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Censors are political appointees. They do not have to attend a special school and graduate with degrees as do teachers or economists or other experts. There is no censorship of TV nor of the press. The politicians wouldn’t dare impose it. But our business has been subjected to censorship since the year one, it would seem.
US CENSORSHIP DISAPPEARING
Censorship of motion pictures is disappearing in the United States because of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court, and in many states it no longer exists. True, this sometimes opens the door for the charlatans and “quick buck” operators who would exceed the bounds of good taste and decency. But in Canada we have a Criminal Code which spells out penalties for prurience and immorality. We _ seriously question whether some films shown in the United States or elsewhere would ever find their way onto a Canadian theatre screen, with or without censorship.
Any censor in Canada will readily concede that today’s standards in judging suitability of a motion picture for public showing are considerably changed from those of 10 or 15 years ago. This is symptomatic of our changing way of life. Because of this, most censor boards today are scarcely more than classification units.
It is decades now since our business reached the plateau of respectability and no_ theatre owner or manager would want to think of himself as anything less than a respected member of his community. But how can he feel this way when the very product on which he relies for a living is regulated by a political
N. A. TAYLOR
body? We should have the right and responsibility of regulating ourselves and handling our own classification.
SOME ARE TIMID
There are some in our business who are timid and reluctant to ask for elimination of political censorship. They seem to think the seal of a provincially-appointed body gives their screen fare an aura of respectability. Almost any day, any city newspaper publishes stories of life no producer would dare portray on the screen. Censorship of literature, including magazines and lurid paperbacks, has been eliminated. Yet we remain the one medium of communication and information which remains chained to the precedent of official censorship. As an industry we won’t grow up till we have rid ourselves of this.
Until just a few years ago there were no Sunday movies permitted in any province in our country except Quebec. We accepted this as a way of life, notwithstanding the fact that movies and other entertainment were being exhibited on TV all day long on Sundays. Because of the determination and enterprise of a few leaders in our industry this antiquated prohibition of Sunday movies is now _ disappearing. There are still many localities which have not yet been emancipated but persistence should win in the end. Censorship is the same kind of false idol. It, too, should be toppled.
If there is to be any kind of regulation we, in our industry, should control it. We should be our own arbiters of what is good or bad taste and what we wish to present on our screens. Now is the time for our leaders to start a campaign in this direction.
Reprinted from Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly, Toronto.