Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Films Represent America Abroad! This article appeared under the title, ^'■Influence of American Films Abroad," in the Christmas issue of the BFC NEWS, publication of the Broadcasting and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. It ivas taken from a report of a committee appointed by an agency of the American Baptist Convention, which has accepted it. TWO years ago, at the meeting of the American Baptist Convention in Seattle, a resolution was offered from the floor concerning the inlluence of American motion pictures abroad. It was referred for study to the Convention's Council on Christian Social Progress. After two years of study, the Council has now made its report. The resolution which was referred for study read: "Some motion pictures which are sent abroad are a libel on the ideals of the American way of life and often are also highly salacious and sordid. l>ecause of this, we respectfully urge our government conscientiously to censor all ,\merican pictmes sent abroad and thus implement every effort being made to establish an influence toward decency in the entertainment world and also to show the wholesome, finer side of life in the United States of America." The Council dealt first with the issue of censorship. "Any resolution calling for censorship," it said, "appears as a threat to freedom. As Americans we treasure highly the freedoms enjoyed imder the Constitution. To censor is to suppress. If we must choose between the freedom to propagandize and a totalitarian control of the channels of communication, we will choose freedom with its risks rather than censorship with its possibilities of enslavement." In its report the Council goes on to say "It is also evident that a number of good films are sent abroad, films that depict our democratic institutions at work, films that entertain without offense, films that show the struggles and hopes of all people. Yet, these values to a considerable extent, are negated, according to reports, by an undesirable emi^hasis on the material prosperity of our country, the "typing" of racial groups, the excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the ridiculing of courts of justice and law enforcement agencies, the overemphasis on crime and the display • of sexual vulgarity. "These deplorable exaggerations are no cause for self-righteousness on our part. We must see them first as a reflection of admitted moral weakness in our culture. We must face the fact that motion pictures do reflect what is evil and shallowin American life. Here the indictment is upon us. We cannot expect to hide our sins from our foreign neighbors. Yet, the frequent dramatizing of those weaknesses on the screen has left the imintended impression that they represent a typical America. There is lacking sufficient emphasis on the wholesome aspects of our culture. "There is also the problem in any medium of mass communication of being misunderstood in moving from one cultural context to another. Even where films are intended to expose social evils of our country, there is a lack of perspective when they are viewed in another setting. Differences of background and custom accoimt in part for the offense which some motion pictines bring to the people of other cultures in the following areas: the portrayal of promiscuous relations between the sexes, the caricaturing of peoples of other races, the stressing of force and violence and the exploiting of juvenile delincjuency. "On what basis are films selected for foreign viewing? For the most part the pictures sent abroad are the same as those seen in the United States. The only selection for foreign viewing is made by exhibitors and theater owners abroad. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, theaters abroad want principally the pictures that have won popularity here. This means that the same standards and controls for the production of motion pictures in the United States determine what is seen abroad. . ." This particular study, the Council says, "has pointed to the simple and obvious conclusion that the central issue is the quality q^i^ American films. . ." The report makes seven recommendations. Three of them counsel further study and recommend that "steps be taken to effect a more positive cooperation with the Broadcasting and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches and other church related agencies concerned with this matter." A fourth recommendation calls on the American Baptist Convention "to request the State Department to evaluate the effects of motion pictures abroad and to seek ways of correcting any destructive influences such motion pictures may have." The three remaining recommendations are that American Baptists "refuse to patronize undesirable films and give their support and commendation to the best productions, stimulate the production of better films, encouraging creative writing of scripts and dramas," and "to encourage a wider use of suitable audiovisual materials on foreign mission fields for entertainment as well as lor education and evangelism." The report concludes with this timely reminder: "The influence of American movies abroad is only one aspect of a larger problem, the inlluence of Americans abroad. . . . The (juality of our inlluence is seen in every expression of our culture. Our responsibility is to exert -a Christian influence on every expression of oiu' living l)oth at home :uul abroad." Frl^rrppn A AV/ Hiiirlo Pohn inrv/ 1 Q'^Q 7Q