That Other Category: Comics Code Circa 1954 and Today

Censorship in any media is never a good thing when done on a broad scale, partially because putting any legal restrictions on speech is bad, but mostly because the people who write the rules often go way beyond anything remotely sane as far as what actually needs to be censored.  An amusing example of such ridiculousness that I found lying around in a common web place (Wikipedia) is the Comic Magazine Association of America's original Comics Code of 1954 which I feel deserves modern commentary and criticism.

So first to explain this whole thing a bit:

Now that that's out of the way let's examine the 1954 comics code:

"Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals."

If you are the type of author who likes their villains to kick puppies and tie women to rail road tracks exclusively, then you'd have no problem with this rule; unfortunately, most people, myself included, like quality villains with depth and character, which this clause pretty much ruins in one quick sentence (which is actually it's own type of impressive now that I think about it).

If you take into account the attitude of the era, that comic books were entertainment for children, then I actually find this clause to be offensively immoral because it forces comic books to teach children that all the bad guys of the world are inhuman monsters that you should never have sympathy for in any way, shape, or form, and that all members of law enforcement are incorruptible paragons of virtue and apple pie.  Not that I think that the opposite extreme of this is true either, (no amount of a bad background excuses every crime and police corruption tends to be fairly rare) but not being able to paint a realistic picture of the world and the people in it makes for poor lessons to teach anyone, children or otherwise.

"If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity."

While a crime is usually not a good thing, being forced to portray it in a bad light regardless of circumstance ties the author's hands as far as several story elements go.  The inability to portray a crime as pleasant or clean eliminates the ability to portray the gray of a situation in some instances, or even the corrupting side of crime, which can make for a more interesting and entertaining story.

Inaccuracy in the portrayal of how certain crimes in order to demonize them can create a situation where a child's pre-conceived beliefs are easily shattered because they are built on what is ultimately seen as lies, which has the opposite effect of what is intended by this guideline.

"Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation."

 Trying to avoid this one can be a bit tricky for any author, as "glamorous" is a very largely a matter of opinion, meaning that doing a lot of more interesting things with villains will be out of the question for fear that a censor may think your villain too sympathetic or successful.

"In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds."

This is probably the worst clause in this code as far as a continuing series goes, as your hero is forced to never fail and your villain is forced to always be caught.  Without the freedom of the author to surprise you at the end of each story, a series gets stale and predictable rather quickly.

Having the good guy win every time sets a child reading these books up for disappointment when he figures out that just being in the right is not always enough in this world.  The partial or complete success of a villain in a story can actually be used to teach a child several lessons that are much harder to teach if you're forced to have the good guy win in somewhere around twenty pages or so of story.

"Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated."

This may sound odd, but to some extent I actually think this part of the code should be followed if you are an author and your story doesn't properly justify the violence as anything other than EXTREME for the sake of being EXTREME.  I think this should just be a self enforced rule of discipline rather than any solid law, as good writing can express profound points through the appropriate use of graphic images in certain situations; though at the same time it is often appreciated if said violence doesn't quickly turn into gore porn.  Also, if you're comic has said violent scenes, like ripping a Greek deity of war in half and showing entirely too much of the insides, make sure your comic is rated something higher than 13+(morons)(The previous sentence is in reference to this).

"No comic magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title."

 Other words that should not go in comic book titles: Super, Spider, Adventures of, Sensational, Spectacular, Savage, Fury of, of, Man, a, the, words with a number of letters divisible by 3.43221, hyphens, Four, characters not from the English alphabet, nouns, verbs, and titles.

"All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted."

 Trying to portray a three dimensional villain was already challenging under the previous parts of the code, but this part makes it so they can't even portray the villain as having major negative character traits or an interestingly tragic background.  The horror clause is particularly bad, as what constitutes horror and what constitutes simple suspense can sometimes be fine lines.

"Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader."

 The major reason most people do evil is precisely because the evil choice is an alluring alternative; no one would want to rob a bank that's giving money away for free.  If you give a young audience the idea that the right choice will always be just as easy as the wrong one, then when they will be ill prepared for the temptations that actually await them in life.

"Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited."

Vampire, werewolf, and zombie are too often used now a days as a way of quickly throwing various traits onto characters, but there is still the potential for original and good content involving these classic concepts if the author uses enough imagination and creativity.

"Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden."

Said language and symbolism is very useful for portraying a character and their moods, as well as portraying the nature of a desperate situation quickly, none of which matters to your average ridiculous attempts at knee jerk censorship.

"Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities."

 I wish more artists would keep this idea in mind, at least to some extent, as while the super model framed woman with a bust size that defies the alphabet is nice to look at for the male part of the audience, variety of appearance, outside of outfit and hairstyle differences, helps visually distinguish characters, which helps the reader identify the character faster; not that having a few scantly clad super models running around is a bad thing, but having that be every female character is a bit on the side of tasteless.

"All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated."

and

"Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure."  

and 

"Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable."

and

"Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable."

and 

"Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested."

 and

"Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden."

 and

"Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals."

Like extreme violence, all of the above is good when used right and bad when used just for the sake of being used and an author can actually benefit a little from the use of some restraint when it comes to these things, though such restraint should never be forced upon anyone.