Censorship of Arts & Artists

An art is the diverse range of skills, human activity or creativity and an Artist is the one who practices that art. It’s a free expression or free will to undertake any activity and perform it in our own creative splendor. In modern times, certain arts and artists have a way to get away with questionable things.

Therefore, to censor or not to censor is the question?

To begin with, arts constitute a major part in our daily lives…from listening different types of music, performing a skilled and difficult task, watching various genres of movies…..the variety is limitless and so are the preferences of the artists and audience.

My point being that an art basically is a visual medium, and films and music are the epitome of visual arts, people from not only different strata of society consume it but also from different age groups. The problem is its ability to be extremely impressionable which pollutes the minds of our young ones. Secondly, fabricating the truth(taking liberty on historic events) in the name of creativity is a moral conundrum, often mis-utilized to make the product relevant and eventually becoming the talking point in the masses. It may also be politically driven but I believe that it should not be the whole base for its credibility.

In today’s times, having power is the biggest art and the person with the most power is the biggest artist, which ultimately is desired by many, often in the most non-traditional and sometimes non ethical way. Films and music is one medium which makes the life of many actors and singers. Either they become legends of the masses or like most of them get lost in front of the public eye. Many of those result to different strategies like choosing a sensitive topic to portray, making the content overly sexual, twisting the story for political mileage. The reasons can be any but mostly is monetary in nature to spark interest in the masses.

Now, the question arises about regulating these arts and artists and whether or not it should be censored. According to me, if a censorship needs to take place than it should be self governed and not politically imposed as everyone should be free to make their own decisions and should be able to consume what they see in the movies or internet. Let there be a better sense prevailing in the minds of the audience who make their own rational decision about being a consumer.

Having to censor anything, loses its charm and appeal and hence let the demand dictate the supply rather than regulating supply in the market. If people like a certain product, no amount of censorship on those artists or arts can stop it. Therefore, an organic approach would do wonders to eventually make it or break it.