The topic of stifling expressions facilitated three days of conferences at CSULB were scholars explored the occurrences of censorship within America.
The event was entitled “Drawing the Line(s): Censorship and
Cultural Practices,” and was orchestrated by the department of Comparative
World Literature and Classics. The event gathered academic scholars and practitioners
in order to discuss censorship. Material covered pertained to movies, the first
amendment and many other topics. Admission was free.
“This conference will show the students that what the faculty members do on a scholarly level begins at their level,” said Nhora Serrano, a conference organizer from the department of Comparative Literature and Classics.
At the conference, the subject of censorship and children
was a repeating motif. Samantha Rosso, a CSULB student wrote a paper entitled: “Keeping
it PG: Making Myths More Appropriate.” Rosso talked about the editing of
classic Greek and Roman myths in order to make them suitable for children.
“It’s a tragedy to a child’s appropriate journey,” Rosso
said about censorship and the alterations made to the moral
lessons of Hercules, Aphrodite, and Zeus.
Jason Schulman, a graduate student from Emory University wrote
a paper entitled: “The Red Flag Case Revisited: Young Communists and the First
Amendment,” where he addressed issues of censorship in the context of protecting
American children.
“Censorship is all about power dynamics, who makes the
rules, who has the power, because the line is artificial,” Schulman said. When
Schulman read his paper, he talked of an American summer camp teacher, Yetta
Stromberg, whose prosecution derived from the raising of a communist flag at a
youth camp in California.
Schulman notes that the Supreme Court determined Stromberg
had her first amendment rights violated when the state tried to fulfill its
motive to censor children from communist influences.
