After a long day of school, homework and extra-curriculars, I almost always sit down with my family to watch the previous night’s late night talk shows. It’s a great way to get a recap of the news, along with some added humor and insights. One of my favorites, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was recently in the news for a different reason. The show was canceled without warning. Many attribute this cancellation to a controversial deal between President Trump and the show’s parent company, Paramount+ (where Paramount paid a 16 million dollar settlement to Trump). Several media figures were concerned that this was evidence of government involvement in the media, as Colbert’s monologue frequently covers political news and has been critical of the current administration, and the settlement in particular. These concerns were exacerbated by the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after comments he made about the Charlie Kirk shooting.
These incidents bring forth new concerns about censorship, reminding us of books like 1984, A Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale. In my history class, I’ve studied the Communist Soviet Union (before Gorbachev) and East Germany after the second World War. Just this weekend, I watched the 2006 German movie, The Lives of Others. This movie focuses on a Stasi agent in East Berlin in 1984. He is tasked with monitoring a playwright who, though having done nothing wrong, is suspected of having Western sympathies and alliances. The Stasi agent follows him, bugs his apartment and listens to all his private conversations. The goal of the Stasi at that time in East Berlin was to quash any dissent or criticism of the socialist government. Everything you said or did was watched and recorded and could be used to destroy and discredit you.
Perhaps one of the most famous works dealing with censorship is Fahrenheit 451. CET (Community Ensemble Theatre) has chosen this as their fall production. For CET director Emily Wilson-Tobin and the CET crew, they felt that Fahrenheit 451 was the right choice given today’s political climate. The play touches on themes of censorship and authoritarian regimes.
Fahrenheit 451 is a frequently banned book, written in 1953 by Ray Bradbury. The book centers around Guy Montag, a firefighter in a dystopian society where reading becomes the enemy and people are suppressed by the government. Montag begins to question his life, job and the existing system after a young neighbor shows him a different perspective.
Wilson-Tobin believes that the dystopian future portrayed in Fahrenheit 451 is closer to being our reality than it should be. In looking beyond just the characters and plot, the central themes serve as an important warning of the dangers of censorship and restricting free thought.
“What we have to remember is that Fahrenheit 451 is more than a novel about burning books,” Wilson-Tobin said. “It’s also a story about people losing the ability to interact meaningfully with each other and the suppression of original ideas and stories.”
Wilson-Tobin talks about how the reason Fahrenheit 451 was banned in the first place was because it challenged traditional ideals, especially with respect to religion. So Wilson-Tobin and the CET crew wanted to bring it back to encourage conversations on not only our current political climate, but also the importance of art, creativity, the freedom to explore our interests and to openly express our views and beliefs.
With all the talk about cancel culture, censorship and the limiting of the press, I think it is important and valuable to look at works of the past and appreciate the message they are telling us: the struggle between those in power and those who report and critique them is a constant one. For me, this means we all have a responsibility to stay informed and speak out when we see something that is not right or any freedoms being challenged.
