The reverend Donald Wildmon's failed attempt to block distribution of DAMNED IN THE USA certainly reaped its share of headlines, but he needn't have bothered. For a film addressing the censorship debate which has raged in this country during the past few years, Paul Yule's feature is
surprisingly tepid.
Among the mediums under steady attack from the likes of Wildmon's American Family Association, a highly organized and vocal mainstay of the Christian Right, are films, TV, popular music, books, photography, performance art and stand-up comedy. (Appropriately, the film features extensive--if not
particularly incisive--commentary by liberal comedian Jimmy Tingle.) Notables who've been taken to task by the "family values" platform include performance artist Karen Finley, who has been known to smear her nude body with chocolate sauce to make a point, to say nothing of her expertise with
various tubers; Andres Serrano, whose notorious "Piss Christ" photograph incited the wrath of Alfonse D'Amato, who perceived it as an affront to Christians; rap impresario Luther Campbell, whose group 2 Live Crew was brought to court on obscenity charges for their "As Nasty As They Wanna Be"
album; and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose formalist imagery, including a self-portrait featuring the handsome artist with a bullwhip intimately esconded, are denounced as "sickness masquerading as art." (Yule devotes a considerable amount of the film's running time to the closing of the Mapplethorpe
exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Centre in Cinncinati, and the trial on obscenity charges which followed.)
The Far Right seems blind to the idea that the higher purpose of art is to challenge society's values, not uphold them; although the embattled NEA has not always been quick to make the point, free societies aren't supposed to censor art. It's ironic and disturbing that the artists consistently
under attack by organizations like the AFA are the very ones whose work underscores the diversity and richness of contemporary American culture. Then again, cultural complexity is not a concept the AFA embraces. What Wildmon earnestly describes as the "heart and soul of civilization" looks, acts
and sounds suspiciously like a bunch of racist, sexist, homophobic, white Christian heterosexuals. (One of the organization's uglier mandates is to limit the exposure of minorities on TV--if the black population is 12%, they shouldn't represent more than 12% of the characters on our screens!) As
Christie Hefner, the articulate president of Playboy Enterprises (the AFA successfully lobbied the chain of 7-11 convenience stores to stop carrying Playboy magazine) points out, the AFA is just a fringe group--a highly organized fringe group perhaps, but a fringe group nonetheless.
Despite Wildmon's exhortations to the contrary, Yule's film is quite balanced. Wildmon gets plenty of opportunity to express exactly what he feels; if he comes across--even to himself, apparently--as a fool, it's not because the film has been edited with a bias toward the liberal left. But DAMNED
IN THE USA is an unremarkable, if solid, effort, adding little fuel or insight to an important debate. (Adult situations, sexual situations.) leave a comment
