Motion Picture Commission : hearings before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on bills to establish a Federal Motion Picture Commission (1978)

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230 MOTION PICTUKE COMMISSION. the selections must be made from at least two other parties besides the dominant one. Such commissioners would serve for a limited time, scarcely long enough to estimate the moral sentiment of the Nation, and they would constantly be open to strong political pressure from various parts of the country. Expe- rience with the working of State censorship has led the national board to be- lieve that just, efficient, and disinterested criticism of pictures would not be the primary aim of such a Federal board. One or all of the following would be more important than censorship: The revenue derived from tax on reels; the political influence on and through the manufacturer and the exhibitor; the place of political friends and constituents in office; the suppression of cer- tain types of subjects of political or social import. There is, moreover, no warrant for assuming that such appointees would be of a type best fitted to express impartially the moral judgments of the Nation. The salaries assigned to them are insufficient to guarantee a superior type of commissioner. It would be intolerable to have narrow-minded, biased representatives of the Nation open to any form of influence. FEDEBAL CENSORSHIP NO SOLUTION. It Is absurd to assume that the people in the States and the Territorial pos- sessions of the United States could ever agree to accept the decisions of a Federal board of censorship. The standards adopted by such a board would prove unsatisfactory for Ohio, Oregon, or Oklahoma. These States would insist on duplicating the work done at the National Capital. They would also insist there were many films which could not be forced to be exhibited before the Federal commissioners. Experience has convinced the national t>oard that many cities would insist upon being laws unto themselves. Such suppression would not suppress. It would mean confusion worse confounded. LEGAL DECISIONS. It is impossible to express in a few general controversial words the ethical standards for judging pictures. Any attempt to define legally " obscene, indecent, immoral, or of such a character that their exhibition would tend to corrupt the morals of children or adults or incite to crime " must fail. Such legal phraseology inevitably throws back upon the commission the resjjonsibility for formulating detailed and well-recognized rules of judgment. These, in turn, must be carefully stated and must become the basis for action so that the public and the manufacturers will consider the fairness of the commission and will know how to conduct their business. It would be intolerable to have arbitrary and varying judgments expressed. COMPLEX QUESTIONS OF ETHICS. The national board has discovered after five years' work that many delicate and complicated questions of ethics are raised. Since the motion picture de- picts life with its motives, its thrilling exi)eriences, its great monuments, its vic- torious or disastrous outcome, it is essental that the standards under which such dramatic situations are depicted shall be broad, just, and intelligent. While broad principles of judgment can be laid down, while a minimum can be established beyond which no manufacturer will be permitted to go. the critic of motion pictures must be granted latitude in deciding upon individual situa- tions. It is undoubtedly true, also, that 20 persons looking upon a given pic- ture will have a variety of opinions, just as they will differ in their decisions about people who have become involvetl in controversial situations. These opinions must be considered if justice is to be done. LEGAL CENSORSHIP ESSENTIALLY DESTfeUCTIVE. As a result of experience the National Board of Censorship has found that the best possibilities of the work of censorship can be attained only when com- bined with a constructive policy. Censorship in itself alone is essentially destructive and coercive. For this reason the national board uses its influ- ence with manufacturers and importers of films to produce only such films as in some way have real social value. By oft'oring suggestions to the manufac- turers, the national board has been able to inspire a steady improvement in the character of films produced. The manufacturers welcome this help from an