Browsing by Subject "Censorship"
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Item Censors, intellectuals, and German civil society, 1815-1848(2014-12) Bunn, Matthew Stephen; Matysik, Tracie; Coffin, Judith; Williamson, George; Crew, David; Belgum, KirstenIn late 1819, reactionary forces led by Prince Clemens von Metternich pushed through a package of legislation aimed at curbing what they saw as a dangerous revolutionary conspiracy. Among those policies was the requirement of preventive censorship for all works published in the newly formed German Confederation under 320 pages. As a result of this policy, German states and intellectuals were set against one another, as publishers, editors, and authors fought for their ability to speak and write without state tutelage, while governments sought not only to control domestic discourse, but also to avoid offending other powerful states. Despite the significance of such a task, however, governments took on the challenge of regulating an ever-growing press with remarkably limited resources, and entrusted a small group of men, drawn from the ranks of educated civil servants, to be censors. This study examines the work of these censors, who, often against their own inclinations, had to mediate between a neo-absolutist state and an increasingly mobilized political press. Charting the development of censorship from the issuance of the Carlsbad Decrees in 1819 until the abrogation of prior restraint in 1848, it argues that censors were not one-sidedly reactionary figures, but rather were often indicative of the attitudes and assumptions of the milieu of educated state servants from which they were drawn. Censorship itself was also not simply repressive, but also had generative effects, as it touched off wide-ranging debates over the meaning of scholarship, politics, and religion. Ultimately, however, the state’s claim to exercise censorship in defense of public order was undermined with the emergence of stark cleavages within German society, which set loose forces beyond the state’s control. The end of censorship thus also spelled the end of fantasies of a politics of consensus, not only for traditionalist conservatives, but also for the liberal movement that had opposed it.Item Deliberating in the Chinese blogosphere : a study on hotspot Internet incidents(2011-05) Dai, Jia; Reese, Stephen D.; Lasorsa, Dominic; Jensen, Robert; Straubhaar, Joseph; Sjoberg, GidonThe concept of deliberation, both theoretically and empirically, was examined in the Chinese blogosphere by content analyzing Internet blog posts and comments, associated with sixty hotspot incidents in China from 2007 through 2009. Measurements of analytic and social processes were made and the factors that affect these processes were examined to identify deliberative patterns in the blog posts and comments. The findings suggest relatively substantial deliberative outcomes in the blog posts about the incidents, especially relating to the analytic process. Two variables were examined with respect to the factors that determine deliberation: an incident’s category (non-threatening, threat to performance, and threat to legitimacy) as classified under the command and control system, and information availability (news availability and total information availability) about the incident. Findings support the theoretical framework proposed in the study and suggest the following logical sequences: Firstly, the Chinese command and control system is a significant factor in explaining deliberative outcomes about incidents that can be categorized according to their level of considered threat to the system. An incident that was considered to be at a higher level of threat linked to a higher level of deliberation. Secondly, the command and control system also determines the information availability of an incident but in a negative way— incidents with higher threat levels have lower levels of information availability. Thirdly, information availability, in turn, predicted deliberation on its own—higher levels of information availability link to lower levels of deliberation. Moreover, information availability functioned as a moderating variable between the command and control system and the deliberative outcomes. Posts that were associated with non-threatening and threat to performance incidents, with higher levels of information availability, tended to have a lower quality of deliberation. Posts associated with incidents that were a threat to legitimacy, with lower level of information availability, yielded similar deliberative patterns that were of relatively high quality.Item Prestige and prurience : the decline of the American art house and the emergence of sexploitation, 1957-1972(2010-05) Metz, Daniel Curran; Schatz, Thomas, 1948-; Berg, Charles R.“Prestige and Prurience: The Decline of the American Art House and the Emergence of Sexploitation, 1957-1972” presents a historical narrative of the art house theatre during the 1960s and its surrounding years, examining the ways in which art theatres transformed into adult theatres during the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in earnest in the immediate post-war period, art houses in America experienced a short period of growth before stagnating in the middle 1950s. With the release in 1957 of the erotically charged Brigitte Bardot film …And God Created Woman, a new era of art houses followed, one that is characterized by the emergence of sexualized advertising, content and stars. As the 1960s came, sex films like The Immoral Mr. Teas played on art film marketing strategies and even screened in many art houses. Gradually, sexploitation films began to dominate art house programs and replace European art films and Hollywood revivals. In this transitional period, however, sexploitation films used key strategies to emulate many art film characteristics, and likewise art films used sexploitation techniques in order to maintain marketability for American distribution and exhibition. By studying the promotion and programming used by art house theatres during this period, this thesis identifies and announces a number of key trends within the dynamic period for art houses. The period is distinguished by its convergence of practices related to prestigious and prurient signs, merging art and sex in ways unique to the era and to the circumstances by which sex films infiltrated art houses and art films pandered to salacious interests. It presents a new perspective on the history of art houses, art cinema, American exhibition, sexploitation films, hardcore pornography and censorship.Item Preventing heresy : censorship and privilege in sixteenth-century Mexican publishing(2012-12) Palacios, Albert Anthony; Twinam, Ann, 1946-; Wade, MariaPrevailing Catholic thought in the sixteenth century perceived heresy as a cancer on society and the printed word an effective carrier. Acceptance of this view throughout the Spanish kingdom resulted in the vigilant scrutiny of printed works, in particular those imported or produced in the Americas. Who reviewed manuscript works destined for or written in Mexico before the printing block hit the paper? Did the New Spanish bureaucracy repress colonial authors intellectually or financially? This thesis examines preventive censorship, or the inspection and licensing of manuscripts considered for publishing, and printing privilege in sixteenth-century Mexico. Mexican books printed 1540-1612 and official correspondence form the basis of this thesis. The overarching analysis is diachronic-bibliographic in nature. It starts with the origins of preventing censorship in Spain, its transference to New Spain, and its administration during the first decade of the American printing press (1487-1550). Thrusting ahead, it then delves into the bureaucratic, political, and economic nuances of the mature publishing practice at the turn of the century (1590-1612). The conclusion compares the bookend phases, defines factors, and looks at prevailing practices in Europe to contextualize Mexico’s unique publishing industry. In the Americas, religious authors established, financed, and developed the publishing economy to facilitate indigenous indoctrination and enculturation, enforce Christian hegemony, and promote higher education. As these authors came to dominate in the writing, censorship, and production of Mexican printed books throughout the sixteenth century, printers increasingly assumed a subordinate role. In the European printing industry, non-cleric officials predominantly censored manuscripts and printers assumed primary ownership of intellectual work. Inversing European practice, published authors in Mexico enjoyed significant influence over the censorship, printing, and economic potential of their intellectual fruits from the onset of colonization to the remainder of the sixteenth century and beyond.Item The Syrian private media and discourse of the development of the Syrian national economy(2010-05) Caldwell, Leah Monical; Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, 1962-; Mohammad, MohammadIn 2001, Syria opened its media outlets to private ownership for the first time in over forty years. This thesis conducts a critical discourse analysis of the economic coverage of the sole Syrian political daily newspaper al-Watan and asks how media liberalization in Syria is more so emblematic of pro-market economic reforms as opposed to media reform. In this sense, it is the economic content of al-Watan that signifies how a private media outlet – under the guiding force of “red lines” and other regulatory mechanisms, yet financially “liberated” via advertising revenue and wealthy regime-friendly backers – can demonstrate its utility to the regime by providing a reiteration of its social-market economic policies all the while existing as a public embodiment of the regime’s willingness to embrace a marketized Syrian society. Simply put, al-Watan is a perfect vehicle for propagating the regime’s gradualist pro-market reforms in the public sphere.Item The effect of censorship on American film adaptations of Shakespearean plays(2009-05-15) Alfred, Ruth AnnFrom July 1, 1934, to November 1, 1968, the Production Code Administration (PCA) oversaw the creation of American motion pictures, in order to improve Hollywood?s moral standing. To assist in this endeavor, the studios produced film adaptations of classic literature, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. In the first two years of the Code?s inception, two Shakespearean films were produced by major studios: A Midsummer Night?s Dream (1935) and Romeo and Juliet (1936). But were these classic adaptations able to avoid the censorship that other films endured? With the use of archived collections, film viewings, and an in-depth analysis of the plays, multiple versions of the scripts, and other available surviving documents, I was able to see how these productions were affected by the enforcement of film censorship and what it said about the position of Shakespeare?s work in society. A Midsummer Night?s Dream tended to use self-regulation, so as to avoid the censorship of the PCA. However, the film did not escape without some required changes. In spite of the filmmakers? efforts, there were a few textual changes and the fairy costumes required revisions to meet the PCA?s standards. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, the PCA was far more involved in all stages of the film?s production. There were many documented text changes and even a case in which the censors objected to how the actors and director executed a scene on film. The motion picture was created as if it were of the greatest importance by all involved. And, as it were, the existing archives paint a picture of a production that was a sort of battleground in a sociopolitical war between the censors and the filmmakers. As both films arrived on the international stage, this sociopolitical campaigning did not end. During international distribution, the films were each accepted, rejected, and forced to endure further censorship, in order to become acceptable for public screening. This censorship often relayed a message about the location?s societal views and its contrast to American society.Item (What is not written on) The Wall : a choreographic exploration of censorship and the Chinese Cultural Revolution(2016-05) Shen, Jun, M.F.A.; Anderson, Charles O.; Hilley, Martha F; Curran, Tina MarieMy primary research effort in this thesis relies on self-reflection and analysis of my MFA Thesis performance The Wall. I discuss the content of the piece for the manner in which it serves as a critical cultural intervention to the longstanding system of revision rather than preservation of Chinese cultural history particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries. To conduct my research, I studied articles written by Chinese scholars and artists living outside of China discussing China’s cultural history, reviews of performances of Chinese choreographers and companies from outside of China, books written about Chinese culture by Chinese and Chinese American authors living outside of China, as well as books by American authors about political dance such as Ann Cooper Albright’s book, Choreographing Difference: The Body in Identity in Contemporary Dance (1997) and Susan Foster’s Choreographing History. Throughout my research process, however, I have not uncovered many useful documents about Chinese art and culture by scholars and artists residing in Mainland China regarding the censorship of discussion and art about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Therefore my thesis focuses on tracing my creative process to develop my thesis performance work, The Wall, in accordance with Albright’s deduction: “In the very act of performing, the dancing body splits itself to enact its own representation and simultaneously heals its own fissure in that enactment” (Albright 2010, p.186). The fissure, or fissures in this case, are between the individual, the community, and space between revision and preservation of history and tradition in China. The Wall is a commentary on Chinese history, Chinese cultural politics, and censorship intended for both Chinese and non-Chinese audiences, but performed outside of China by non-Chinese dancers.Item Writing with care : Yan Lianke and the biopolitics of modern Chinese censorship(2015-05) Chambers, Harlan David; Tsai, Chien-hsin, 1975-; El-Ariss, TarekAuthor Yan Lianke's experiences with censorship frame this investigation into the relationship between life, politics, and writing in modern China. As Yan's case shows, Chinese censorship goes beyond textual redaction, seeking to reform the very life of political subjects. The effects of this move to bridge politics and life are best demonstrated by acts of internalized censorship (e.g., "self censorship"), widespread in China's modern cultural scene. The historical genealogy of internalized censorship reveals it to be part of a broader Chinese Communist Party program of thought work, engaged in remolding the lives of political subjects. Revisiting the fundamentals of Michel Foucault's biopolitical theory, I argue that this form of censorship plays a key role in the party’s biohistory, the historical institutionalization of power aimed at radically politicizing life itself. The first chapter of this report sketches out the historical foundations of Chinese biopolitics. Regimes of thought work are shown to have been developed as disciplinary techniques of censoring and censuring, systematically deployed to correct individuals' ideological errors. Re-imagining disobedience as illness, the state sought to cure its citizens through "disciplinary care." The Communist Party has thus established institutions seeking to completely fold life into politics; consequently, top-down techniques like censorship have reemerged in the bottom-up phenomenon of internalized censoring. The second chapter returns to the novels of Yan Lianke to argue that his literature responds to the legacy of thought work with a distinct form of "literary care." His recent novels restage historical events in order to narrate confrontations between writers and institutions of state power. Through these encounters, Yan's writing unfolds literary care as a strategy to shield non-normative forms of life against powers aiming to rectify their ideological idiosyncrasies. Literary care thus affirms ways of being that exceed exclusively political interpretive frameworks. In the face of censorship, Yan Lianke does not dream of an autonomous sphere of artistic expression, nor does he campaign for a simplistic notion of intellectual liberty. Instead, Yan Lianke writes with literary care, never neglecting relations between life and politics but maintaining that one is not reducible to the other.