The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

Page scan 000155 from The seven deadly sins of Hollywood

Record Details:

Title:
The seven deadly sins of Hollywood
Date:
1957
Publisher:
London : Oldbourne Press
Volume:
The seven deadly sins of Hollywood
Leaf #:
000155
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
August 29, 2024
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Chapter 12 THE TABOOS Though Hollywood does not possess many geniuses, it is full of talent. It is foolish and inaccurate to say, as some writers have done, that it is a community of mediocrities dedicated to pleasing a world of morons. There is probably more talent per acre in Hollywood than anywhere else in the world. The trouble is that a great deal of it never finds its way onto the screen. Why should this happen? Because the artist has to submit to the dictatorship of the "front office" (which stipulates what will sell and what will not) and the dictatorship of the Breen Office (which stipulates what is moral and what is not). Between them, the front office and the Breen Office put the artist in a mental straitjacket. Both offices enforce different sets of taboos. The front-office set is inspired by purely commercial considerations and specifies all the things a film must not be if it is to make money. It must not be depressing (though it can be sad if it also contains an element of "uplift"); it must not be highbrow ; it must not be too profound for the average person to understand ; it must not be concerned with intellectual dilemmas; it must not be about unglamorous people (butchers, cobblers, window-cleaners, bricklayers are not considered suitable film heroes) ; it must not be set in unattractive locales; it must not depict love between physically unattractive people; it must not take a pessimistic view of life. 139