the Comics Code Authority
Warning labels on CDs
The movie rating system
Video game ratings?
Disclaimers such as appearing now on Blazing Saddles and Gone with the Wind. Or such that have appeared for a while on Looney Tunes DVDs.
Note: I had included the term ‘trigger warning’ along with disclaimer, but feel its too loaded so i removed it.
I’m not sure what you are asking or want to have debated.
No.
Take the Comics Code Authority seal, for example. Distributors wouldn’t distribute comics without the seal to retailers, and most retailers wouldn’t sell comics without the seal. The CCA was an industry self-regulatory body, but it was only instituted under direct Congressional pressure and threats of regulation and censorship. In the CCA’s heyday, which was also pre-internet, if I as a consumer wanted a non-CCA-approved comic book, I had to go to a “direct market” outlet or order directly from the publisher. Pre-internet, that could be quite difficult. If a publisher wanted to sell non-CCA-approved comics, they were effectively shut out of 90%+ of the market. It wasn’t technically government censorship, but it came pretty close.
By contrast, disclaimers such as the one on “Blazing Saddles” are being placed by the rights holders or distributors themselves, not a regulatory body, and they are responding to market pressures to do so, not government pressure. And no internet provider is going to block the Disney+ website for streaming a movie without a disclaimer.
Not to mention that warnings or disclaimers are just providing information for the end user, they are not limiting anything. No one is refusing to stock Blazing Saddles the way Walmart wouldn’t carry music that was labeled with a Parental Advisory.
I will say that, from what I’ve read, the one on Blazing Saddles comes across as rather condescending, though, and totally misses why people might find its language offensive. It’s not that people don’t know it’s a joke, or that the bigots are being condemned. It’s that the word still carries hurtful baggage simply when used. The word is rarely used today in film, even when mocking racism, so it makes sense to give a bit of warning for those it might hurt.
While some other pieces of art actually have offensive messaging, all Blazing Saddles really needs is a content warning lest people think that “fuck” is the worst word in it.
Thanks all