What is the purpose of censorship? (hays code,watershed,music videos)

What is the purpose of censorship?

Censorship is to provide guidelines in media texts and to block out explicit content from the viewer.
This is so the viewer doesnt get offended by any content that could be seen as derogatory in anyway or holds any explicit content, becasue of this The Hays Code was introduced.

The Hays Code was introduced in the 1930's as a Motion Picture Production Code it was named this as Hollywood's chief censor of the time was Will H. Hays,these codes were a set of rules that censorship guidelines followed.
So this meant the Hays Code decided what we viewed they made sure what was to be shown was to be censored as things that was seen as too explicit would curropt are youth and change peoples ideas and views.  The type of things that wasnt excepted and they would censor out would be: Sex relationships between the white and black     races, The use of the flag in a bad way, Arson, Firearms, Theft, Brutality, gruesomeness, murder, smuggling, Prostitution. The Hays Code was enforced in 1934 but later abandoned in 1968 due to The MPPA film rating system,this is what we follow today ed movies rated from U/PG-18 and R Rated.

A Watershed is when programs with adult aspects may be broadcast at a certain time.
It divides the day into the overnight sections where family oriented programming for a younger audience may be aired and where programming aimed at adult audience is shown, though not required.
Examples of adult content include, but are not limited to, graphic violence, strong language, nudity, secual scenes and drug use.
 In most countries, the same set of rules also applies to radio commercials and tv commercials, both for the content of the commercial and the nature of the product or service being advertised.

Today there is quite a heavy censorship on music videos especialy on MTV.MTV had concored number of music videos to remove references in lyrics to drugs,sex, nudity, violence, racism, homophobia, and completely removing or editing out the swearwords.MTV will also censor any content that is a concern to copyright holders. here are some examples:
"express your self" by N.W.A censored the words "i have a dream" when the group goes through the banner with the statement  while Dr.Dre began rhyming.
When the music video for "paper planes" by M.I.A. was released on MTV, the word "weed" was removed from the second verse, and the gunshot sounds that are heard in the chorus were replaced with cash register sounds in order to remove references to murder. Also, the singer's vocals were edited to take away from the song's mature content. This angered M.I.A. greatly, and she publicly spoke out against the censorship of the song on her Myspace blog.
The issue with this is that this doesnt approve to every music station and some show the un censored versons which is free for younger ages to watch,also things like youtube being able to upload any music video and having accounts such as vevo have made it harder to censor for all contries as it depends on where you are in the world.  

Discuss the way in which cameron has used binary opposition to create meaning in titanic.

In the extract we watched , Cameron uses binary opposition to show the difference between the rich and poor.  He does this by showing Rose arriving in a gold plated car which denotes wealth and is symbolic to high class showing her,and her family have power and wealth.  As she steps out the car she looks up at the boat with the sun shining down on her face again creating emphisis on her class and power and making her seem like a god-like figure.  

As the camera is focused on Rose she is wearing a purple hat,this again signifies wealth showing she is upper class.  The colour of the purple hat is very clean and the sun shining down shows how it is almost looking brand new and expensive, this connotes to the viewer that she is a strong character that will stand out. This is then juxtaposed with the use of iconography where as the first part of Jack the audience is him in a smoky room playing poker,dirty hands and messy hair and the only hat that is being worn is his french friends which looks like an old dirty chimney sweeper style hat this is an iconic sign that connotes that he is from the working class.

Also in the very opening we are introduced to the binary opposition between old and new.  The first clip shown is the sunken ship and then the camera pans to show the ship as if it were in 1912. Another binary oppostion between between old and new we see is between Rose and her mother. Her mother seems to be impressed with the ship, where as, Rose is uninterested and compares it to a previous boat she has been on and seems to feel as if its not a new expeirence and its just another boat trip.

Another Binary opposition Cameron used is as the passengers are boarding the ship the lower class and the upper class, because on one hand the lower class citozens are boarding at the bottom of the ship where it’s coloured black which connotes dirt and grime where as the upper class are boarding on the top of the ship which is white which connotes happiness/bliss and purity/clean. This is because people in the upper class can clean wash and dont have to work. On the other hand, lower class usually worked in factories and could not afford many clothes or even wash where as Rose wears very clean new clothes. Also, the lower class have to do health inspections before boarding to check for lice and even desises.  The upper class do not need to do this as they are expected to be clean.  Also, the lower class are wearing browns and blacks which again connotes to the impression that they are dirty as they cannot afford nice fresh coloured clothes that have to be dyed and stains/dirt are not seen on darker clothing.

SEMIOTICS

Semiotics is the study of signs,this allows us to understand the meenings of objects in media text. Signs are linked,this create the bigger picture and leads us to have personal interpretations of the signs which are decoded or interpreted. 

Polysemic

Polysemic is to have more than one meaning. Polysemy shows us that certain signs can be: 'ironic' 'symbolic' and 'ideixical' this is the effect it has on the viewer and for what reason.

Denotation - What the literal meaning of the sign is.
Connotation - What the interpreted meaning of the sign is.

Signifier - Object it's self

Signified - what it represents

For example the signifier:a red rose is a red rose (the object alone),but signified is what it can be representated as,a sybol for love,passion and romanticism.