Friday The 13th Censorship: Comics Versus Films
The comic realm may very well be the last great media for an artist and writer to express their thoughts and talents without the constant censorship that usually is associated with motion pictures or television. Superhero and horror comics are able to convey core story elements in a graphic nature that normally could not be told or shown in a motion picture. Adding Jason Voorhees into such a media is the perfect blend of genre and creativity.
There have been many comics released with Jason Voorhees as the main character within the last eight or so years and some people may find the gore and violence contained within those comics shocking compared to what is released on the silver screen. In fact, this writer has been blown away by a few pages that I have viewed, but not in a bad way. I actually wish the films in the series were allowed to keep this much creativity in developing the over the top death sequences.
The question that gets asked a lot about Jason and Friday the 13th comics is why can illustrated tales of death and destruction go left untouched by censors, but the filmmakers in the motion picture business constantly be badgered into reducing their vision to half of what was intended. I guess the question is do we really want to see some of the violent acts depicted in the comics (like some of the pictures featured in this post) in a film for people to watch in motion? It really should be up to the viewer if they can stomach the adventures of Jason in this extreme environment.
One has to wonder, if a kid can stroll down to a local comic store and pick up one of these comics for a couple of dollars without censorship, then why does the MPAA push so hard to restrict those same kids from paying more money to see the same type of violence in cinema? I applaud the comic creators and love the Jason comics that have been produced as they are a lot of fun to read. Perhaps one day the general viewing audience will have the actual freedom to make the choice to see comic type violence in a movie theater?
There have been many comics released with Jason Voorhees as the main character within the last eight or so years and some people may find the gore and violence contained within those comics shocking compared to what is released on the silver screen. In fact, this writer has been blown away by a few pages that I have viewed, but not in a bad way. I actually wish the films in the series were allowed to keep this much creativity in developing the over the top death sequences.
The question that gets asked a lot about Jason and Friday the 13th comics is why can illustrated tales of death and destruction go left untouched by censors, but the filmmakers in the motion picture business constantly be badgered into reducing their vision to half of what was intended. I guess the question is do we really want to see some of the violent acts depicted in the comics (like some of the pictures featured in this post) in a film for people to watch in motion? It really should be up to the viewer if they can stomach the adventures of Jason in this extreme environment.
One has to wonder, if a kid can stroll down to a local comic store and pick up one of these comics for a couple of dollars without censorship, then why does the MPAA push so hard to restrict those same kids from paying more money to see the same type of violence in cinema? I applaud the comic creators and love the Jason comics that have been produced as they are a lot of fun to read. Perhaps one day the general viewing audience will have the actual freedom to make the choice to see comic type violence in a movie theater?
