Political Correctness In Film

Tugui Andreea
Ilie Roxana
Gan Alexandru
Popa Stefan
Manolache Ioana
Musat Antonia
 In the same vein of last week’s blog post on what the future holds for
cinema, there is one particular aspect of this debate that we’re going to focus
on this week. That is, how political correctness and “cancel culture” are
impacting creative output.

For those who aren’t familiar, though, most of you probably are, over the
course of roughly the past decade, there has been an emergence of
increased sensitivity and intolerance towards specific words, phrases, and
general ideologies that are regarded by "many" as offensive. With most
political correctness aimed to fight issues like racism, sexism, and
homophobia, the general principles and intentions of the movement are
seemingly positive. However, where some opinions diverge is on the topic of
“cancel culture," which is the crusade to banish members of society for not
complying with political correctness. The cause for controversy is that while
“cancel culture” attempts to stop people from catering to racist mentalities (or
mentalities of that sort), it doesn’t provide any space for forgiveness, error in
judgement, or for people to learn from their mistakes.
 With “cancel culture” being a controversial topic in a generalized sense, it becomes an even more
controversial discussion when relating to cinema and creative liberties, begging the question:
Is there a justified place in the arts for political correctness? Or should creativity and freedom of
expression reign free from censorship?

The perfect example of someone

who refuses to cater to political
correctness in his art is Quentin
Tarantino. He has been viciously
attacked by keyboard warriors in his
films, most notably for his portrayal of
violence, and even more specifically
for his portrayal of violence against
women. But, while “cancel culture” has
attempted to take him down, he fully
rejects the objections against his work. Tarantino's point of view is that in order to
He is a cinema artist that takes the produce new and exciting cinema, one
stance that nothing should stand must make the movie they want to make,
between you and your creative output. no holds barred.
No one will ever make a movie that pleases everyone, so regardless of if some people don’t
like it, or if some people find it offensive, the most important thing is attuning to your own
creative vision, untainted by censors.

In the same light, actor and musician Donald Glover recently spoke out on Twitter saying
“[I] saw people on here having a discussion about how tired they were of reviewing boring
stuff (tv & film). We’re getting boring stuff and not even experimental mistakes because
people are afraid of getting cancelled.” He brings up an interesting point. From his point of
view, if filmmakers are afraid to follow the path of someone like Tarantino, not even
entertaining the idea of “cancel culture," and their focus becomes primarily how to make a
movie or TV show that won’t offend people, the vivacity of the content will surely diminish.
Not to say that political correctness on a more generalized scale is ruining creativity, for
example blatantly racist or sexist content that is purely offensive. But, rather, the nitpicky
nature of “cancel culture” that harps on someone for using one word in an improper
context, or for portraying a scenario that an infinitesimal population of people MAY find
offensive in order to prevent even one person’s feelings from being hurt.
Opposed to having the
focal point be coming
up with a great story,
Glover is pointing out
that the movement
towards extreme self-
censorship is shifting
the focus to making
content that will please
everyone, which is an
impossible feat...
 Unless you want to end up with a drab and monotonous portrayal of human life.

While a lot of creatives

follow the logic of Glover and
Tarantino, there is a flip side
to the argument. That is,
political correctness and the
subsequent burgeoning
culture may be taking things
to an extreme, but it is a
means to an end for the
ultimate goal of making a
better society.
In an interview, comedian, filmmaker, and musician Bo
Burham said, “Political correctness with young people, for
me, is an over correction for a serious problem like bigotry
and racism. And yeah they’ve swung the other way. And
yeah they’re a little irony-deaf, but I’ll take, like, an irony-
deaf tolerant crowd over a racist crowd that really
understands the workings of comedy and irony.” He goes
on to say that he doesn’t agree with “cancel culture” and
he doesn’t think it’s acceptable to infringe on people’s
freedom of speech or freedom of expression, but for the
most part, the movement is just people jumping on a
bandwagon that is attempting to take down deeply rooted
issues in our society, and even if the pendulum has swung
too far the other way, at least it is swinging in the right
direction.
My personal opinion on this matter is somewhere in the middle.
First and foremost, I feel that creative endeavors shouldn’t be
hindered by the fear of judgement. There is no such thing as an
artistic pursuit that will please everyone, so taking that into
consideration, we as artists need to follow our creative impulses
and tell evocative and thought-provoking stories regardless.
However, I also think a certain level of sensitivity is valuable. While I
won’t subscribe to the picking apart of every minute detail in order
to prevent any hurt feelings, I do think broad strokes of political
correctness, like avoiding blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic, and
offensive material is something to strive for. That isn’t to say
discussion of these issues is wrong or bad, but all around finding
ways to be inclusive of all people, in order to tell everyone’s story
(no exceptions), is what I strive for in my own creative pursuits.
 BIBLIOGRAFIE:

https://screenwritinginla.com/blogs/the-swila-blog/political-correctness-in-film