Cinema's role in helping society understand the transformation from urbanization to industrialization was huge. And it carried many uses during the time as a "technological means of communication" with the ability to reach massive audiences.
With a new area of interest there has to be rules and regulations of course.
The 1909 act placed the responsibility of doing so in the hands of local councils. The film industry eventually held a "voluntary trade system of self regulation" (47 Gray) which led to several issues. But it was understood that because of the self-regulation cinema was understood to be an insignificant sensation it was not taken as seriously as it should have been.
Cinema began to explore moral dilemmas and what could be considered as 'unacceptable' social behaviors. The audiences seemed to look to cinema as encouraging the immorality and going against of social norms. Which made the audience aware of the issues of social conformity.
I wonder how much has changed in cinema's regulation since 1909 to now. So many ideas and things have changed in our society.
ReplyDeleteCinema is such a influential media, the information we receive from film content can be really power which reach to a point that we start getting confused of what is the reality and what is fantasy. Too much violent or content without regulation might cause social problem like negative stereotype. Not really related but one thing your reflection reminds me is that when I see nowadays the Hollywood films which has representation of China, it always shows the Chinatown or dirty block of HongKong which has a lot of neon lights on, I keep wondering will that be the only impression some American people have to China since that is the only relative real scene they see as the meaning of China.
ReplyDeleteAn important shift is in terms of movie regulation is that in the early period governments are regulating and controlling the spaces where films are shown rather than the content of the films themselves. This all shifts as the industry gets consolidated in Hollywood in the late 1920s and 1930s. When the industry enacts The Production Code of 1930 it begins a pattern of censoring and controlling what we see rather than where we see it. This pattern continues into our current moment.
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