“Star Wars”, “Titanic”, “The Godfather”, these film titles have surely been heard by most if not all movie lovers across the globe. Movies play a big role in the current society that we live in; they give us a people a place to distance ourselves from reality when we are filled with stress or sorrow. These films sometimes give us that inner joy or suspense to help us carry on in our everyday lives. Movies come in many genres, such as comedy, horror, romance, sci-fi and a whole lot more. Every person has his or her own tastes when it comes to movies just like anything else, some like watching horror movies, some despise them, some love watching comedies and some do not. There are millions of films made to date and it seems as though we may not have enough time to watch all of them throughout our lifetime, but even if we did have the time, are we really allowed to watch all these films?
Movies show us all kinds of things, weather it may be true or not it depends on the film itself, but many times a film may contain inappropriate content for people to view. This is where film censorship comes into place. Film censorship comes in various shapes and sizes and which parts of the film gets banned all depends on what the government thinks is inappropriate for the public. Here in Malaysia, we are considered to have one of the world’s strictest forms of media censorship, with approximately a hundred films banned in just the last decade. One major form of film censorship in Malaysia is the censorship of homosexuality. Homosexuality is a part of a community known as LGBT, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Although I do not feel that homosexuality is not a bad thing, LGBT rights here are largely unrecognized in our country as gay marriage is still illegal in Malaysia.
The rating system for movies in Malaysia was introduced back in 1996 and is mainly split into 3 parts, the classification for these 3 are U (Universal), P13 (Parental Guidance 13) and 18 (Aged 18 And Above). The 18 category used to be split in to 4 different categories; these were 18SG (Graphic Violence and Horror/Terror), 18SX (Sexual Content), 18PA (Strong Religious or Political Elements) and 18PL (Various) but are now superseded by the simplified 18 category. According to the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia, it was declared in 2010 that homosexual characters are only allowed to have an appearance in film if they are eventually repented or if they die. Many religions view homosexuality as a sin, but Is homosexuality really that wrong? I thought religion was supposed to help people find themselves and not about being restricted to certain qualities. Personally, I think that being a homosexual or heterosexual is up to the person’s interests itself.
People in Malaysia should stop rejecting homosexuality because even though they may not have the same style of thinking as others, they are still human after all. In the year 1994, the government banned anyone who is homosexual, bisexual or transsexual from appearing on the media even if they are not playing a character that is according to their sexual preferences. This act made me have doubts about how our government does things, why would something or someone be banned from the media if it did not show us anything that would give us a negative depiction on things nor would it change our minds about our authorities for the worst. It might be too late or too hard to have people change their sexual preferences, but it is definitely not too late to change our minds about what we think about the people who have different sexual preferences. Why do we think of homosexual people negatively? It’s not as though being homosexual makes them a bad person, but from what the public thinks, the younger generations might grow up thinking that all homosexuals are bad influences.
I myself may not be a homosexual, but I’m can say that individuals who accept people who are homosexual definitely have a more open-minded personality. I can’t deny that I do have several friends who are homosexual who I didn’t know were gay at first, but that didn’t make me change how I looked at them, yet it made them feel more unique to me. This being said, the behaviors of most homosexual people do not really stand out from other people. Most of them behave just like heterosexual people and we would be unable to distinguish their sexual preferences from others unless they themselves have told us about it, yet in many forms of media, especially film, they are often portrayed as visibly and behaviorally different. Due to the media showing us lies, many stereotypes are created based on what we are shown. This causes the younger generation of people who believe what they see on the media to only view homosexuals as to how they were depicted on screen.
On the 4th of March in the year 2007, a Malaysian film titled “I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone” that was written and directed by Tsai Ming-liang was banned due to the film having 18 counts of indecencies showing the country in a negative way for cultural, ethical and also racial reasons. The film was later allowed to be screened in the country after Tsai agreed to censor parts of the film according to the requirements of the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia. On a more recent case, a Disney film in 2017 was banned due to it having a short scene with a homosexual character in it. This film is known as “Beauty and the Beast” and the whole movie was banned a few days before it was released in cinema due to this short scene. The banning of this film caused a big outrage from the public and the film was eventually unbanned as even some of the authorities think that it was ridiculous to ban a film based on a few seconds that didn’t even showcase a clear representation of homosexuality on screen.
Homosexual families are commonly misinterpreted in media because society often equates sexual orientation with the ability to reproduce. Even though the media have many times depicted homosexuals negatively, it has both benefitted and disadvantaged the LGBT community. With the stereotypical way that the homosexuals are being showed on media, they are more willing to come out and feel better about themselves as the ones who do act alike the way they are depicted on the media know that the public has already seen how a part of them are. Historically, the portrayals of homosexual individuals has mostly been negative and reflect intolerance for them as seen in cultures; however, from the 1990s to the present day, there has been an increase in the depictions of homosexual individuals, issues and concerns within mainstream media.
Yet again I would like to restate that Malaysians should stop rejecting homosexuality. From the point given above we can see that the homosexuals do not mean any harm to our society. Although they might not be able to reproduce by themselves, which is the main reason why homosexuality is rejected, they may still be able to raise a child through adoption or other ways, and its still better than the people who abort babies or discard them in unknown places and leave them to die. The censorship of homosexuality in film gives the public a negative impression on them without knowing that they live their lives just like we do. We as human beings should not judge a person by what they like, but how they act, as this is truly what makes a person a person. In order for our country to advance like how the government would like us to, the current society has to start having a more open mind on things rather than just accepting whatever they have been taught or told.
To summarize things, the way homosexuality is censored or why it is censored at all in Malaysia is absurd. The narrow-mindedness of people have caused homosexual people to feel uneasy about themselves as though they are unable to fit in in our society, while in reality some homosexual people may be better than the people in our current society. Homosexual people could just be viewed as how people from a religion look at other religions, like how people from different religions respect and believe in different things than we do. In the end, homosexual people are just normal people just like the rest of us and thus, there is no reason for us to shun them or view them as inferior to us.