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Steinbeck and South Park
As I was beginning to write my blog entry, I turned on South Park for a little background entertainment. The episode that came on was, ironically enough, a sort of homage to the Grapes of Wrath. I watched, delaying my blog writing and somewhere in my mind I began to draw a correlation between society's criticism of Steinbeck's novel in the 1930's and society's criticism of South Park today.
In 1939, the Kern County board of supervisors officially banned Grapes of wrath from its libraries and its schools, stating that the piece of literature has "offended our citizenry by falsely implying that many people are a low, ignorant, profane, blasphemous type living in a vicious and filthy manner, and WHEREAS, Steinbeck presents our public officials, law enforcement office and civil administrators, business men, farmers, and ordinary citizens as inhumane vigilantes, breathing class hatred and divested of sympathy or human decency." They go on to say that the Grapes of Wrath is "filled with profanity, lewd, foul, and obscene language unfit for American homes." And so it was banned.
I think there are many in authority positions today who would have very similar arguments against South Park as the Kern County board of supervisors had against Grapes of Wrath.
Why are we, as a society, so afraid of the truth? A ban on books and television is a banning of intellectual freedom. How strange it is that we are not allowed to see in the pages of a book or on the screen what we already see in life every day. Granted, South Park has not been banned from network television, but there are schools, parents, teachers, etc. who have set their own personal bans on the show.
Going back to Steinbeck's novel in particular... why was his book so controversial? Because it was true. Sure it was fiction, but sometimes there's more truth in fiction. Steinbeck's novel displayed the harshness of the human condition at the time, as well as the economic and social realities of the local government and there were a large number of people at the time who did not want to confront reality.
Out Californee Way
I agree with your point that the truth, even when embellished to some extent can cause alarm to many people. When facing reality, some people are just so insecure that they prefer to live in illusions because it provides a more safe, secure environment for them. Change is hardenough to adapt to, so for those that feel overwhelmed by it or do not want to cause in uprising in society they resort to some kind of censorship. It was funny how you mentioned South Park because I remember when it first started out it was also very controversial, the high usage of cussing, violence, and crude humor in every episode. Although these were negative aspects, every episode nonetheless discussed a current topic of society at that time.
Here's a clip of the South Park Episode that alludes to the Grapes of Wrath.