In
the Telegraph, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber talks about the restrictive effect
political correctness is having on creativity. Referring to “Jesus Christ
Superstar,” he wonders:
“I look back at when I was younger and ask myself [today] would I have written an opera with Tim Rice? So many people nowadays are obsessed with things offending people. Today people say you can't do this because it will offend that community, and then you can't say this because the Muslims will be offended by it and we'll end up being talked out of it. Talked out of ideas. Whereas when I was 20 I didn't think about those things - you could just do it.”
Of course that musical was controversial at the time, meeting with protests by Christian groups who considered it blasphemous and Jewish groups who thought it was anti-Semitic.
I think he’s right and the most insidious aspect of this is the self-censorship that becomes automatic to the point where you don’t even know you’re doing it. I felt that creeping in when I was writing for TV in Hollywood—an idea comes up that might be controversial and part of your mind immediately censors it because you know that somewhere along the line a network executive is going to want to smooth that out. Sadly, the things that are most interesting usually are the first to go. You have to consciously be alert to that internal censor and shut it up. At least that way somebody else will be the one stifling you, you won’t be doing it yourself!
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