Idea Generation
How might I address the creative censorship in art and literature?
Address: How to Perform
By addressing censorship, I hope to deliver the message by emphasizing the process of censorship in action. How it slides into our life, and the little changes it brings alter the narrative of the whole story. Making a short clip of the speculative design working in progress, censorship words and information can showcase how censorship works in our daily life.
Outcome: Typeface
Internet users may use symbols, emojis, or alternative characters to convey words or phrases that might be flagged by censorship algorithms. For instance, replacing letters with similar-looking symbols or using homophones can help disguise prohibited content. By implementing a typeface that would change the looks of the word, this could help the creator escape censorship. For example “is it a crime?” to “ is it a cri €me”
Some people may adopt coded language or specific phrases known within a community to discuss sensitive topics without triggering censorship. This requires a shared understanding among users to interpret the intended meaning. For example Chinese internet users uses GFW (great fire wall) to refer to the Chinese internet censorship system instead of addressing it directly.
Censorship: Which Censors
Censor comes in many forms, I would like to address social censors in particular, as it is more of a daily life topic than any other censors. Social censors include religious censorship, cultural censorship, and self- censorship.
Outcomes: Censored Book
This idea is inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer’s tree of codes. Tree of Codes takes the form of a book and was published in 2010. Foer crafted this work by excising the majority of words from Bruno Schulz’s book, The Street of Crocodiles. Foer took his favorite book, Bruno Schulz’s Street of Crocodiles, and by removing words carved out a new story. The book is filled with holes and only desired words are remain to create a new story.
Referencing to his work, I would like to create a similar artefact. By removing words that will be censored in modern age, how would a literature from older times look in today. For example, some words used or content created by authors from the early 1900s would be considered sensitive today. Take Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D.H. Lawrence as an example. The book faces trial in 1960, where Penguin Books was charged with obscenity for publishing an uncensored version of the novel, as it included explicit content and use of words.
Art & Literature: What item
An item that can represent the creative industry, that would also be an actor in the process of censorship. Few items fall into this category, namely pencil, paper, words, and alphabet.
Censoring Pencil
Censored Words
One of the most important things about censorship is where does the censored information go to? With this in mind, I hope to perform the process of censorship with the idea of showcasing both the censored version of the work and the censored word itself.
Mockup
The branding of the pencil will focus of how censorship is being used as a tool daily. It will be used as a critical design to emphasize the modern censorship creative industry are facing. As a pencil, it can be extent to the context of education sectors and creative studios, stating that censorship exist in every aspect of our lives.
The pencil box has the name “Censor Pencil” on the cover with a pencil crossing it out, and inside the box, there is a quote:
Be courageous with your words; sometimes the boldest expressions create the most profound impacts on hearts and minds.
Censorship as a Tool
Censorship has always been a tool for authorities, for good and immoral purpose. To represent the concept of censorship as a tool, I put the censorship in a tool for writing. The metaphor of the tool we are using to create is also a tool for censorship us would deliver the message of censorship is living with us.
Roald Dahl:
Modern Sensitive Words & Literature
Puffin, the publisher of Roald Dahl’s children’s books, undergoes a process of revision to eliminate language considered offensive. Sensitivity readers have been enlisted to modify portions of Dahl’s text, aiming to ensure the books remain enjoyable for contemporary audiences. Substantial changes have been implemented across Dahl’s body of work, involving alterations to character descriptions. In the latest editions, the term “fat” has been removed from relevant books, and the word “ugly” has also been omitted, reflecting the publisher’s commitment to maintaining the books’ appeal while addressing concerns about potentially insensitive language.
Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now described as “enormous”. Gender-neutral terms have been added in places – where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Oompa Loompas were “small men”, they are now “small people.”
Integrated Ideas
The initial ideas were not bad ideas, however I think they are not powerful enough, therefore I choose to take a step further. As those two ideas were good ideas, I do not want to waste the potential it holds, so I integrated the potential of the two into the pencil. While writing, it can censor by changing the alphabet of the words with codes. And after writing, the book will leave a hole in the place for the censored word.
Production Process
Applying paste to the paper filled with censored words and wrapping the lead with the paper, the pencil is will look like a paper stick. Then by sharpening it with a sharpener, the words will be sharpen out.
The video will be used to demonstrate the process of censorship with the censoring pencil. It will starts with the pencil on screen, then I will start writing a with it. When it comes to the censored word, I will cross it out and sharpen the pencil. The video will showcase the sharpened word pieces and the sharpener.
The pencil will be wrapped by a text or a single word:
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Fat: From Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Augustus Gloop becomes enourmous instead of fat.
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Men: From Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the oopma-loompas are small people instead of small men.
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‘Thou shalt have no other gods’ : The Communist China’s bible do not have this as the first commandment.
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Neither do I condemn you; go. : The Communist China’s bible changed what jesus saidd in the scripture.
The pencil will be wrapped by a text or a single word:
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Fat: From Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Augustus Gloop becomes enourmous instead of fat.
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Men: From Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the oopma-loompas are small people instead of small men.
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‘Thou shalt have no other gods’ : The Communist China’s bible do not have this as the first commandment.
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Neither do I condemn you; go. : The Communist China’s bible changed what jesus saidd in the scripture.
