Summer Reading Help Needed Please

[Courtney Cantsay]

One of the books I have to read for my summer reading project is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I then have to make a prezi and in this prezi I have to talk about Bradbury's view of censorship and my own views on it. My teacher said that she would like us to use examples of things that has been banned/censored. These things can be any form of art, literature, or music. I was wondering if the nerdfighters would mind giving me examples to check out. Songs to listen to, books to read, anything please!

[Tova C.E]

Ben-Hur (the 1959 movie) was banned in China because of it's Christian content, The Bohemian girl (a 1936 Laurel & Hardy movie) because it depicted romani people, The battleship Potemkin (1925) was banned in France because the government feared it would inspire a revolution.
Nosferatu (1922) was banned in Sweden for fifty years because of the violence and cruelty depicted in the movie. Considering what a classic it is (and probably a little because I live in Sweden), I find that especially interesting.
Anders als die Andern (1919), a movie made by sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who was against Paragraph 175 (which made homosexuality a criminal offense in Germany) was heavily censored, only shown to doctors and eventually burned when the Nazis came to power.

BBC1's radio one banned God save the Queen from airplay during the queen's silver jubilee celebrations.

Apparently both Alice's adventures in Wonderland and Animal Farm have been banned (in some countries, or states in countries) because of the anthropomorphized animals in the novels (Oh no, animals acting like people! We can't have that!).
Then there's The Gulag Archipelago, The Metamorphosis by Kafka (banned in Nazi Germany) and Mein Kampf (I think you can guess why...) Fanny Hill, though from what I know of it I'm not sure I would recommend you to read it. Even if there's a drag ball. In the 1800s. Okay, maybe read it and just skip the bad parts.

You could also check this out (though of course don't use Wikipedia as your source):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art

And then there's:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/12/artnews.russia

http://dontcensor.us/

Those are just some examples. There are lists of both banned books and banned movies on Wikipedia if you need more.

[Tova C.E]

Oh and and and there's the HUAC hearings and the Hollywood blacklist!
And the censorship in the US during the second world war. Movies depicting war in a too negative way had to be changed. Let there be light (1946) was the last documentary in a trilogy by John Huston. It was made at the request of the government, but was banned because of it's depiction of shell-shocked soldiers, which the Army feared would be demoralizing. The banned wasn't lifted until the 1980s.

(In case you hadn't noticed, I find all of this very interesting. Feel free to skim through my wall(s) of text.)

[Courtney Cantsay]

Thanks! This is all really good stuff and helps alot. Still having a hard time believing Alice's adventures in Wonderland and Animal Farm was banned. Thanks again for the help.

[Cecilia Ek]

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was banned and censored in some parts of the USA. You can find more information about this here: http://world.edu/banned-book-awareness-catcher-rye-jd-salinger/ 

Good luck! :)

[Courtney Cantsay]

Thanks! This is a huge help!

[rc]

I find it interesting how the legacy of Fahrenheit 451 is often a discussion on censorship when Bradbury wasn't trying to say anything about censorship at all. In the novel, book burning comes about as a cultural request, not a governmental decree. Anyway...

Looking for Alaska by our very own John Green has been challenged numerous times in American schools, most recently in Tennessee.

"Cop Killer" by the band Body Count was banned from some stores, ignited media commentary all the way up to the American senate and president of the time, and forced Time-Warner to do a lot of reissuing of the album.

[Courtney Cantsay]

I found that insteresting too. And I didn't use Looking for Alaska as one of my example. I even use the whole vlogbrother video about it even through videos were only supposed to be only 30 second long. It was just to good to keep out of the project. Thanks for the help.

[Hollee]

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov.

Banned in France, New Zealand, England, Argentina, and South Africa for being "obscene". Many view it to be pornographic/paedophilic and it's caused a lot of controversy since being published in 1955.

For more info on this book/other banned books take a look at this article!

[rc]

I was looking for info on that and couldn't find it. Definitely a good choice for something like this, especially since so many lists claim it as the greatest novel of the 20th century.

[Courtney Cantsay]

Thanks for the help!