Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

Among the most debated aspects of film culture are issues
of censorship and control. Many controversial films have
been cut or banned by censorship bodies or local or state
authorities. Yet it would be wrong to see film censorship
as largely the removal and prohibition of whole movies or
specific images. Film censors tend to see themselves as
classifiers, administering certificates that aim to control
the type of audience that sees a particular movie. If they
lack such a certificate, some films’ reception is restricted;
studios or distributors can also act to prohibit a film
by withdrawing it from circulation for contractual, legal,
or political reasons. The controlling of the film image
is most noticeable after production, but a significant
amount of the regulation occurs during production
moreover in the preproduction stages. In the classical
period of film production (between the 1930s and the
1960s), films were often censored during the script stage,
with studios removing content that could potentially run
afoul of the censors. Studios were keen to comply with
censors to avoid the expense of making cuts as well as
delays in the film’s release.
It is not just the content of film that is regulated,
with all areas of film culture coming under scrutiny. This
ranges from the granting of an exhibition license to
permitted modes of promotion, publicity, and merchandising
(the content and nature of posters and trailers and
the suitability of associated toys). The pervasiveness of
film culture also means that movies are more than just
cinema screenings; the censorship and regulation of film
is present in other areas of exhibition, where a particular
production can experience an alternative reception. For
instance, a film may be cut for language or scenes of an
unsuitable nature when it is shown as in-flight entertain-
CENSORSHIP
ment, made available for DVD home rental, or broadcast
later on television. In the United Kingdom, editing swear
words for television is known as ‘‘funstering,’’ allegedly
after British television’s first screening of Lethal Weapon
(1987), when ‘‘Let’s get the fuckers!’’ was replaced with
‘‘Let’s get the funsters!’’ In terms of film content, though,
the more common concerns are screen violence, sex, and
sex crime.
AMERICAN FILM CENSORSHIP
A system of film censorship existed in the United States
as early as 1907, when it was introduced in Chicago
under pressure from social reformers. The rapid emergence
of the nickelodeons gave rise to concerns not only
about the fire hazards within them, but also the content
of films being viewed by unaccompanied children in
these darkened venues. In Chicago an ordinance decreed
that all films within the city had to be screened first to
the police for approval. Similar concerns existed wherever
the nickelodeons emerged and, in New York one proprietor
was arrested for projecting a film to children that
showed a Chinese opium den. On Christmas Eve in
1908, the New York City police commissioner, as part
of his tough stance on nickelodeons, revoked the licenses
of 550 such film venues, requiring them to apply for a
new entertainment license. The film industry, then based
in New York, funded a Board of Censorship for the city
in March 1909. As more states adopted a practice of film
censorship, the US film industry formed its own national
regulatory body, the National Association of the Motion
Picture Industry, in 1916. This failed to satisfactorily
control the content of film, and in 1921 the Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors of America was
SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM 237