece also included a quote:
“Where they have burned books,
they will end in burning human beings”
I think this basically refers to books and going even further to texts as a fingerprint. Showing every thought, value, perspective of who we are as humans and the experiences we hold. By restricting content to exposure we are restricting the opinions and perspectives of human life.
As our topic for PB4 is text and narrative, in which we are focusing on “Lost in Translation” how a text/narrative that is created and sent out can be received and interpreted by audiences in a different way, potentially causing harm or offence. In reference to things being banned, it is a prime example of how content is created with a meaning whether that be to challenge views, or to create a simply story and those that view it see it as harmful to society and therefore restrict it’s release. This causes something lost between the creation and the consumption, showcasing how texts and narrative have the power to effect its audiences whether that be for the good or the bad.