J 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: William Desmond Taylor, National Review Board, Republican National Committee
2 Jul 2018
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The Circulation of Culture Through the Media Pt 2
Regulation: attempts to control culture through formal and informal controls
•Formal controls: the law
•Informal controls: activism, codes of ethics
•something
•Early Practices
•1897: Maine adopts the first censorship law of films in response to a boxing match
•$500 fine for showing the match
•law was largely ignored
•1907: Chicago (2nd biggest film market at the time) the mayor shut down the licenses of all
its theaters (550) based on fire safety and moral grounds
•People’s institute organizes a coalition of 10 likeminded advocacy organizations
•Coalition title: NY Board of Motion Picture Censorship
•Reviewed films and recommended sections of films to cut for a fee
•Had a nationwide impact due to its location
•New Coalition Title: National Review Board
•The National Review Board Guarded against calls for federal censorship for a few years
•Meanwhile, many states created their own censorship board
•Mutual Film Corp. v. Ohio Industrial Commission (1915)
•motion pictures seen as a business so they were not afforded freedom of speech
•Hollywood scandals in the 1920’s infuriated the public
•Fatty Arbuckle (rape)
•William Desmond Taylor (shot dead)
•Wallace Reid famous for silent films (ODed on drugs and died)
•1921: more than 100 Congressional bills were presented for federal oversight of films
•1922: Hollywood pre-empted feral legislation by establishing an organization called the
Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA)
•MPPDA was made up of six major Hollywood studios
•MPPDA hired William H Hays, postmaster general and former head of Republican
National committee
•asked to take the pressure off of Hollywood by appeasing the federal gov (he was in PR)
•1927: Hays created
•Motion Picture Production Code (1930-1968)
•A set of industry censorship guidelines that influenced most movies
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