Thursday, December 23, 2004

Censorship and Creativity

Just read the following article in The Malay Mail which made me feel incredibly sad and angry.

Haven't seen Yasmin Ahmad's films yet - but having read the article would very much like to.

But the issue of censorship destroying the creativity of artists here is a perennial one. And I can't see it going away any time soon.

Malaysian art must reflect real Malaysian life (and not be some idealised mirror of how the powers that be would like life to look for their own political purposes). Else honestly, what's the point? Malaysia needs artists with integrity - whether they be writers, playwrights, film makers, visual artists or whatever - who will tell their own truth about love, relationships, race, religion and all those other human issues that affect us all here. (Mat Salleh that I am i consider myself an 'us' not a 'them').

The alternative is that the people with real talent and the power to tell us something about ourselves shut themselves away where they will not get hurt. Or they cross the oceans to other parts of the world where they feel they can have a voice (but hey, will that voice be heard so loudly when there are so many other people whose voices are being heard at the same time?)


MOVIES: Killing ’em softly with their cuts
Meor Shariman

Dec 23:

IT looks like the National Censorship Board has dampened the spirit of another creative and visionary young local film-maker, Yasmin Ahmad.
She's one of many fresh and exciting young directors, whose passion to take local films to new heights has been tamed by our ‘moral police,' who still decide what local moviegoers should and shouldn't watch.

But we will continue supporting these bold directors, who go that extra mile in the name of art.

We hope they won't stop trying to be different and daring, despite being hampered by the Censorship Board who seem to be practising double standards – they butcher the kind of scenes in local movies that are often left untouched in foreign films. Now back to Yasmin. She tried to be as honest as she could in depicting the reality of Malaysian society in two recent films, Rabun and Sepet.

But that, as expected, didn't go down well with the Censorship Board committee.

Her first film, Rabun, shown over TV3, had a scene where an old loving couple take a bath together. That was deemed indecent and was chopped.

There was nothing revealing or obscene about that scene – it's quite common for married, couples, young and old, to bathe together.

The scene was meant to be inspiring as it shows how loving the old couple still are to each other despite being married for so long. After all, Rabun is a tale of undying love between the old couple.

The film was well received by both critics and viewers.

Now, Yasmin's latest film, Sepet – which was shown for a month without any cuts in Singapore – has incurred the wrath of the Censorship Board.

Sepet was first scheduled for a February release with nine cuts. Now, it has been banned.

Yasmin recently met with the committee to discuss the censored scenes. But she came out of that announcing she would quit film-making. (Yasmin made the announcement and shared her experience in a website, www.yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com) THE NIGHTMARE When Sepet was shown to the Board, it was lambasted by most of the 12-member committee with a few appreciating it. One member said, almost in tears, that Sepet was the most enjoyable movie she ever saw and congratulated Yasmin. Another proudly said that Sepet was a Malaysian movie.

Unfortunately, the rest didn't feel that way. Many even made some ridiculous comments which showed how ignorant they are.

Sepet is a love story between a Malay girl and a Chinese boy – which is not unthinkable in our multi-racial society.

But one committee member's contention was that Yasmin didn't raise the issue of religion; he also asked why the Malay girl didn't try to convert her Chinese boyfriend. He said it would please the Malay audience if the Chinese boy becomes a Muslim at the end of the story.

Another member picked on the scene where Adibah Nor, Ida Nerina and Syarifah Amani lovingly combed each other's hair by the staircase.

His complaint – that scene would encourage Malay women to go back to their bad old habit of picking each other's lice! And if all that weren't discouraging enough, another member brought up the scene where a Malay character was seen in a non-halal Chinese restaurant. That set the stage for the bombshell – the committee decided to ban Sepet! It claimed it represented the rakyat (the people) and ‘had shown the film to some members of the rakyat and the rakyat wanted the movie to be banned'.

With that, Sepet – a film winning rave reviews outside the country – won't be having a cinema audience here.

THE DOUBLE STANDARDS GOING by Yasmin's nightmarish experience, the censorship board committee seems to be confused or is suffering from short memory.

Don't they remember approving films with a similar plot to Sepet in the past? Inter-racial romance is also the theme of Skop Productions' Sembilu 2005, the most-anticipated love story next year.

In Sembilu 2005, a Malay girl falls for a Chinese boy and the latter doesn't convert in the end.

The film has already been approved by the Censorship Board and will be screened in March.

As for the scene in Sepet where a Malay is seen in a Chinese restaurant, there was a similar sequence in Metrowealth Movies Production's Hingga Hujung Nyawa.

That was screened last July, and in that particular scene, a man even bought food from the Chinese restaurant for his dying wife! What was most absurd must be one committee member's complaint about the hair-combing scene in Sepet. It sounds like he's worried that female employees in Government departments will start picking each other's lice during office breaks after watching Sepet! With such a mentality, do we want such a censorship board committee to represent the viewers' choice on what films we should watch? No wonder why our film industry is lagging behind our neighbours like Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.


Drop by Yasmin's blog
for the whole story.

3 comments:

Chet said...

Dear Sharon - there's a whole discussion raging over at Yasmin's blog about what happened. Read it here:
http://yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/2004/12/love-on-trial.html

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, and let's meet up soon!

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Hi dearest Sharon,
You asked interestingly enough, about Malaysians having to cross oceans to make their voices heard amongst an awesome number of competitors and question if they will be heard as loudly enough back home. Sharon, from my personal experience of a distant past and now in the very exciting present, I say from experience tried and tested that the answer is sadly enough for Malaysia, "yes" because
a) in London, Dublin, Australia or Italy (as I've personally experienced anyway, no one cares now where you come from, the colour of your skin or what you're all about as long as you have something to say through any of the creative arts and know how to say it well. Then you will inherit an audience quite easily & unexpectedly which is why places London & Sydney make me so happy & they form my journeys to the moon! People will think long and hard about what you've said in a poem or an article and write personally to comment to you in depth about them or even thank you for what you've said.
b) When the environment is conducive to the spirit and exhilarating to emotions, anywhere in the world makes a perfect launching pad without the threat of diminishing a Malaysian heritage.
c) But all the time you have to work hard in reading and writing, so as to create and mould your art to an acceptable level. That is the first kindergarten approach. Otherwise, you will be readily ignored and rejected.
d) And of the Malaysian hearitage abroad! Well as a Malaysian writer, being overseas has helped me search myself more deeply and clearly to what I'm really all about and help me to be more aware of all the splendid things I can do to change my world for the better.
e) And if you're so passionate that you have come overseas to become a poet, playwright, childrens' book writer or novelist like me, then you won't really care about how big or small your audience is. You'll be busy striving for a dimension that's beyond all that and the realisation of an audence for its artist, probably comes later with a startling jolt that I've had the gift to experience once before.
e) And after all that, I am still Malaysian through & through.
cheers, susan

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

And Sharon,

I forgot something else. If I have to come overseas because Malaysia didn't recognise me for my true potential, didn't treasure, cherish or appreciate me enough in the first place, then when/if a major success hits, what becomes the world's immediate gain will in some strange subtle way become Malaysia's permanent ironic loss. A burn in the collar, a hole in the pocket... susan