What is self censorship?

What, exactly, is self-censorship?

I’m talking about when a piece of work (such as film/TV/books/games) makes a conscious choice to alter their work over societal pressure or current events to curb criticism or maybe even avoiding the controversial topic(s) altogether.

Here’s one recent example you may remember. Do you recall "Gangster Squad"? It was a movie released in 2013. It dealt with cops and mobsters and one of the more infamous scenes in the trailer was a shootout in a movie theater causing a massacre. What? You don’t remember that scene in the movie? Why is that, you may ask?

The Aurora Colorado Massacre is what happened.

In case you don't know, the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises (which had Gangster Squad showing in front of it, making it more awkward) in Aurora, Colorado was shot up by James Holmes who called himself The Joker. Thus, it started a heated discussion whether or not violent material caused James Holmes to murder those people.

Because of this incident, the filmmakers decided to reshoot and replace the initial scene where a movie theater shootout happened and instead showed Chinatown being bombed.

Now, comes the question: were the producers in the right to alter that movie thus making it a broken mess as it was? Were they giving up their 'artistic integrity' by removing this one vital scene (supposedly, this scene was the lynch pin for holding the entire movie together and by replacing the shootout at the movie theater with the bombing in Chinatown, the film does not flow as it needs to).

Also consider the following. Back in 1994, Spider-man had another cartoon premiering on Fox Kids. However, the Fox network was under heavy scrutiny at the time because many parents felt that Power Rangers was promoting violence that kids could imitate. So, Spider-man had to go through many animation edits and cut out many of the more dangerous elements. Spider-man only punched in one instance and most of the time kicked his opponents. Characters could not die but instead were sent to an alternate dimension. How silly did it get?

Let me introduce you to Morbius. See, Moribus was a vampire in the comic books, but due to the heavy standards set upon by Fox, the show runners had to get… how shall we say creative with him. So, instead of sucking blood through his fangs, like a normal vampire, he instead absorbed 'plasma' through the palms on his hands.

Or how about series in which the cutting back on harsher elements is done naturally? Like in Batman TAS, where the depiction of death could not be shown so instead the Joker inflicted his enemies with Joker Venom and gave them a creepy smile. Or in Gargoyles where they depicted Gargoyles dying through showing a smashed statue?

Are these examples of 'self-censorship' or not? What should the creator do?

I wouldn't call those three examples you listed self-censorship because I think self-censorship inherently has to come from the self. (Controversial position, I know.) With Morbius, Joker and Gargoyles, the creators are having to work within the limitations placed upon them by their funders, and since Disney and Fox were made uncomfortable by showing blood or death in these kids shows, the creators had to use inference and other strategies to get around it. Self-censorship would be more akin to that Gangster Squad scenario you referenced before: the creators came up with some thing, originally had it in there, but decided to remove it at a later date due to a change in opinion or political climate or what have you. (This is assuming that the creators of Gangster Squad were actually okay with that change and Warner Bros. didn't make the decision for them, of course.)

The idea of self censorship is a fallacy. If it truly is the decision of the creator to alter their own work (even if it's done to avoid backlash or cave in to social pressure), it isn't censorship. Censorship is forced alteration by an outside force (usually a government).

If a creator chooses to alter their own work to avoid bad publicity or controversy, it's no more censorship then when you may choose to avoid using foul language in front of your grandmother. It may not be what they truly desire for their creation, but if they really wanted to they could stick with their original vision and ride out any backlash that may arise. In cases of true censorship that option is not avaiable.

Self censorship is an oxymoron. The idea behind it certainly exists, but calling it censorship is disingenuous. Censorship is about being forced to alter one's work, so the idea of choosing to do so is the complete opposite of censorship, it's simply creative decision making.

As to whether it's "right or wrong," that's not really a discussion worth having. Every case is different, but they all share the fact that it is the choice of the creator, and a creator can do whatever the hell they want with their own creation. You don't have to agree with their decision, but unlike true instances of censorship the decision lies solely with the creator (which is also why your cartoon examples don't even fit the idea of self censorship).

Many games are so called self censured when brought over from Japan to the West but since it is a decision by the people publishing it in the West rather than the developers it isn't really self censured. It all have to do with the ESRB and how any store refuse to sell AO rated games. In Europe games are rated 18+ all the time and they are all sold. Why have a rating if that rating basically is a death sentence for a game? If only they would release non censured versions in Europe but no we all have to suffer because of Americans. And I don't understand how it works anywayy. I mean it is fine for God of War to show breasts and have Kratos fucking women but some anime boobs in a JRPG is impossible to bring over without it being censured.

I was going to write a really contentious response here, but I decided against it.

Oh, no! By all means, feel free to share your opinion. If I'm incorrect in my thinking, I would more than enjoy someone correcting me.

Choosing what to include and what to exclude is the entire process of creating a work of fiction. Ideally, every choice should work toward telling a better story. For example, you may not want to make your audience think about the Aurora mass shooting if your story would not benefit from making your audience think about the Aurora mass shooting.

America's 18+ rating is M. OK, it's 17+, but it's still the same thing.

Which JRPG's are you referring to?

Level with me: are we talking about porn games?

I chuckled.

As a kid who never read Spider-Man comics, I thought it was pretty rad how Morbius sucked "plasma" through his hands. It fit the whole "mutant" theme of that universe far better than some kind of Dracula stand in.

More to the point, without hopefully exacerbating a potentially touchy topic, self censorship (or whatever you'd like to call it if you think that term is inapplicable) has happened in every medium in at least the entirely of the modern era. Sometimes, it's helpful, like removing scenes of extreme violence to make a work more palatable for a wider audience. But sometimes it's reprehensible, like a director feeling forced to remove a non-graphic scene of female sexual gratification to avoid an NC-17 rating, just because it's a female character and not a male. Or to change the race of PoC characters because they may not appeal to a white audience. Or to remove completely harmless images of the cross in games to avoid abstractly upsetting any Christians.

But whatever forms it takes, it's fundamentally incorrect (as I'm already seeing in this thread) to equate cutting content from a work of art in order to give in to wider social standards, with the act of pure creativity itself. "It's just an editorial decision like any other.", is deeply disingenuous.

Self-inhibition.

You ga e examples of "self censorship" with Saturday morning cartoons? That is enforced censorship through the threat of FCC fines or removal from the air waves. Could they have gone darker and stayed on TV? Sure thing but they would have been showing anîmated joker killing people during prime time competing agains Friends and Sienfeld when the kids are all off doing homework or getting ready for bed.