Description
Between 1907 and 1980, many state and local governments empowered motion picture censor boards with the legal authority to keep any movie they considered obscene, indecent, or harmful from being shown. Although the mainstream American film industry accepted the form of censorship known as "prior restraint," the independent distributors and exhibitors challenged the government censors in court. In Freedom of the Screen, Laura Wittern-Keller tells the story of those who fought prior restraint on movies. By drawing attention to this inequity -- film was the only medium so constricted by the 1950s -- the distributors pushed a reluctant judiciary to square its interpretation of movie expression with the rights of other media. As these legal interpretations gradually became more sympathetic to artistic freedom -- largely because of the independent distributors' lawsuits -- Hollywood was free to discard its outmoded restraints and deliver provocative, relevant movies to American audiences.
About the Author
Laura Wittern-Keller teaches history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Book Information
ISBN 9780813124513
Author Laura Wittern-Keller
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint The University Press of Kentucky
Publisher The University Press of Kentucky
About the Author
Laura Wittern-Keller teaches history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Book Information
ISBN 9780813124513
Author Laura Wittern-Keller
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint The University Press of Kentucky
Publisher The University Press of Kentucky
Details
Subtitle: |
Legal Challenges to State Film Censorship, 1915-1981 |
Imprint: |
The University Press of Kentucky |
