Remediation by Defne Bilir

The author states that, “ Books are not censored as strictly as film and television because for our visual culture the written word does not have the immediacy that a moving picture has” (Bolter and Grusin 100).

Since the authors do not mention about the ideological aspect of the censorship and also they do not back up their statements, this one is the most provocative quote for me.

First of all, books are the oldest form of media so far. As we all know, this form initiated after the invention of the printing press. So, books are also the longest form of media so far. The authors compare the book and film and television in terms of censorship and state that books are not censored as strictly as film and television. For today, this statement might be right since the members of today’s societies do not embrace the reading of book as much as in the past. However, the issue is more complicated than this comparison. If we consider about the history and the functions of books in the long term, we should not forget the events such as “book burning” took place especially during the Middle Ages, where books written by women authors where banded or burned. Margery Kempt is a good example of it. We should also remember that the Bible was canonized. Thus, leaving out other authors and their texts. Omission represents a form of censorship. I believe that even today, we cannot compare the books and film and television in terms of censorship. Censorship is related to politics, ideology, power, and sometimes religion. No matter whether it is a book or a film or a TV show, if it disturbs the ideological structure of a society, most likely it would be censored. For example, many books have been omitting by certain institutions such as the public school system as well as the universities and colleges. Because board members do not like certain authors and their “controversial ideas.”