5 The News Issue 9 -October 2023 well as democratic action: why paint when you can protest? This leaves the topic of controversial media in a strange limbo: it is no longer the primary vehicle of pushing boundaries and representing the unseen, and yet it remains prominent and challenged nonetheless. I would argue that the modern place of controversial media is twofold: Firstly, matters of principle. The previously mentioned ‘The Bluest Eye’ was mentioned, not because it gave any revolutionary message or walked ground previously untouched in literature, but because it was challenged on the basis of principle: the idea that ‘we cannot allow a text so depraved to be openly read’. Challenging media stands in the opposite direction as before. Rather than pushing boundaries, it is used to draw lines in the sand and set boundaries. An example of this is ‘Maus’ (1986), which was banned in Russia in 2015 for its cover artwork, depicting a modified swastika. ‘Maus’ was controversial, not primarily as a radical text, but as an example of a line being drawn – a line which Russia firmly drew at swastikas. The second, and perhaps more lighthearted, purpose of controversial media today is to illuminate past schools of thought, and how we have progressed from them since. The most accessible example of this would be the classic ‘Bond’ films, which have received harsh criticism for their stereotypical and misogynistic portrayal of women. People have defended the ‘Bond’ films however, as a product of their time, which serve as an example of how our perception of women in cinema has evolved and grown into something far more positive. Controversial media is in no way defunct or irrelevant – that is the opposite of what I want to convey. The most important point to stress is that its role has changed, for better or for worse. It occupies a different place in society than it has in the past, no longer serving as a voice for the silenced, but as a reminder of ideas and doctrines best excluded from modern society. The best example of this, much like the beginning of this article, comes from my time in ‘The Producers’: brushing shoulders with the most stereotypical portrayal of a gay man I have seen to date, whilst dressed in a ridiculous outfit myself, all I could think to myself was ‘Thank God we no longer think this way!’ "Brushing shoulders with the most stereotypical portrayal of a gay man I have seen to date, whilst dressed in a ridiculous outfit myself, all I could think to myself was ‘Thank God we no longer think this way!’ " Protests in February 2023 following the banning of Toni Morrison's controversial book "The Bluest Eye" by Pinellas County Schools. Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales' (1387) is an early example of challenging literature, satirising the conventions of Middle Age society. 'The City and the Pillar' (1948) was American writer Gore Vidal's first major novel, and was virtually unprecedented for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay protagonist, in turn making Vidal something of a pariah.
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