If you were in a location other than a cave this January, you know about the Stop Online Piracy Act. Several websites raised awareness of SOPA, which aimed to increase online censorship. The Internet community responded in protest, clinging to a desire to exercise freedom of speech.
Similarly, Harding Campus Activities Board realizes the importance of showing a film in its original form despite potential controversy. In the past, CAB has shown the “Harding appropriate” versions of films sometimes several months after they were released on DVD because it took so long to remove content that could be considered offensive.
The new system tolerates unedited films and keeps them in their original form. This means CAB can show movies like “The Hunger Games” and “The Avengers” well before they are released on DVD. Students have provided a tremendous amount of feedback on CAB movies, sometimes in person and mostly via Twitter. In past semesters, there were complaints about the censorship as well as the choice of films. So far this semester, CAB has not shown movies like “Kung Fu Panda,” which attracted a highly specific demographic.
Working at CAB allows me to observe the progression as ideas turn into events and those events evolve into even better events. This is one of the aspects that is showing drastic improvement. The movie system is one-third of CAB because of the subtitle of “Music. Movies. Events.” It’s important to provide movies that students care about. If CAB continued to censor movies, which often involved deleting entire scenes or bleeping out words, attendance might have decreased. In addition, movies that CAB shows arrive well before students can rent them on Redbox or Netflix.
If students are old enough to drive several hours from home and attend an unfamiliar school with several hundred people they have never met, they should be old enough to watch a film in its raw form. When an 18-year-old freshman becomes a 22-year-old intern at a company, a black box will not appear over his or her boss’ mouth while a high-pitched beep drowns out the boss’ questionable words. Likewise, it’s not always necessary that Harding remove scenes that are inappropriate only for children. And of course, CAB would never dare approve of a movie with excessive controversial scenes or obscene language, so the argument against censorship is nearly pointless.
Showing uncensored movies solves several issues that CAB previously faced, like dodging student complaints and showing movies that students can enjoy just as easily in the comfort of their own dorm rooms.
