How much do you censor yourself and your art? – freeing creative expression from internal bondage
“The danger of censorship in the United States is less from business or the religious right or the self-righteous left than from the self-censorship of artists themselves, who simply give up.”
Writer and director Frank Pierson (former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) added, “If we can’t see a way to get out story told, what is the point of trying? I wonder how many fine, inspiring ideas are strangled in the womb of the imagination because there’s no way past the gates of commerce.” [LA Times May 26, 2003 - quoted in Utne, Sep/Oct 2003]
Censoring – both internal and external – is discussed by Eric Maisel, PhD in his article Are You Censoring Yourself? – in which he talks about “the artist’s relationship to society.
“Most of us would be quick to say that we are free to think just about anything and to express ourselves in any way we see fit.
“In reality, artists do a lot of measuring, somewhere just out of conscious awareness, about what is safe or seemly to reveal and what is unsafe or unseemly.
“One aspect of this self-censorship is the way we bite our tongue at our day job and, in a corollary safety measure, skip making art that reveals what our corporation, institution, or agency is up to.
“These are knotty psychological and practical matters that confront virtually every artist.”
Related Talent Development Resources page : Censorship.
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self censorship, personal growth books,creative expression, censorship of artists, conscious awareness and creativity
02.09.08 | 
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