Thief of Lives

Fans of Marcus Zusack’s The Book Thief, rejoice! The film hits theatres in November. Both the book and movie feature Nazi censorship and book burnings. You can read more information about the film here.

Graphic Novel Review: March (Book One)

I’ve been feeling like I should do something on my blog for the 50th anniversary of the March On Washington, but I had no idea what to do or say that would do the monumental moment in our history any kind of justice. So I’ll let Reviews by Lantern’s Light take it from here. He says it all better than I could ever manage. Enjoy this excellent and touching review of March.

Reviews by Lantern's Light

I consider myself to be an exceedingly lucky person. I have a loving family and good friends. I’ve never felt the threat of poverty. I was born in a time and place where even with tan skin and unusual features I have rarely felt endangered or even outcast. But, for the moment, I want to talk about one small good fortune from my childhood.

When I was young I took a trip to Washington DC. I was there to visit my uncle, who took us around and showed us some of the sights. My uncle had worked with a number of notable people in Washington and, on a trip to the capital building, we had the good fortune to have one of them come out and say hello.

That man was Congressman John Lewis.

He was obviously busy, but he took a little time to show us around and, finding…

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A Year of Banned Books

Hello, readers! Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my blog. That’s right, we at Bound and Gagged have been bringing you reviews, sharing censorship news, and accidentally showing up in your porn searches for a whole year now.

I’d like to take this chance to thank you, the readers, for taking this journey with me. You made this possible. Well, you and WordPress. And caffeine. It takes a village.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

THE DEFENDANT: Pride of Baghdad, Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon, Vertigo

THE VERDICT: According to the American Library Association, the Huffington Post, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Pride of Baghdad is one of the most frequently challenged graphic novels. Considering the long history of censorship, moral panic, and mistrust/misconception surrounding the medium, that’s quite a feat.

Sex, Drugs, and Television

Let’s talk about sex.

And by sex I mean censorship in Thailand. It seems the show Hormones (a sort of Thai equivalent to the UK’s Skins) is attracting large audiences, as well controversy and the ire of Thailand’s censors. You can read more about the praise and the anxiety surrounding Hormones here.

Woman of Steel, Script of Tissue

I came across this article and thought I’d share. It’s a compelling argument as to why making female characters “strong” is a problem, not a solution. I couldn’t agree more.

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/08/i-hate-strong-female-characters

As the article says, “Nowadays the princesses all know kung fu, and yet they’re still the same princesses. They’re still love interests, still the one girl in a team of five boys, and they’re all kind of the same. They march on screen, punch someone to show how they don’t take no shit, throw around a couple of one-liners or forcibly kiss someone because getting consent is for wimps, and then with ladylike discretion they back out of the narrative’s way.”

Many Waters, Little To No Research

Unofficial subtitle: Flannel in the Desert, and Other Bad Ideas

THE DEFENDANT: Many Waters, Madeleine L’Engle

THE VERDICT: Many Waters has actually been challenged both together with the rest of the Time Quintet series and separately. It doesn’t quite make the list of most-frequently challenged books the way A Wrinkle in Time does, but it has certainly had its share of dissension.

THE CHARGES: The unique controversy of Many Waters comes from its much more overt Christian themes, particularly its decision to re-tell a Torah story with its own fantasy/time-travel spin. The most common challenge to it alleges that “An unofficial version of the story of Noah’s Ark will confuse children” (American Library Association).

THE REVIEW:

On the most basic level, the message of Many Waters is the same as all of L’Engle’s other books: compassion, selflessness and peace are good, greed and violence are bad, and by the way have you considered how awesome angels are? But upon this re-read, I kind of came away with the impression that if you just focus on the plot, the message of the book becomes: “God was angry that there were demons on earth making demon-babies, so he drowned all the unicorns.”

In Franco’s Camazotz

Below is a review of the A Wrinkle in Time movie adaptation. My review of the book can be found here.

REPEAT OFFENDER: A Wrinkle in Time (2003)

THE REVIEW: This made for TV movie took on the ambitious project of adapting an interplanetary speculative adventure with a half-century old fandom. Given that this would be a massive undertaking under the best of circumstances, I give the movie a tip of my hat for ambition. However, execution is another story.