Obscenities and interdiction games

Abstract

The definition to what is an obscene content is closely related to the dynamics of visibility systems. If we understand visible as the frame where an organized hierarquization of contents is possible. The obscene represents, on its turn, the moment of the shock, of an outrage in which the order of the visible is shattered. A curiosity then is grown over what was covered before. We understand that in the same way the meaning of what is obscene guides the normal activity of media contents. In the present article we intend to discuss the definition of visibility and obscenity as privileged categories to deal with the structuring of the selection of information and to deal with processes where such information has to go under a judgment: autorship, legislation, censorship. Our theoretical perspective focuses on issues related to the enunciation dynamics, in which the observed categories are understood as possible ways to say. We do not consider, in such case, the existence of a banned content per se.