Film Censorship

Like all cultural products, films have always been implicated in ideology. This was never truer than the period in America between the beginning of WWII in 1937 and the end of the Cold War in 1991. During this time (in 1947) the HUAC or House Committee on Un American Activities held a hearing lasting nine days to uncover those with Nazi ties within the United States. After the committee blacklisted several producers, writers and directors, the state intervened saying that Hollywood was directly responsible as a producer of ideology for domestic and foreign consumption. It was this complicity that essentially silenced the war.

Birth of a Nation was a film that broke several artistic boundaries in the film industry yet was seen as the most racist film of any generation. This has caused it to be a film under heavy debate since its release in 1915. One can never look past the racist depictions that this film portrays in it. However, to truly understand the film and explore its importance in the study of minorities in film, one must look at this film from all perspectives.

        The Birth of A Nation(1915) by D.W. Griffith is a silent movie setting against the backdrop of Civil War and Reconstruction. By portraying the blacks as incompetent and concupiscent, and Ku Klux Klan(KKK) as patriots and heroes, The Birth of A Nation has been considered one of the most controversial movies in America cinema. The release of the movie sparked intense protest among the black communities who were strongly offended. According to Los Angeles Times, the movie is seldom shown publicly nowadays due to its huge controversy. In this paper, I would like to explore D.W. Griffith’s preferred meaning for the movie as well as an oppositional meaning from audience. I would also explore the balance of power between D.W. Griffith and his audiences in determining the meaning for the movie. Griffith intended that the movie was based on real history without involving racism, while a large number of audiences were irritated by his distortion of history which involved racism.

The book utilizes a wide variety of primary sources of films from the 1920s onward. Leff and Simmons also use many newspaper and magazine articles that analyze censorship in films. They utilize these sources to illustrate examples of how films went from having

Although the Production Code was strictly enforced at first, after a series of cases in 1952 the Supreme Court recognized motion pictures as a form of expression entitled to constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech” (Bates, 1970, p. 620). Meaning that any direct intervention, whether through prior restraints or censorship, would be unconstitutional. Consequently, film producers and exhibitors began relaxing on the Production Code’s

Now more than ever, media has become an ever-present part of everyday life. While certain aspects of media can be positive, such as the increase of social and political awareness among kids, many aspects provide a very negative influence, especially for children. Ellen Goodman described the media as “an increasingly hostile environment” for kids. The media, and television in particular, can negatively shape a child’s view about themselves and their world, from promoting unrealistic standards of beauty to normalizing violence.

Technologies evolve, but sex and violence have always been and remain hot button issues in the media. The pace of the new technological change can be so great that we can no longer wait on formal media effects research to guide our personal decisions. There have been many changes that have been taken place with media sex and violence today since I was a child. I believe that the media technologies have increased the negative effects of sex and violence on children and adults today. This paper will discuss why and provide examples of how it has an effect on adults and children because it’s not only an adult issue. This paper will also discuss recommendations

With today’s more open-minded and liberal way of thinking, censorship has been decreased vigorously ever since the beginnings of the film industry, though it has not removed censorship completely.

D.W. Griffith, a groundbreaking director, made the first feature-length motion picture that was three hours long. This silent film, Birth of a Nation, was a “landmark film in the history of cinema,” that contributed to popular filmmaking techniques, but at the same time also brought a lot of controversy. The 1915 film was based on a novel by T.F. Dixon, Jr. called “The from the south and assisted in the start of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The two families, however, Clansman.”

The movie The Birth of a Nation (1915) occupies an important place both in the history of the world cinema and in the Afro American cinema. Indeed in the world cinema because it had known a lightning success and it still considered as the first blockbuster of Hollywood History. Furthermore, it has received excellent reviews from the audience and from the White House. The Director, David Wark Griffith spent almost 100 000 dollars for this movie, a colossal budget. This movie benefited the considerable weight of Hollywood . It had also touched the Afro American cinema because of its racist representations. Laure-Anne Cari affirms that the movie spreads the idea that the Black is either devoted to the Whites or opposed to them . Régis Dubois adds

The media has a way of influencing people of all ages. Specifically, violence and horror in the media are the most debated. Why do people go to watch violent movies or horror movies? They go for entertainment without realizing the physical or mental effects. Kathy Benjamin’s “5 Scientific Ways Watching Movies Effects You” and Bernie DeGroat’s “Scary Movies Can Have Lasting Effects on Children and Teens” both mention the negative effects of movies, especially horror movies, with research or studies. However, only one of the essays, “5 Scientific Ways Watching Movies Effects You,” mentions some positive effects. Statistics have shown that watching these type movies can have short and long term repercussions.

Due to Censorship in books, movies, articles, and other forms of entertainment, from the bleeps covering curse words to the age ratings in movies, this has caused censorship to develop into an important topic of social critique for writers everywhere. In the beginning of April this year the novel and show Thirteen Reasons Why (written by Jay Asher) blew up and brought up a controversial debate around censorship. Many people who reviewed this complained that the plot was “glorifying” suicide causing teen suicide rates to increase (Tom Blunt). Due to this issue a library in Colorado went as far as to ban this book from the shelves in the wake of losing several students to suicide. In addition to schools demanding censorship even fellow supporters

Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of movies. Censorship is used in many things as Music, the news and all sorts of public places. But the main one censorship in movies. Movies are censored because the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) doesn't want people to know or see Inappropriate content. The Government also decides what gets censored because they wanna make sure that people don’t see very inappropriate content. On the News, the Government also censors so people don’t see very violent wars or videos. There are many benefits of censorship. One of them is that kids are able to go to a movie theater and know that it is appropriate for them to see. Also, adults know when they are seeing a kids movie or a movie more for their age. The drawbacks to censorship are that censorship is determined by an organization so if they make a mistake it wouldn’t be good for a kid to go to the movie theater. Censorship is acceptable because nobody wants to see very inappropriate content in a movie. Parents rely on censorship of movies so they know if their children can watch the movie. An example of this is if a parent wants to take their kids to a movie and there was no censorship how would the parent know if there are sex scenes or war scenes that would be inappropriate for kids to watch. Another example would be adults went to go and see a movie and it was for kids. Without censorship, people cannot safely go to movies. The MPAA rating system has helped parents and

Restriction of expression in the film industry is in the form of censorship, which in the UK was set up in 1912 as the British Board of Film Censorship (BBFC) by the film industry as a self-regulatory body charging the film industry for the service. The local councils in the UK usually accepted these classifications. This is a view of the censorship laws and in particular the era of the ‘video nasty’ and how it slipped through the film censorship net.

In today’s society, the media is used greatly for communication, advertisement, information, and for numerous other reasons. The world has evolved by technological advances as well as by the type of content that is put out on the internet, radio, and especially on television. In particular, violence and sex are two of the most controversial content types that have been recently used loosely in the present as compared to the past years. It has become sort of a norm in our society and in popular culture. It is very debatable topic because of arguments of how it can take a toll or influence on behavior. Not only has this content been used more frequently, it has also become easier for the younger audience to view because of how freely and loosely it is used in regular everyday television. I strongly believe that long term viewing of violence and sex will ultimately effect and even alter behavior of younger audiences.