Why Artistic Freedom Matters

Credit: Pixabay

Art has always been an important part of the human experience. It helps us understand ourselves, others, and the world around us. Art has shown us our history through the eyes of many sensitive people in many forms.

Movies and books help us have tolerance and empathy for others, especially people who are different from   ourselves. The artist can help us see their humanity and worth, among other things. It is up to the artist to tell the difficult truths of this world and beyond.

 One example is Sophie’s Choice, the 1982 psychological drama adapted from the bestselling novel written by William Styron. The story is based on Styron’s real-life friendship with a young Polish Roman Catholic woman who survived the Holocaust and moved to America.

 The novel and movie generated significant controversy, portraying the trauma and guilt of Sophie Zawistowski’s being forced to give up one of her two children to the Auschwitz gas chamber during World War II and the Holocaust. If she did not choose one child, both would have been killed.

Sophie was played by a young Meryl Streep in her breakout role, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. Spoiler alert: Because Sophie cannot handle the guilt of what she had to do, she eventually takes her own life.

Styron shows the audience the horror of the holocaust, impossible choices that had to be made, and why it must not ever happen again. The trauma stays with Holocaust survivors and their families their whole lives.

Doubt, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning 2004 stage play by John Patrick Shanley, was controversial because it explored themes of sexual abuse and the Catholic Church’s response to it.

If the play and subsequent movie had been censored or not made at all, we never would have witnessed the brilliant portrayal of a woman, Sister Aloysuis, who wrestles with certainty and then doubt about a man’s innocence or guilt.

Blazing Saddles, written and directed by Mel Brooks, was considered extremely controversial when it was    released in the early 1970s.  It tackled racism head-on.  Along with its African American hero and his Jewish sidekick, Blazing Saddles is considered a classic today and one of the best comedies ever made.

Brokeback Mountain, an award-winning film released in 2005, is based on the short story by Annie Proulx. The film was controversial because it depicts a romantic, passionate relationship between two male cowboys, which challenged society’s stereotypes of what it means to be a man.

When the film was released in 2005, many religious groups protested outside the theaters where it was being played. They believed the film would cause kids to “sin” if they watched it. Brokeback Mountain today continues to be an inspiration to the LGBTQ+ community.

Ghost, which was released in 1990 and written by Bruce Joel Rubin as an original screenplay, is a love story between Molly, played by Demi Moore, and her dead husband Sam Wheat played by Patrick Swayze. To many, the idea of an afterlife is controversial. However, Ghost captured the hearts and minds of a public that were more open minded.

“Unchained Melody “was re-popularized because of the film.  Ghost showed that love goes on even after death and that life is eternal.

The film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, written by Stephan Elliott, pushed boundaries and challenged heterosexual norms with its story about a road trip taken by two drag queens, Adam and Tick, and a trans woman named Bernadette. They travel in a bus across the Australian Outback to perform a drag show.

 Along the way, they encounter homophobic locals but keep their sense of found family.  When one of them discovers he has a son he never knew about, he is afraid of what his son will think of him for being both gay and a drag queen. He learns that his son loves him unconditionally. Trans woman Bernadette ends up with a kind Australian farmer who likes her just the way she is.

Credit: Pixabay

These films show why it is so important to allow writers, filmmakers, and other creative people to have full expression.  If these films were censored, the positive impact they have had on so many people would not exist. The freedom of the artist must be protected!