Censorship in Movies 5

Monsoon Wedding followed in the 1990’s tradition of challenging tradition in a variety of ways.  One comical example occurs when the tent builder claims that an all white tent color would be more of a ‘modern’ style and the father complains that the wedding will look more like a funeral.  He would rather keep the tent with a more traditional color scheme, one including many colors.  Also an allegory for the conflict of the modern world vs traditional may have been when the electricity blew out and the generator needed to be manually started. This is ironic in the sense that the newer technology was supposed to be automated and make life easier, not a source of more manual labor.

A society where ‘taboo’ topics such as premarital sex or incest were never discussed or shown in films would create a superficial and dishonest feel for the material, and as a result would not be very believable to the viewers.  I feel media has a strong affect on a society socially, and possibly politically, as the material shown on TV is deemed as acceptable to the society it is broadcast to (in terms of what is taboo or not taboo).   If something is taboo, then it will never show up on TV, and viewers will be more reluctant to talk about such topics in an everyday social environment.  The topic of incest was done excellently, as it took the ‘good’ aspect of family in the Indian lifestyle and showed how even good things have the potential to become ugly and fallen.  Films like this show that the good in a society can have flaws, and that these flaws should not be ignored.

Plantinga stresses the use of a Christian education to culture discernment.  We are called to use our knowledge and faith to discern the “holy spirit of our own age.”  Discernment is a feature of wisdom that help us traverse to thin line between what is good and what is evil.  We are called to apply the word of God in creative ways to tackle the problems of today, but to do so with caution, discernment, and faith.