One popular reading of the film is its focus on demythicizing the outlaws as courageous freedom-fighters by portraying the rebels as dirty thugs. However, a totally opposite reading can link the film to the 1956 Hungarian uprising, which was also suppressed. With this theory, the film represents those in power maintaining their position through violent, dictorial means by showing the cold, cruel mechanisms the oppressors use to keep control.

Description of Incident: Seeing the possible political message, bureaucrats tried to play down the legitimacy of this interpretation. They gave the party newspaper orders to only give the movie bad reviews. They also forced the director to make a statement that his film had nothing to do with the 1956 uprising (Which actually brought attention to that fact.)

Results of Incident: When the film gained international acclaim, the bureaucrats needed to change their strategy. They praised the film but tried to shift focus from the theme of the oppressors to the debunking of the mythology of the rebels, making that into the only correct interpretation.

Description of Incident: Although "Africa addio" won awards in Italy, African and some European governments considered the film racist and had it banned.

South Africa, however, screened the film under special "Europeans only" restrictions. They also removed scenes of Africans being killed and of any discussion of the future of South Africa. The government saw this as a propaganda tool to enforce the idea that South Africa would be ruined if it fell into the hands of black people.

Results of Incident: After the Soweto uprising in 1976, the film was released again in South Africa. Despite liberal critics recognizing the use of the movie as propaganda, it continued to be shown and was once again restricted to white people.

Description of Incident: John Huston, director of "The Maltese Falcon" and film noir as a genre, had faced censorship before in having had to tone down his film by suggesting violence rather than showing it. However, his biggest run-ins with censors came while he was working as a documentary filmmaker for the army in the second World War.

His first film, "The Battle of San Pietro" was so emotionally powerful in it's scenes of death and destruction (Even though much of it was reenacted footage) that the screening staff ordered it be repressed. However, General George Marshell intervened and had the film released.

The second movie, "Let There be Light," was not so lucky. This documentary followed soldiers with psychological damage through their therapy until their discharge. In 1946, military police confiscated the film during a preview showing. The army's reason was that not all the music had been cleared and that some patients did not sign release forms. The true cause is more likely that the army did not like the way Huston portrayed the subject matter. They did not want to worry the public about the psychological effects of war. The army later released another movie on the same topic using actors instead of real soldiers.

Results of Incident: The film was withheld from the public until 1980, when the Motion Picture Association of America convinced the government to release it.

Description of Incident: Husayn had four separate charges placed against him for attacking Islam. These involved questioning the authority of the Qur'an, suggesting it may have been altered by various tribes, and by denying that Islam has precedence over all other religions. The calls were for Husayn to be brought to trial and be kicked out of the university where he was a professor.

Results of Incident: The charge of undermining the authority of the Qur'an was found to be valid, but the other charges were dropped for being scholarly matters rather than religious. The charges were dropped due to lack of criminal intent, which was nessecary to convict over religious offenses.

Husyan offered to resign at his univerity, but the offer was rejected. His book was banned but he later revised it and deleted offensive passages. In 1932, the government removed him as dean from his school because of his book, but he was reinstated in 1934.

Description of Incident: In 1940 the PCA disapproved the film over the implied rape of Rio by Billy and the open sexual relationships she shared with both Billy and Doc. Above all, the last third of the movie featured Rio (played by Jane Russell) in a low cut blouse, exposing cleavage. The PCA denied giving Hughes their seal of approval. After numerous meetings with the PCA, Hughes went to the MPDDA, who agreed to give him the PCA seal if he deleted about a minute of footage from the movie.

He did not release the film until 1943. Promotional billboards read, "SEX HAS NOT BEEN RATIONED," and How would you like to tussle with Russell, while showing Russell wearing her famous blouse. Critics quickly deemed it immoral, but the movie was a major success. He re-released the film in 1946 and again it was a hit, even in religious areas such as Kansas City.

Results of Incident: In 1947 the film was blocked from all PCA theaters due to Hughes not holding up the agreement. However, he still played the film at art houses and independent theaters, as well as seeing an easy, uncut release in Europe. "The Outlaw" continued its success, despite lack of a PCA seal.

Description of Incident: It was common practice in the 1930's to seek approval from friendly countries when a script featured their activities. The Turkish Embassy in London protested the creation of the film on the grounds that the Turks were represented as tyrants and oppressors. The British Foreign Office could not legally stop the production of the film, but the did try to influence Korda to cancel the project. They toyed with ideas such as knighting him as a bribe, but ultimately chose to persuade the BBFC that the film would be problematic.

Results of Incident: In 1938, Korda was informed by the BBFC that in addition to major changes that would need to be made to the Turks, there was no guarantee that the producers of the film would be certified.

Upon hearing a very negative outlook, Korda cancelled the film.

Description of Incident: before crist

Results of Incident: cools boys

Description of Incident: Hone was arrested for publishing his pamphlet, "A parody on the late John Wilkes's Catechism of a Ministeral Member." The Attorney General worried that he might be acquitted on charges of sedition so he changed the charges to be blasphemy, arguing that Hone was attacking the Catholic Church.

Results of Incident: Despite poor health, Hone was forced to give three speeches in the three days of the trial, each over 6 hours in length. He defended himself so well that the jury needed no more than 15 minutes to declare him not guilty, despite a biased judge. Hone had to go to trial two more times over his pamphlets and was acquitted on both occasions.

George Cruikshank, too, saw run ins with the government and was paid one hundred pounds not to portray the king in any "immoral situation."

For the most part, however, the show made efforts to avoid controversy. There was no explicit sexuality according to the few who were able to see it.

Description of Incident: The show had been delayed due to concerns about offending Catholics. While open to select politicians and journalists, it was never opened to the public. Mayor Letizia Moratti ordered that two pieces ("Miss Kitty" and another which places Jesus Christ in a famous photo of a transgender prostitute) be removed. Organizers agreed to this, but when the mayor decided to cut 10 more pieces and limit access to those over 18 years of age, they decided to cancel the show.

Results of Incident: Milan Culture Councillor Vittorio Sgarbi said that it would be better to cancel the show and move it to another city than to accept such a watered down version. Newspapers reported that there was a lack of homosexuality in the exhibit after the censorship. It was never opened to the public.

Description of Incident: Hikmet had already fled Turkey once under threat of arrest when he printed socialist ideas in a magazine, but returned in 1928. During this time he was harassed by police and was rarely out of jail. However, he continued to write his poetry. In 1938, military cadets were found reading his poems and Hikmet was charged of trying to incite an army revolt. These poems were Anti-Nazi and Anti-Franco. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Results of Incident: International protests by famous Communist sympathizers like Pablo Picasso, the Soviet Union awarding him with the World Peace Prize in 1949, and his declining health led the Turkish government to release Hikmet in 1951. However, when he was to be forced to complete his military service (Which being in prison prevented him from doing) at age 50, he fled the country to Moscow.

Description of Incident: In summer of 1877, Anthony Comstock arrested Heywood on the charges of mailing obscene publications. He was found guilty after a brief trial in Boston and sent to prison for two years.

Results of Incident: Shortly afterwards, the National Defense Association began a campaign to free Heywood. The pamphlet was brought to the attorney general, who analyzed it and found it not obscene. President Hayes pardoned Heywood and declared that it was no crime to advocate the abolition of marriage.

However, a year later, D.M. Bennett, a publisher of a free-thought paper, was arrested by Comstock for distributing Cupid's Yoke through a mail order campaign. This time censors from the Society for the Suppression of Vice of New York wrote in to President Hayes, describing the pamphlet as "Advocating indiscriminate intercourse" and being destructive to the "moral, physical, and spiritual life of youth." A pardon was not granted for Bennett.

Description of Incident: Heine began to see his published work censored in 1820, but due to loopholes concerning censorship procedures, was often able to avoid it. In 1835, however, the German censorship laws were changed by the Bundestag. Now, not only could Heine not avoid having his work edited, but Prussia had even banned his unpublished materials. In 1836 he complained to the Federal Assembly that their actions were unjust and that he had a right to his own intellectual property. This complaint went unheard.

At the same time, papal authorities put his works on trial and judged them in secret. In late 1836, the pope announced that many of Heine's works were now banned, forbidding all faithful Catholics to read his texts. No reason was given for this ban other than the fact that it was God's word, so reasons were unneeded. It is now understood that the Vatican was also influenced by an Austrian chancellor, Clemens Metternich, who brought Hein to their attention because of his own fear of Heine's social messages and popularity with the public.

Results of Incident: Heine left Germany voluntarily, but in 1840, after seeing poems he published in Paris, the government had him officially exiled and forbidden to return. The ban from the Vatican was lifted in 1867, over ten years after Heine died in 1856, but his works continued to be controversial in Germany. In 1933, his writing was targeted to be burned by the Nazis and later his works sparked debates between East and West Germany where he was misinterpreted by both sides.

Description of Incident: During the 1930's, Iranian clergymen did not hold official political power, but their opinions were highly regarded and carried political weight. In 1936, when Hedayat tried to publish the novel, he was told it could be done only if he removed certain atheist passages. He refused and went to India where the book was published and sent to other countries.

In 1941, Iran's new shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, removed all censorship restrictions and the book was brought to Iran, where it became a best seller.

After Hedayat's death, the book was banned again. In 1979, with the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the work was considered anti-religious and the publisher was put on trial.

Results of Incident: The book remained banned until 1993, when it was allowed to be published if heavily censored. These edits were worse than the ones originally proposed, as they cut not only religious passages, but anything remotely sexual as well.

Description of Incident: Members of the Russian Orthodox Church have staged rallies against the exhibit in which they tried to attach stickers saying, "This is filth" to the building before police stopped them. Now they are prompting charges of abuse of religious symbols.

In 2003, the museum had similar charges brought against it over it's show, "Caution: Religion" which featured similar works blending pop culture with religion. For that incident they were fined.

Results of Incident: The Museum is currently under investigation to see if it meant to incite ethnic or religious hatred.

Description of Incident: The exhibit was closed after protests from the public and a court case was opened on the grounds of promoting religious hatred.

Results of Incident: Ter-Oganyan fled to the Czech Republic where he lived in refugee camps without citizenship. The Russian government ordered him to be arrested if he ever tried to cross the border back into the country.