Film and Politics Exam 1

Typologies of Political films

Auteur films use a more artistic approach when conveying a political approach, for example, symbolism Socially reflective and political reflective films usually contain political meaning o Popular films can has have political meaning even if they are not overtly political

Impact of political films

Films can teach watchers about politics and influence political participation It can spark debate, provide information and about specific issues and events Can affect behavior of certain groups and influence voting - Films that include intentional political messages tend to cause viewers to challenge their values and can incite political action

Genre

Plays a role in what people respond to in theatres o Preference usually goes to the older genre and not the contemporary one EX: Men's feelings towards women being killed in horror films/Western genre -There isn't a uniform genre in political films-overt political films can be dramas,comedies, mockumentaries, documentaries, etc

Metaphor in Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind

- Already mentioned previously for its metaphor and how the book content did not get pulled into the movie - Over arching theme of many 1930s films though • Leadership is suspect and rely on yourself to fix problems • Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind fits in here too - Self-reliance, finding solutions to problems, faith in the land - South is romanticized and racism is complicated in the film. Blacks have 'their place' and its not challenged, but they are respected within that pigeonhole. Only truly dangerous character is a Northern soldier who attacks them at Tara.

House Committee on UnAmerican Activities and its investigation into Hollywood

- Book suggests the HUAC was perhaps more concerned with the growing social and political messages in movies There were previous committees dealing with concerns of Bolsheviks or Communists in America (starting in 1919) First had hearings in 1939 on subversion in film industry October 1947 hearings are when the blacklist era starts Friendly Unfriendly Invoked their 1st amendment rights and were vague in answer (bad idea) 10 were cited for contempt of Congress Served time. In prison, one of the 10, Ring Lardner JR met chairman Thomas who was serving time for taking kickbacks In court, Thomas argued the constitutional rights and first amendment should be disregarded. 10 sentenced to jail Hearings again in 1951 Blacklist grew to about 2000 people and almost migrated into television Starting around 1948, anti-communist films on rise while other types of political films waned Keep in mind, many pro-Russian films of the WWII era were crafted with the idea of them as our allies. This is before the Cold War.

Classification and Rating Administration (CARA)

- Classification and Ratings Administration board (CARA) - 1968-1970 (G,M,R,X) - 1990-now (G,PG,PG-13,R,NC-17) • Pressure still exists to cater to the CARA panel because rating can heavily impact film viewership - PG to PG-13 can lose audience; NC-17 will not be shown in some places and many people will just skip it even if it is - The system is criticized for being more lenient on violence than sex House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) (1938-1975) (renamed Internal Security Committee in 1969)

United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co.

- Eventually culminated in United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co. on October 1, 1915 (SCOTUS) which said MPPC went too far in enforcing patents (think thugs, dishonest graft tactics) and thus it constituted a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and it was foricibly dissolved in 1918.

Cinematic learning

- Gingrich has told people that films have been formative to him. And learn history from certain films (no, really, don't do this. It creates awareness and that's great, but its stylized history) - Reagan used lines from films at times for effect • Once told a story in the 1983 congressional medal of honor service from the 1944 movie wing and a prayer and when the press secretary was called out about it he said "if you tell the same story 5 times, it's true) - Can compress into good/evil; or simplistic answers - Getting people to buy in the story or situation (politics/film overlap... Schwarzenegger)

Mutual Film Corporation v Ohio Industrial Commission (1915)

- Ohio's was upheld in Mutual Film Corporation v. Ohio (1915 SCOTUS) with ruling censorship was constitutional and 1st amendment didn't hold to films

Upton Sinclair and run for CA governor

- Ran for California Governor in 1934 on EPIC (End Poverty in California) platform - William Randolph Hearst • Accused him of being a Communist, homosexual, atheist - Ran attack ads created by MGM that were designed to look like informative newsreels (cost estimated to be 2-10 million dollars) • Hired actors who were playing drunk, homeless men (often black) who were en route to California... often with a communist bent (The Enquiring Cameraman was the series) • Push polls? Propaganda? • In 2001-2005(at least), George W. Bush administration had 90 second segments designed to look like local news covering topics... made by 20 agencies including State and Defense. They were not disclosed as government produced and looked like regular news. Local news ran them without question because they were pre-packaged • Clinton administration did it as well

Ronald Reagan

- Ronald Reagan admitted to attending meetings but also on executive council for Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) which FBI thought had 24 communists in it... one of Reagan's frat brothers became a FBI agent... by 1945 reagan was passing info to FBI ... 1946 was when he went on the board, but he was also uncomfortable with the idea of communist infiltration in the usa ... apparently the board was split and internally feuding with reagan and olivia de havilland firmly on the anti-communist side... Reagan put forth a motion with the group to "We reaffirm belief in free enterprise and the democratic system and repudiate Communism as desirable for the United States." When it was voted down, he, de havilland, and others felt the group had become a Communist front organization and resigned in protest.... Group collapses. Reagan kept some of the groups records and he told his brother Neil Reagan (who was also an informant in Hollywood for the FBI) (reagan's belief it was a communist front organization was because if you missed 2 meetings you were off the board... and the records showed that over the last several months every replacement had been nominated by a specific woman at a studio which he felt was suspicious.... Records made their way to the FBI

Blind bididng

- The studios were protected to do block booking and blind bidding until 1935 when the National Industry Recovery Act was ruled unconstitutional Blind bidding with reference to entertainment law requires an exhibitor or a theater owner to bid on a movie without seeing it.

Block booking

- The studios were protected to do block booking and blind bidding until 1935 when the National Industry Recovery Act was ruled unconstitutional Block booking is a system of selling multiple films to a theater as a unit. Block booking was the prevailing practice among Hollywood's major studios from the turn of the 1930s until it was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc

Fantastical displacement

-This an example of using things such as aliens to symbolize communism -When is a monster movie not really about monsters? Science out of control Technology out of control Aliens we don't understand who want to destroy us... or they are among us quietly taking over What about disaster films that are really surrogates for fears of things like terrorism? (or some of the above)

First amendment and films

1952 Films didn't fall under First Amendment - Small studios and distribution companies did not have the financial means to fight - In court, Thomas argued the consitutuional rights and first amendment should be disregarded. 10 sentenced to jail

Breen office

Administration of the code was given to a man working for Hays and it became known as the Breen office (Joseph Breen) The Breen office governed movies for 30 years. Interpretation of this office meant interpretation of the code discussions with producers about proposed films, examination of scripts, screening of films. If you didn't get the seal of approval, then your film was denied a theatrical release in most places... failing to comply could be as high as $25,000. Selznik was fined $5000 was the I don't give a damn phrase in Gone with the Wind Things the Breen office wanted: No dissolve shots because they suggested a couple was about to have sex No horizontal kissing Could not show cow udders No toilets In a fight scene substitute gypies for Mexicans because gypsies don't have a home country and that would nto violate the code to make dispersions on nationalisities No references to birth control No references to sex even with married couples They preferred happy endings Violations to 10 commandments were only okay if they ended up unhappy No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin. law, natural or human, should never be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation The specifics Murder cannot be done in a way to inspire imitation Brutal killings cannot be in detail revenge in modern times shall not be justified Methods of crime not explicitly presented theft, robbery, safe-cracking, dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings etc should not be detail in method arson must be subject to same safeguards use of firearms should be restricted to essentials methods of smuggling should not be presidented illegal drug traffic must never be presented the use of liquor in american life when not required by the plot or for proper characterization will not be shown

Socially reflective films

Avoid political message and reference to political events Most films are here

Film and American society

By 1930, films became a huge part of American life • 1930: 23,000 movie theaters, 90 million people a week • 500 films a year • The decade is noted for a huge variety of films and genres • Stock Market crash October 24, 1929 - By 1933, 50% of US's banks failed (5,755 banks) and 30% unemployment - Between Sept 1929 and July 1932, Dow lost 90% of its value - Economic growth down 50% • Film in the early 1930s reflect the uncertainty in American life - March 1933 is the beginning of the New Deal Programs - As New Deal progresses (as does the 1930s) social criticism of the system wanes (along with overt political films) • Likely a weakening concern of government overthrow • Hollywood was propped up by New Deal so less criticism The Great Depression was bad for films • 1930, 8 largest studios had profits of $55 million • 1931, 6.5 million • 1932, net losses of 26 million • 1933, Paramount, Fox and RKO were in receivership and by 1933 all the studios saw their cumulative stock value fall from a billion in 1930 to 200 million in 1933 • MGM was the only one turning a profit but it has net revenues in 1930 of 14.6 million and 4.3 million in 1933 Impact of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) on Hollywood • NIRA signed into law June 1933 • Collusion among the big 8 (20th Century Fox, Columbia, MGM, Paramount, RKO, United Artists, Universal, Warner) was allowed by the government - Blind bidding, block booking • Hollywood became more union oriented • Helped codify and encourage the 'studio system' • Power was consolidated, production practices were standardized, unions got more power What exactly is the 'studio system'? • Roughly 1920s-1954ish - Lots (studios) have actors/actresses under long term exclusive contracts - Production studios, Control over distribution, own theaters - Contracts with production staff • Of the Big 8, United Artists didn't have same broad control (only partial) • Block booking was integral into making the studio system work (usually 5 films per block) • Cracks occur in 1948 with the enforcement of the law against it. Howard Hughes get a controlling block of RKO. He saw profit in breaking up the studio system and split RKO into film (making of film) and theater (showing of films). When he does this, it weakens the other 7's cases in court that it couldn't be done. • Original idea is that you could increase $ by more theaters. However, with the rise of television, this didn't work as well. A new market (selling/licensing films to tv stations) emerges though.

Importance of Casablanca

Casablanca as a thematic device for America • Casablanca • Rick essentially is American isolationism. He won't go out of his way for anyone. Unapologetically American • However, we learn in his backstory, he has a different past. He has fought fascists in Spain and Ethiopia and his bar has many refugees from fascism in it • Rick has made a nice living as a refuge without taking overt sides • His past walks into his bar (Ilsa) and initially he wants to ignore it, but eventually has to confront and face it • Ilsa's husband is a member of the resistance and wants Rick's help for them to have safe passage to escape • Rick has the means to get them out (letters of passage) but he will have to choose sides to do so • Last scene with Rick tossing the Vichy Water (Vichy was the nazi supported French government) into the trash, shows he has chosen a side • He was in Casablanca for personal isolation from a failed love affair with Ilsa and giving her up for a greater political purpose highlights his acknowledgment that the world is a bigger place

Motion Picture Association of America

Creation of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings system 8 to 13 individuals Reflect average parent Classification and Ratings Administration board (CARA) 1968-1970 (G,M,R,X) 1990-now (G,PG,PG-13,R,NC-17) Pressure still exists to cater to the CARA panel because rating can heavily impact film viewership

Move to California

Early film industry was centered in New York & New Jersey First film was shot in Hollywood in 1907 By 1911, 15 companies were there Thomas Edison held patent on Kinetoscope (early movie camera) and about 1000 other patents That said, the movie industry in California coalesced around 12ish studios by mid 1930s. From 1909-1920, there were more than 100 studios in CA, FL, NY, etc Annual output was about 750 feature length films and over 1000 shorts Less than 15-20% of the silent films made exist in archives today In 1918, 850 feature length films were made. Today, 30 of those films survived in American archives and only 30 others in foreign archives Film copyrights were not deposited in the Library of Congress until 1912

Evolution of genre and what does genre tell us about society

Early films (they were experimenting... think Nosferatu and its impact on the modern horror film... or Ben Hur (original) or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) - 1930s in the studio system we see many of these genres codify in ways (Dracula 1931, Frankenstein 1932) - Revising genre (start playing with it by the 1960s)... think Rosemary's baby (1968) where we start seeing boundaries being pushed with genre (or The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman) - Parody of genre...the genre is so engrained the audience knows it by heart so you can mock it and they get what you are doing (Young Frankenstein 1974), Murder by Death (1976) Blazing Saddles (1974) Spaceballs (1987), Scream • What is the goal of the genre? - For the filmmaker, it is to get an audience (oh.. That's a X film, let's see that) - For the viewer, it is to live briefly in the world created by the film (or at least watch it) • Genre tells us about societies that create them - They tell us about cultural beliefs - Films tend to follow trends in society, not lead them (in other words, what is going on with us is reflected in films, not the other way around. Disaster films post 2001... concerns about indiscriminate violence, concerns about technology) - In early Westerns, the Native Americans are the bad guys and the frontiersmen are the heroes. Little Big Man (1970) has a sympathetic treatment of Indians with military as villains... this fits in the anti-establishment views of the period it was made. Dances with Wolves (1990) also more positive to Native Americans.

Formalism

Formalism: emphasize aesthetic form and symbol rather than reality

Government trust and reflection in films

Government Trust. 1958 & 2015 How we view trust in our government leaks into our entertainment Politicians in movies How are they portrayed? -Often villains or heroes with little in between -Often things are seen as an easy fix and not as a society problem -Power is often seen as a bad thing... as a corrupting influence -Often ambitious and greedy, not ambiguous or pragmatic

How can films transmit a political message to an audience

How do you transmit the political message to the audience? In a political sense, can a film create, encourage, or foster efficacy? Movies are more than just entertainment Political socialization comes from our family, religion, peer groups, schools, events Can also come from movies and media. Movies can affect fashion, hairstyles, music, dance, cars If a political film is too overt, its propaganda (or accused of being) If the public is not well informed on a topic, the film can have a huge influence (The Killing Fields, Syriana, even Borat)

Distribution and promotion

If you want to make an impact, people have to see it -Tent pole -Concerns about films as an investment, not an artistic venture -Steven Mnuchin (Trump's nominee for Treasury secretary) Lego Movie, Winter's Tale, Edge of Tomorrow, Vacation, American Sniper, Our Brand is Crisis, The Intern, Suicide Squad, Sully, Batman v Superman, The Lego Ninjago Movie, The Accountant and others (executive producer) Daniel Loeb (hedge fund investor) -Can push films into just formula films if seen just as a business deal... thus likely low political content

Films of this era in general

Movie experiences often reflected the neighborhoods Yiddish, Irish, Polish, Italian elements Turn of 20th century, few acceptable places for working class women to socialize Men only: burlesque, concert-saloons, dime museums, sports Women could accompany men in certain locations like parks Cinema was somewhere between traditional family and more modern entertainment By 1890s vaudeville had worked to reform image to be more respectable for women 1910, women 40% of working class movie audience (could go independently) Film starts catering to female audiences with respectable characters often with courageous and competent... moving away from Victorian ideals However, themes of purity, passivity, emotional superiority and moral guardianship were very much present in female roles on screen

Role of the Producer

Nebulous and varies from project to project - In general, its one of the first people involved in the film itself beyond the person writing it - Producers frequently are the ones who help identify and hire the creative talent for a film (directors, screenwriters, cinematographer, casting director, editor, stars, etc) - Maintain a presence during the shooting to help with challenges that arise with the project and try to facilitate its completion (can be at Odds with director)... For Your Consideration... mockumentary that shows how a film goes from X idea to Y idea to chase awards and waters down the message in the process - Person the studio or production company sees as the authority (point person) who has the responsibility for a film's completion (may butt heads with director) • Major job is to make sure the project is viable financially (budget, expenses... usually the commercial areas of the film not the artistic ones) • Artistic aspects belong to the director usually - In the studio system (later chapter) they would put up the money. Now its banks, insurance companies, sponsorships and investors. If they are conservative (politically and economically) what effect does that have on the project? What will they back? (its why you often don't see a lot of overt politics in big budget films) • Movies from this point of view are about making a profit so you minimize things that will interfere with that

Political socialization of films

People watch films more than actual government -Films help us learn politically and socially and affect our patterns -Political socialization -Films can educate us about issues or events -Movies can affect political behavior -Movies affect knowledge and behavior of groups, especially elites -Ronald Reagan, 'win one for the Gipper' (Knute Rockne, All American) -Movies can Spark Public Debate or Media Interest in Topics

Perception of a purely liberal Hollywood

Perception Hollywood is liberal - Well... complicated answer - People who back films like bankers are generally not - Digital technology has made movie making cheaper so some directors and actors create their own production companies and find money themselves • Your own production company means you can have the same crews film to film - Mystery Science Theater 3000 got money for its TV return off kickstarter (Veronica Mars did too) - Cable networks like HBO can back more political stuff at times if they see a profit in it (which they also generate through monthly subscriptions... Netflix and Amazon prime are getting into this too) • The studio system allowed films to be made that may not be profitable but were training grounds, or vanity projects, or part of a bigger contract (It's a Wonderful Life was a summer release... Leslie Howard was in Gone with the Wind as Ashley in return for the studio allowing him to direct a movie he really wanted made... more modern films with remakes are often watered down because the production needs box office stars • So, from this logic, then American films should be universally patriotic, conservative, and nationalistic - Eh. - The book argues conservative critics argue the opposite and Hollywood favors films that bash on these ideals. • I would counter that argument and say that if things are so engrained into a culture, then its okay to look at them and play with them. For example, Christmas décor and Halloween are often out at the same time in stores. Is there really a war on Christmas or when people rag on it are they picking up on the deep engrained aspects of the holiday that encroach earlier and earlier in the year? - Are movies left-wing propaganda or are they poking holes into a culture that is very encompassing? - Counterargument is many films involve one person fighting to overcome odds even when they are all alone • When they succeed and restore a social and political order, it's a return to status quo - Status quo and individualism are frequently associated with conservative values • Films like many (oh, so many things) are about making money at the end of the day

Auteur Political Films

Political meaning is imparted without overt reference to obvious political imagery Symbolism to transmit a message

Movie conventions (personalization, sugarcoating, allegory, politics without politics, ambivalence)

Politics is usually conflictual ... for films, that's great material to work with. However, straight up politics can often be boring... but it can be personalized or sugarcoated to get points across... • Personalization - Movies with political subject matter frequently focus on individual drama of politically active roles - Translation: see the movie through the eyes of a character rather than a large society issue... Star Wars: A New Hope is partially about the struggle against tyranny, but told through Luke Skywalker's experiences • Sugarcoating - 'A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down'... cover politics with another genre • Love stories are common for personalization or sugarcoating • Gone with the Wind (1939) is about the Civil War with a sympathetic eye to the South • Casablanca (1942) is about Northern Africa Nazi occupation and the conflictual relationship and morality • Reds (1981) is about Russian Revolution • Saving Private Ryan is a personal story about saving a child whose family lost all their other sons in the war • Life is Beautiful is about the love of a father in a concentration camp to protect his son Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) is about racism and segregation • Allegory can also be used • Wizard of Oz. The book is explicitly an allegory (what is it? What were the shoes in the book v. movie? What was late 19th century politics obsessed about? Gold v. silver. Dorothy is a girl whose family is struggling and bad things are happening to her. A tornado hits that destroys everything. She is transported to a place where she follows the yellow brick road (gold) to salvation to ultimately find out it's a scam. She has had the power with her the whole time to save herself with the silver shoes that can take her home). The movie stripped most of this (what happened to the shoes? Silver didn't photograph well... it also highlights how one political aspect can lose power over time and be reinterpreted in a wholly different way) • Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956 Cold war allegory... questions about is it anti-communist or anti-mccarthy... 1978 version more about cults (body snatchers 1993 and the invasion 2007) Conventions continued 5 2017 © Shannon Bow O'Brien - Politics without politics 'The Unlabeled Bottle' • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) no party, no state... view reads into it • Face in the Crowd (1957) • Being There (1979) • Zero Dark Thirty (2012) • Dave (1993) - Ambivalence • Give various sides something to applaud • Citizen Ruth 1996 Abortion politics • Do the Right thing (1989) racial violence/racial non-violence • Dead Man Walking (1995) death penalty • Bob Roberts (1992) political candidate • Duck Soup (1933) Marx Brothers. Satire to make everyone look foolish... declare war for the hell of it • The Great Dictator (1940) satire.. Keep in mind he did this while hitler was alive • Dr. Strangelove (1964) - Political topics that have become safe • The Butler (2012) race relations and political activism (conflictual relations) • The Help (2013) race relations • Platoon (1986) Vietnam war and combat situations • Mississippi Burning (1988) racial violence (but critiqued because it was told largely from a white point of view) • 9 to 5 Women's liberation • Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner? (1967) race relations, but he is a doctor and is he was white, he would be ideal • Often villains or bad guys are so over the top that the audience cannot identify with them (intentionally to drive a specific message)

Product placement

Product Placement • Has been used to help offset costs in a movie. Commercial in a movie? • However it can also lend more realism. Set a tone about social class, choices, or beliefs • Movies may use products under laws of 'fair use' because companies cannot censor movies (movie Flight has lead character drinkiing Bud and then flying drunk... they want it removed) • Ultimately, its important to remember to not always read everything as political. If a filmmaker gets millions for placement, is it a message or is it commercialism and corporations? 2000-2013ish Budweiser has appeared in nearly one-fifth of all of the films that reached #1 at the box office. Budweiser and Bud Light's appearance in 87 of the 463 top films (18.8%) during that period make it the sixth most common brand, behind only Ford, Apple, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet and Mercedes.

Politically reflective films

Reflective because they mirror ideas that are popular

Pure political movies

Reflective because they mirror ideas that are popular

Studio system

Roughly 1920s-1954ish Lots (studios) have actors/actresses under long term exclusive contracts Production studios, Control over distribution, own theaters Contracts with production staff Sometimes called the factory system Cracks occur in 1948 with the enforcement of the law against it. Howard Hughes, RKO and his impact on the studio system

Homogenization of culture

Silent films shift between 1909 and 1916 Originally were most often stories the audiences would likely know to narratives that were self-explanatory and self-contained Transition of film as a public sphere Theater was an interactive event where communities came together Early film had stages and vaudeville elements Surveys in the 1920s suggested most people came for the 'event' rather than the feature film The rise of synchronized sound turned the film into a more complete product and away from the events Early films would have 'lecturers' (starting in 1908 as a way to avoid censors) and provide respectability.... From 1920s-30s, film became more of a production and promotions were a bigger deal with lavish presentations With sound, the social experience becomes more homogenized (flat accents)

Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code) (what was it, what was in it, how was it used and skirted)

Will H. Hays was the postmaster under Harding. Elder in Presbyterian Church and Republican 32 states were considering censorship legislation when he was appointed president of the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America in 1922 did a lot to try to stop censorship at state level and worked heavily with public relations The industry was overwhelming Jewish and had been criticized by other faiths. Hays recruited a prominent Catholic layman (published movie magainzes) and a Jesuit and professor of dramatics to help alleviate concerns Administration of the code was given to a man working for Hays and it became known as the Breen office (Joseph Breen) The Breen office governed movies for 30 years. Interpretation of this office meant interpretation of the code discussions with producers about proposed films, examination of scripts, screening of films. If you didn't get the seal of approval, then your film was denied a theatrical release in most places... failing to comply could be as high as $25,000. Selznik was fined $5000 was the I don't give a damn phrase in Gone with the Wind

Tent pole films

a tent-pole or tentpole is a program or movie that supports the financial performance of a movie studio or television network. A tent-pole movie may be expected to support the sale of tie-in merchandise.

Realism

duplicate reality (use real locations, minimal editing)

Hollywood Ten

• 10 were cited for contempt of Congress - Served time. In prison, one of the 10, Ring Lardner JR met chairman Thomas who was serving time for takign kickbacks - Much of the subtext here was anti-Semitic - 10 were fired immediately for violating their morals clause in their contract - In court, Thomas argued the consitutuional rights and first amendment should be disregarded. 10 sentenced to jail - Before prison, they put together a 20 minute film called The Hollywood Ten (1949) it was blacklisted

Censorship in films

• 1907 Chicago passed an ordinance allowing the police department to issue permits for exhibition of movies • 1907 NYC revoked the licenses of 550 movie hours who successfully sought an injunction against it - Sundays were the biggest movie day and concerns about damage to public morals • Local authorities had censor boards - NYC no one under 16 could go to the movies without an adult • Theaters would often provide an adult to escort them in • First state censorship board was PA in 1911, OH was second in 1913 - Ohio's was upheld in Mutual Film Corporation v. Ohio (1915 SCOTUS) with ruling censorship was constitutional and 1st amendment didn't hold to films • Movies were ruled a business (or 1st didn't apply) and they were spectacles and not part of the press • Films didn't fall under the 1st amendment until 1952 with Burstyn v. Wilson • 1915-1952 Films didn't fall under First Amendment - Small studios and distribution companies did not have the financial means to fight • In 1909, the National Board of Review (originally National Board of Censorship) was created - Grew out of NYC - Not official, but financed by film producers and emphasized public relations - Publish lists of board approved films - Helped deflect legislative attempts at censorship • 1920s, criticism of films increases largely from religious groups - Reinforced by the trial of Fatty Arbuckle in 1921 (eventually acquitted) (Virginia Rappe) • 1930 is creation of the Motion Picture code and also when studios were found guilty of breaking anti-trust laws - Said block booking was illegal, but it wasn't enforced until the Paramount case of 1948 - Block booking is when a theater had to buy a block of films where the studios would pad their bad films into and force them to purchase all or nothing - It was the Famous Players-Lasky case. - It was never enforced because of the Great Depression. The depression put many industries in economic trouble. Film was heavily impacted. The Roosevelt administration wanted films to continue and not be halted because of their morale boost to the public. - In 1933 the MPPDA participated in a much-contested deal with the United States government by seeking sanctuary under the National Industrial Recovery Act. The government agreed to nullify the court decree, and call-off the antitrust case, in exchange for the studios' promise to adopt a progressive attitude toward labor unionization. - The studios were protected to do block booking and blind bidding until 1935 when the National Industry Recovery Act was ruled unconstitutional - Not surprising the Paramount anti-trust case that takes this up again is 1948 (after FDR's death)

Things that can impact a film (screenplay, genre, sound, dialogue, music, editing, composition, casting, characters, names, etc)

• Casting Who can create and send a political message Can cast against type for effect Type types of actors: play to image and variety/range Characters Can transmit political messages Stereotypes can reinforce views or send a message Stereotypes reflect dominant social attitudes, conventions, and values Names Names can convey a message. What you name a character. Names can allow associations to be made Titles - What you call a film tells you about the content and how it is being treated - Can use titles to prepare audience for type of film • Sound and Dialogue - Sound can make it formalistic or realistic - Foley artists can set mood in films - Sound can guide you in directions of thought (chaos, anger, loneliness, etc) • Music - Two main types • Original Scored music (made for the film) • Soundtrack music (drawn from existing music) - Both set tone and mood, both can send messages • Foreground or background • Can use for political messages - If you play ominous music around a character, it transmits a message • Music can tell you what a director wants to convey even if its not overt on the screen • Editing or montage - Joining shots together - Usually it flows chronologically (continuity editing means you don't lose track of time and place... even if a flashback you know it), but can be messed with for effect • Pulp Fiction, Memento, or the tv series Westworld are non-chronological - Editing usually falls in formalism because you are using it to shape a piece in a certain way - How you put something together, what is inserted, what is left out, what is dropped in can raise questions, send viewers in a particular direction, evoke certain emotions or political thoughts... sudden cuts to something can try to move an audience from passivity or raise awareness to something the director wants you to clue in upon - Extensive editing tends to draw attention to the director and their message ... longer unedited takes tend to draw attention to subject • Composition - Construction of movie scenes (placement of people and objects in the camera lens) - These can include • Dominant object or objects • Camera angles • Distance from camera • Color and lighting • Distortion by lenses • Density or complexity of image • Character placement • Framing of timages - Manipulating these allows the director to say different things even bfore filming starts... larger an object is in a frame, often the more significant it is for asymbol, plot, or foreshadowing - Audeinces often don't consciiously think about these things but they can manipulate audience reaction Photography/Cinematography - Lighting and color • Light and dark can convey messages - Good, distrustful • Color choice and color saturation can convey meaning - Vibrancy or color associated with meanings - Camera Angles and Placement • Can affect the meaning - High angle versus low angle » Intimate versus removed » or low angle in Citizen Kane to create a larger than life feel - Close up shots to convey facial changes or attention to specifics, allow for individualization, etc - Sets, Props, Special Effects • Backdrops are often symbolic extensions of the theme - Cartoon sets, oversized props, outdoor scenes, grittiness, shininess, vast, claustrophobic » These can all send messages about ideas » White house, air force one. How they are seen tells you about what is being conveyed

Office of War Information as covered in class

• Created June 13, 1942 by executive order • Created and distributed posters, booklets, photographs, radio shows and films - Boost morale and patriotism - Propaganda - Censored images and news reports • Negative was removed • Elmer Davis, the OWI Director in 1942, said of this process, "The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people's minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized." • Congress did not like it on US soil and by 1944, most of its work was overseas with anti-Axis messages and it was shut down by September 1945 - Latin America was handled through Rockefeller Office, not OWI • Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP) was inside OWI - Office of Government Reports supervised the film program • Conservatives called it OGRE or 'Mellett's Madhouse' (it was run by Lowell Mellett) • OWI wanted films that supported New Deal liberalism • Summer 1942 Hollywood had 213 films that dealt with the war in production or pre-production - 40% were armed forces, 20% dealt with enemy (usually as spies) - OWI was unhappy with these films because they were largely conventional movies that had the war backdropped in or grafted into it but they weren't war films • June 1942 OWI writes "Manual for the Motion-Picture Industry" as a guide for movie makers - The War was based on the 4 freedoms (speech and religion and from want and fear) - Enemy was fascism. Not Axis, but fascists at home and abroad • Racial discrimination and religious intolerance and special privileges are manifestations of fascism and should be exposed - Here are their rules: • Will this picture help win the war? • What war information problem does it seek to clarify? • If it is an 'escape' picture, will it harm the war effort by creating a false picture of America, her allies, or the world we live in? • Does it merely use the war as the basis for a profitable picture? • Does it contribute something new to our understanding of the world conflict? • When the picture reaches its maximum circulation on the screen... will it be outdated? • Does the picture tell the truth or will young people of today have reason to say they were misled by propaganda? • OWI tried to get recuts and prevent release of some films but Hollywood objected strongly • OWI released they had to intervene in the production stage of the movies to affect their message - Started asking for scripts to review - Studios didn't like it, but did so - OWI really liked the combat films • OWI disliked the satirizing the rich films, and gangster films - OWI asked the military to send all their movie industry contacts to them to look at their information... military (all branches) declined) - Movie Studios disliked being monitored • December 11 1942 Office of Censorship issues new rules - Banned certain films from export • any films with rationing or economic preparation for war because they implied it would be a long war • Banned lawlessness where order was not restored and people punished (gangster films) • Labor or class conflict after 1917 • These rules were also targeting B movies because they often worked with no or a loose script and were fluid in how their story took shape • In 1942, OWI also starts using/providing its own combat footage and was distributed to the 5 newsreel companies... these official reports cost about 50 million a year to produce and you can still see them in National Archives • Fall 1943 OWI was reading all the scripts for every studio except Paramount - 84 scripts with lawlessness and 47 were corrected to their satisfaction - Racial problems were eliminated or mitigated in 20 of 24 scripts • Japanese films were a notable exception and consistent. Japanese enemy was almost always on racial terms, not in fascist ones... terms that they allowed 'japs' 'beasts' 'yellow monkeys' 'nips' and 'slant-eyed rats'... Germans were frequently more superhuman while Japanese were more subhuman... japanese were all evil, while Italians were portrayed often as generally good with an evil leader, Mussolini - Objectionable material was removed in 277 out of 390 cases • January-August 1943 29 scheduled productions were dropped because of OWI objections • From 1943 to the end of WWII, OWI had an influence never equaled by a government agency

General idea behind andy hardy films/golddiggers/gangster films

• Crime films, class conflict films, concerns about the American system of government? (does it work for us?) • Gangster movies were usually dark. Hays code of course, but also cynicism of society at large - Often upbringing or social situation causes negativity - The Public Enemy (1931) pre-code considered one fo the best - Thematically often average man can't catch a break (but often because of his actions) - Characters driven outside by society • Marx Brothers films - Famous vaudeville act (started around 1905) - Films (13 in all) start in 1929... satirical, innuendo, ab-lib a bit, but many bits were from their vaudeville act so it was very well honed), often making fun of authority figures and social upper class... works well for Depression audiences • Monster Movies - Universal films • Dracula (english and spanish) and Frankenstein (1931); 1932 Murders Rue Morgue, Mummy; 1933 Invisible Man; 1935 Bride of Frankenstein • Andy Hardy Films - Mickey Rooney 1937-1946 - Thematically optimistic, idealized small town family life - Sentimental comedies with patriotic, kind, pious characters - Often have a crisis and they salvage the situation by 'putting on a show' • Our Gang/Little Rascals - 1920s-1940s, but height was mid to late 1930s - Light satirical short comedies of children being children, but also childlike interpretations of more serious issues • Golddiggers movies (1933 and 1935), Footlight Parade, Andy Hardy often show communitarian, pulling up by boot straps, pulling together to overcome odds themes which mirror broader messages of the Great Depression

Repeating themes in 1930s movies

• Crime films, class conflict films, concerns about the American system of government? (does it work for us?) • Gangster movies were usually dark. Hays code of course, but also cynicism of society at large - Often upbringing or social situation causes negativity - The Public Enemy (1931) pre-code considered one fo the best - Thematically often average man can't catch a break (but often because of his actions) - Characters driven outside by society • Marx Brothers films - Famous vaudeville act (started around 1905) - Films (13 in all) start in 1929... satirical, innuendo, ab-lib a bit, but many bits were from their vaudeville act so it was very well honed), often making fun of authority figures and social upper class... works well for Depression audiences • Monster Movies - Universal films • Dracula (english and spanish) and Frankenstein (1931); 1932 Murders Rue Morgue, Mummy; 1933 Invisible Man; 1935 Bride of Frankenstein • Andy Hardy Films - Mickey Rooney 1937-1946 - Thematically optimistic, idealized small town family life - Sentimental comedies with patriotic, kind, pious characters - Often have a crisis and they salvage the situation by 'putting on a show' • Our Gang/Little Rascals - 1920s-1940s, but height was mid to late 1930s - Light satirical short comedies of children being children, but also childlike interpretations of more serious issues • Golddiggers movies (1933 and 1935), Footlight Parade, Andy Hardy often show communitarian, pulling up by boot straps, pulling together to overcome odds themes which mirror broader messages of the Great Depression

Office of Censorship as covered in class

• December 11 1942 Office of Censorship issues new rules - Banned certain films from export • any films with rationing or economic preparation for war because they implied it would be a long war • Banned lawlessness where order was not restored and people punished (gangster films) • Labor or class conflict after 1917 • These rules were also targeting B movies because they often worked with no or a loose script and were fluid in how their story took shape • In 1942, OWI also starts using/providing its own combat footage and was distributed to the 5 newsreel companies... these official reports cost about 50 million a year to produce and you can still see them in National Archives • Fall 1943 OWI was reading all the scripts for every studio except Paramount - 84 scripts with lawlessness and 47 were corrected to their satisfaction - Racial problems were eliminated or mitigated in 20 of 24 scripts • Japanese films were a notable exception and consistent. Japanese enemy was almost always on racial terms, not in fascist ones... terms that they allowed 'japs' 'beasts' 'yellow monkeys' 'nips' and 'slant-eyed rats'... Germans were frequently more superhuman while Japanese were more subhuman... japanese were all evil, while Italians were portrayed often as generally good with an evil leader, Mussolini - Objectionable material was removed in 277 out of 390 cases • January-August 1943 29 scheduled productions were dropped because of OWI objections • From 1943 to the end of WWII, OWI had an influence never equaled by a government agency

Role of Director

• Director is often considered the most important contributor to the artistic impact and most control over final product • Duties vary from film to film • They do 'stage direction' but also visual and aural aspects of film - Type of shots, camera angles, lighting, filters, composition, editing, also costume & set design (involved in with often final approval) • Two major approaches to direction: realism and formalism - Realism: duplicate reality (use real locations, minimal editing) - Formalism: emphasize aesthetic form and symbol rather than reality • Unusual sets, lighting to convey meaning (in the dark or light, affect your opinion of a person), heavy editing (formal filmmaking decisions is what formalism really means) - It doesn't matter how 'real' it feels. These are distinctions between as close to reality as possible and a crafted image. (The Kardashians are formalism wrapped up in a reality show) - Both can be used for political films - Many Hollywood films blend these two approaches • When one is heavily emphasized over another, you can get a view (often) into a message the director wants to say - Apocalypse Now used light filters and music. Saving Private Ryan used realism and both wanted to highlight the horrors of war

Political films of the 1930s

• Early 1930s had quite a few explicit political films - Herbert Hoover selected in a landslide in 1928 but popularity tumbled in Depression - Americans were cynical about situation and concerned they would never recover • Phantom President (1932) - Dave (1993) has similar plot - Man running for president has no personality but is qualified. Another man looks just like him and is very charismatic, but has no qualifications. Swap for election season. In PP, the show man is swept into office ultimately thinking it's the other guy • Dark Horse (1932) - About an unqualified person pushed into office and packaged to be appealing • Washington Masquerade (1932) and Washington Merry Go Round (1932) are both about deep corruption in system, Good every man is elected shocked to find how bad system is and fights it • Gabriel Over the White House (1933) - Joint project of MGM and Cosmopolitan Productions (owned by William Randolph Hearst and Adolph Zukor). Hearst wrote much of the dialogue and was very involved in the project... Hearst also allegedly took money from Nazis, admired Mussolini and Hitler for their ability to effectively rule population, and used his papers to preach neutrality until Pearl Harbor - Hearst also called Also Ran-Dolph Hearst (mayor of NYC 1905, 1909) governor of NY 1906, president of USA 1904, US House 1903-1907 (only office he won) - Released one month into FDR presidency. Hearst supported FDR but thought he needed guidance - Fascist leader could solve America's problems - Plot: womanizing president with divine help makes himself a benevolent dictator and uses overwhelming military force to end organized crime. He uses radio to get elected, gets power he wants from Congress, then he suspends Congress, declares martial law, feeds hungry, gets rid of unemployment, eliminate war by bullying other countries into disarmament. - When everything taken care of, Gabriel disposes of president to protect us from dictatorship - Hays office flipped out and what is left is the sanitized version. They felt it may foment violence against government institutions • Hays and Louis B Mayer (MGM) thought it was pro-FDR and they were GOP • Film got retooled under Mayer's eye - Politics is dirty and one person can clean it up (thematically speaking)

General idea in Shirley Temple films

• Films 1932-1949 (1935-1938 #1 box office star) • Hope, cheerfulness, optimism - Forget troubles - No matter how bad her life was, she perservered - Hard work and you can succeed - Often in the 'fixer-upper' role, matchmaker role - Good always won • Popularity also stemmed from large numbers of licensed products Political films were rife in the 1930s • Early 1930s had quite a few explicit political films - Herbert Hoover selected in a landslide in 1928 but popularity tumbled in Depression - Americans were cynical about situation and concerned they would never recover • Phantom President (1932) - Dave (1993) has similar plot - Man running for president has no personality but is qualified. Another man looks just like him and is very charismatic, but has no qualifications. Swap for election season. In PP, the show man is swept into office ultimately thinking it's the other guy • Dark Horse (1932) - About an unqualified person pushed into office and packaged to be appealing • Washington Masquerade (1932) and Washington Merry Go Round (1932) are both about deep corruption in system, Good every man is elected shocked to find how bad system is and fights it • Gabriel Over the White House (1933) - Joint project of MGM and Cosmopolitan Productions (owned by William Randolph Hearst and Adolph Zukor). Hearst wrote much of the dialogue and was very involved in the project... Hearst also allegedly took money from Nazis, admired Mussolini and Hitler for their ability to effectively rule population, and used his papers to preach neutrality until Pearl Harbor - Hearst also called Also Ran-Dolph Hearst (mayor of NYC 1905, 1909) governor of NY 1906, president of USA 1904, US House 1903-1907 (only office he won) - Released one month into FDR presidency. Hearst supported FDR but thought he needed guidance - Fascist leader could solve America's problems - Plot: womanizing president with divine help makes himself a benevolent dictator and uses overwhelming military force to end organized crime. He uses radio to get elected, gets power he wants from Congress, then he suspends Congress, declares martial law, feeds hungry, gets rid of unemployment, eliminate war by bullying other countries into disarmament. - When everything taken care of, Gabriel disposes of president to protect us from dictatorship - Hays office flipped out and what is left is the sanitized version. They felt it may foment violence against government institutions • Hays and Louis B Mayer (MGM) thought it was pro-FDR and they were GOP • Film got retooled under Mayer's eye - Politics is dirty and one person can clean it up (thematically speaking)

Importance of Gabriel over the White House

• Grapes of Wrath - Everyman comes home from prison finds farm deserted - Average person forced off land by deedholders - Leave to promised land of California • Difficult journey, average people helping each other out though - Camps for the itinerants are crowded with people starving (groups of people, metaphor for cities?) • All lured by propaganda, but cheap labor prices keep them from thriving - Eventually get to a clean camp run by the Department of Agriculture • Themes of social reform, social justice, government helping people • Thematically: New Deal is a salvation - Themes: trust in family, trust in land, average people and only the government is the salvation • Film has often been attacked (notably by Hearst papers) as Communist propaganda

Hitler's use of propaganda

• Hitler used film as a weapon to educate the German population - 1934 onwards a film hour for the young was part of the curriculum • Only Nazi produced films - Two pronged approach: get support but also weaken morale and resistance - They wanted a competitive industry to Hollywood in Germany • Of the 1097 films produced, only 183 (1933-1945) were overt... far less than the Americans or British • Films were historical dramas • They created 'show camps' (concentration camps Terezin in Czech was for a while one) for investigators like the Red Cross show they would believe treatment was not onerous American Propaganda in WWII era • Anti-Nazi films as early as 1938, films in 1940-1941 had a focus on military readiness - Comedy shorts like Three Stooges You Nazty Spy (1940) and sequel You'll never Heil Again (1941) were anti-Nazi satire... the shorts did not get as much censorship as movies from Hays btw • Studios lost the foreign market in the war so many started working on training videos for government - Bugs Bunny sold war bonds, Warner created Private Snafu, Bugs Bunny made fun of Japanese as did Daffy Duck - Disney Studios did Der Fuehrer's Face (1942) with Donald Duck • Films after Germany invaded Russia took on a more pro-Russian view to help bolster our Ally (4 films specifically)

Importance of Confessions of a Nazi Spy

• Important film because of its impact... in Nov 1936 a poll had shown 95% of America did not want to get involved in the European war • First major studio film to show the Nazis as a threat and warn audiences about them • Also a stand because the Breen office was sympathetic to anti-Semitism and rejected films that made other countries look bad • Breen: All that was wrong with Hollywood he blamed on the "lousy Jews" and insisted that "95%...are Eastern Jews, the scum of the earth." The studio heads, he wrote in 1932, were "simply a rotten bunch of vile people with no respect for anything beyond the making of money." • Milwaukee- Nazi sympathizers burned down a theater, other American cities picket lines and slashed seats... keep in mind German is the #1 ethnicity in America • In Poland, several theater owners were hanged (lynched) by crowds in protest, the Nazi Party banned the film everywhere it had power • How did this film get made? And How do you get around code? • Base it on real events • Feb 26, 1938 J Edgar Hoover announced they had broken up a Nazi spy ring operating in the USA • Hoover announced before all were rounded up and some made it back to German • June 1938 18 were indicted in federal court for violating espionage laws, 4 convicted 14 fled beforehand • Gman who broke the case wrote a book in 1939 Nazi Spies in America... Warner buys rights • LA german consul tries to get the film stopped; they threaten that the Reich will ban all films the people who are in this film are in the future • Try to get the film stopped for violations of code provisions (not representing the Nazis fairly) • Breen office had to allow it (though reluctantly) required that no references be made to German Jews in the film in terms of persecution or suffering • Now, film is eh. Then: they had to have special police men... 100 letters threating action... many actors turned down roles... Edward G. Robinson was ant-Nazi and felt this was as important as enlisting • Reaction? Very positive and reviews praised the film • However, German-American group tried to have it stopped from being released under libel (failed) • German government filed official complaint with State Department • Kansas city tried to get its local censors to ban film • Attacked as Jewish Propaganda • Impact • Helped America see dangers imposed by isolationism • Great Dictator

birth of a nation (impact, importance, goals, metaphor)

• In NYC, the NAACP and the National Board of Censorship were in the same building - NBC had already approved Birth, but NAACP got them to reconsider • NAACP launched a campaign and Wilson did back down from his comments • NAACP wanted censorship because protesting brought attention to the film - Scenes were cut about interracial violence and tone down the blackface character pursuing the white girl and the revenge on him from the KKK - However, only Ohio and Kansas had statewide bans • Raised serious questions of freedom of speech versus censorship (it was released after the court case removing 1st amendment from films) • William Trotter in Boston had pickets and marches which were the largest show of strength from the black community since the Civil War - He had gotten the play forced off the stage in Boston 10 years earlier - He (and other African Americans) tried to purchase tickets for Birth of a Nation, but were denied because black patrons were not allowed. He demanded a ticket, a plain clothes officer punches him and he's arrested and drug out of the lobby - He did get it banned from Boston in 1921 on re-release • Birth was also banned in Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Topeka, San Antonio and states of New York, Illinois, and Michigan - Local censors made cuts in New York, Boston, Dallas, Baltimore, and San Francisco • Woodrow Wilson called it history written with lightning • Most influential film up to 1915 • D.W. Griffith and film was 3 hours long. Longest to date • 1915 Magazine "The Editor" Griffith says "The time will come in less than 10 years... when children in the public schools will be taught practically everything by moving pictures. Certainly they will never be obliged to read history again..." • The Clansman (book and play) was already well known at the time • Griffith wanted to show a positive Southern way of life, wrongs of the north and the carpetbaggers and the former slaves who were put in power by them... almost the formation of the KKK to protect the white interests - Dixon's novel had more hateful language he left out and he also included more loyal to their master's black persons - Audiences would stand up at the end, cheer, yell and stamp feet • Thomas Dixon (author of Clansman) said his interest in writing the novel and encouraging the film was black deportation back to Africa - An early cut of the film had the whole black population of the USA lined up at a harbor to be deported back to Africa (removed from the general release cut) - He also said "The real purpose of my film was to revolutionize Northern audiences that would transform every man into a Southern partisan for life. He also agreed with statements that is was propaganda... he wanted to see more anti-miscegenation laws - He originally wrote it because he was upset of the portrayal of the South in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Actors as politicians, politicians as actors

• Jesse Ventura (Minnesota) • Arnold Schwarzenegger (California) • Ronald Reagan • Donald Trump • Politicians behaving with actors (or I'd rather say characters the actors play. Which is troubling because they are scripted sound bites in a story arc designed to be hyperbolic and often two dimensional) • Cinematic Learning - Gingrich has told people that films have been formative to him. And learn history from certain films (no, really, don't do this. It creates awareness and that's great, but its stylized history) - Reagan used lines from films at times for effect • Once told a story in the 1983 congressional medal of honor service from the 1944 movie wing and a prayer and when the press secretary was called out about it he said "if you tell the same story 5 times, it's true) - Can compress into good/evil; or simplistic answers - Getting people to buy in the story or situation (politics/film overlap... Schwarzenegger)

Communism in films when it was acceptable and when it was not

• Little evidence of communist messages in films • Reaction though... 1947-1954 40 explicit anti-communist films were made - Lost money, but useful for the studios to avoid perception of supporting communism - Book suggests the HUAC was perhaps more concerned with the growing social and political messages in movies

Local and state censorship boards

• Local authorities had censor boards - NYC no one under 16 could go to the movies without an adult • Theaters would often provide an adult to escort them in • First state censorship board was PA in 1911, OH was second in 1913 - Ohio's was upheld in Mutual Film Corporation v. Ohio (1915 SCOTUS) with ruling censorship was constitutional and 1st amendment didn't hold to films • Movies were ruled a business (or 1st didn't apply) and they were spectacles and not part of the press • Films didn't fall under the 1st amendment until 1952 with Burstyn v. Wilson • 1915-1952 Films didn't fall under First Amendment - Small studios and distribution companies did not have the financial means to fight • In 1909, the National Board of Review (originally National Board of Censorship) was created - Grew out of NYC - Not official, but financed by film producers and emphasized public relations - Publish lists of board approved films - Helped deflect legislative attempts at censorship • 1920s, criticism of films increases largely from religious groups - Reinforced by the trial of Fatty Arbuckle in 1921 (eventually acquitted) (Virginia Rappe) • 1930 is creation of the Motion Picture code and also when studios were found guilty of breaking anti-trust laws - Said block booking was illegal, but it wasn't enforced until the Paramount case of 1948 - Block booking is when a theater had to buy a block of films where the studios would pad their bad films into and force them to purchase all or nothing - It was the Famous Players-Lasky case. - It was never enforced because of the Great Depression. The depression put many industries in economic trouble. Film was heavily impacted. The Roosevelt administration wanted films to continue and not be halted because of their morale boost to the public. - In 1933 the MPPDA participated in a much-contested deal with the United States government by seeking sanctuary under the National Industrial Recovery Act. The government agreed to nullify the court decree, and call-off the antitrust case, in exchange for the studios' promise to adopt a progressive attitude toward labor unionization. - The studios were protected to do block booking and blind bidding until 1935 when the National Industry Recovery Act was ruled unconstitutional - Not surprising the Paramount anti-trust case that takes this up again is 1948 (after FDR's death)

Blacklist

• October 1947 hearings are when the blacklist era starts - Chairman J. Parnell Thomas (NJ) wanted to investigate Communist Activity in the film business - Had held closed meetings in Hollywood in May 1947 where they got names of real or suspected Communists - Subpoenaed 43 witnesses to the public October hearings - (nixon was on this committee) • Friendly: Robert Montgomery, Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan, George Murphy, Jack Warner, Walt Disney, Ayn Rand - Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild tne informer for the FBI with the code name T-10 • Unfriendly: mostly writers and directors... why they were selected was never explained - Invoked their 1st amendment rights and were vague in answer (bad idea) • The committee believed the screenplays were the principle medium that Communists have sought to inject the propaganda • 10 were cited for contempt of Congress - Served time. In prison, one of the 10, Ring Lardner JR met chairman Thomas who was serving time for takign kickbacks - Much of the subtext here was anti-Semitic - 10 were fired immediately for violating their morals clause in their contract - In court, Thomas argued the consitutuional rights and first amendment should be disregarded. 10 sentenced to jail - Before prison, they put together a 20 minute film called The Hollywood Ten (1949) it was blacklisted • It's a Wonderful Life (1946) was seen by some as a Communist film • Hearings again in 1951 - Blacklist grew to about 2000 people and almost migrated into television - Starting around 1948, anti-communist films on rise while other types of political films waned (McCarthy was censured in 1954) • Keep in mind, many pro-Russian films of the WWII era were crafted with the idea of them as our allies. This is before the Cold War. 1950s Blacklist period and fears • 1951 hearings were lead by John Wood - Many left when subpoenaed for fear of what happened to the 10 in 1947 (they started serving in 1950) - 110 unfriendly witnesses testified • 58 admitted to having Communist ties and named names (6-155 range for each)... many gave the Hollywood 10 names - Friendly witnesses gave up names too • Lloyd Bridges testified privately • Elia Kazan named names... in his 1974 book he said he did it because the Communists kicked him out and he was angry so it was personal retaliation (Some people feel 1953 On the Waterfront- directed by Kazan was his attempt to explain his actions) - 324 named to the Committee were blacklisted immediately • Some worked in Europe, some under pseudonyms • Does attending a Communist meeting make you less American? • How does Ronald Reagan fit in? - Ronald Reagan admitted to attending meetings but also on executive council for Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) which FBI thought had 24 communists in it... one of Reagan's frat brothers became a FBI agent... by 1945 reagan was passing info to FBI ... 1946 was when he went on the board, but he was also uncomfortable with the idea of communist infiltration in the usa ... apparently the board was split and internally feuding with reagan and olivia de havilland firmly on the anti-communist side... Reagan put forth a motion with the group to "We reaffirm belief in free enterprise and the democratic system and repudiate Communism as desirable for the United States." When it was voted down, he, de havilland, and others felt the group had become a Communist front organization and resigned in protest.... Group collapses. Reagan kept some of the groups records and he told his brother Neil Reagan (who was also an informant in Hollywood for the FBI) (reagan's belief it was a communist front organization was because if you missed 2 meetings you were off the board... and the records showed that over the last several months every replacement had been nominated by a specific woman at a studio which he felt was suspicious.... Records made their way to the FBI - Reagan also was on the board of the American Veterans Committee... which had its charter revoked in Hollywood and the California one. In court Reagan testified his involvement was similar to the HICCASP situation - More than anything else," he wrote, "it was the Communists' attempted takeover of Hollywood and its worldwide weekly audience of more than five hundred million people that led me to accept a nomination to serve as a president of the SAG and, indirectly at least, set me on the road that would lead me into politics." • End of the blacklist - 1959 Dalton Trumbo was one of the Hollywood 10. He was hired to write the Exodus screenplay and did an excellent job. Otto Preminger insisted to United Artists that he be given credit on the film - However it ruined many careers

Importance of Citizen Kane

• Orson Welles is given a contract with RKO to make a film where he gets approval over final cut (rare) as long as the film didn't go over half million to make • Welles was a big supporter of the New Deal (he had produced plays financed by the Federal Theatre- part of New Deal's cultural policy). • Welles is also anti-fascist and wants intervention in WWII • Hearst was against the New Deal and isolationist • Kane gets money at an early age, disaster of a political career, newspaper empire which distorts truth, lost 2 wives, and ends up self-imposed exile in estates surrounded by art (Hearst had a mistress /actress Marion Davies who he forced into romantic lead roles that weren't right for her) • Theme of movie is power rests upon distortion and hypocrisy (Kane's paper gets its reputation by going after trusts, but is also creating one with papers)(Kane is for the people, but opposes unions) • Hearst would not give the film publicity in his papers and convinced theaters not to run it.. Hearst had dirt on a lot of Hollywood and threatened to use it if necessary. It was forced out of distribution and not reissued until the 1950s • Themes of the film: power corrupts, anti-elite, anti-authoritarian • There aren't simply solutions in this film, the characters are misunderstood at times, and people make decisions with partial information or biased information Film industry at war • 18 actors earned 70 medals during the war including Bronze and Silver stars, purple hearts, and distinguished service cross • Many volunteered and did not use their service for publicity afterwards • Several died • Leslie Howard (Ashley in Gone with the Wind) was shot down by Germans, Carole Lombard died on a war bond tour • 1/5 to ¼ of the films from 1942-1945 were war related themes • Many were collective action and egalitarian with straightforward calls for support of war effort

Importance of Grapes of Wrath and Our Daily Bread

• Our Daily Bread and Grapes of Wrath • Our Daily Bread - American family affected by Depression in city with unemployment • Move to a farm to try to live off the land • Others show up with similar motives • Man also lured away by a blonde seductress • Drought kills crops (crisis!) • Work together to dig ditch to irrigate the crops - Themes: collective action, loyalty, individuals fixing problems, not corporations or government, benefits of hard work - Ties with other themes of the period where urban is synonymous with corruption and political machines • Grapes of Wrath - Everyman comes home from prison finds farm deserted - Average person forced off land by deedholders - Leave to promised land of California • Difficult journey, average people helping each other out though - Camps for the itinerants are crowded with people starving (groups of people, metaphor for cities?) • All lured by propaganda, but cheap labor prices keep them from thriving - Eventually get to a clean camp run by the Department of Agriculture • Themes of social reform, social justice, government helping people • Thematically: New Deal is a salvation - Themes: trust in family, trust in land, average people and only the government is the salvation • Film has often been attacked (notably by Hearst papers) as Communist propaganda

Importance and ideas in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

• Populist message • Still influential today for how people see political system. Even if not watched, it is referenced. • Innocent can take on system and win - Put in place to be a seat warmer and realizes the senior senator from his state is corrupt. Smith gets framed and filibusters about American ideals • Washington did not like the film much, but the country did • Partial list of people who have used a reference to the film or Jefferson Smith (Mr. Smith) - Barack Obama, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Ross Perot, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul • Problems are bad men, not system and can be fixed by good men

Military's relationship with the film industry

• Studios and producers need military for authenticity at times - Liaison office with military can often guide, encourage certain directions to be happy with the product - Top Gun, Battleship

Rockefeller office

• They had multiple business interests in Latin America • 1935-1943 Rockefeller brothers had a large share of RKO and part of the controlling interest • Encouraging Latin American films, especially ones featuring safe travel helped create tourism • n 1939 Nelson Rockefeller and his associates from the Chase Manhattan Bank and Rockefeller Center prepared a three-page memorandum for President Franklin D. Roosevelt that suggested the creation of a government agency to counter Nazi propaganda and covert infiltration in Latin America. FDR. on the recommendation of an adviser (who later received a loan from Nelson Rockefeller), named Nelson in 1940 to head the new agency which became known as the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) or simply as the Rockefeller Office • This office was essentially propaganda to shape how Americans view Latin America and Latin Americans view America. Put both in favorable light • To gain control over the media of Latin America during the War, Rockefeller obtained a ruling from the U.S. Treasury Department which exempted the cost of advertisements placed by American corporations that were cooperating with the Rockefeller Office from taxation. This tax-exempt advertising eventually constituted more than 40 per cent. of all radio and newspaper revenues in Latin America. By selectively directing this advertising towards newspapers and radio stations that accepted guidance from his office and simultaneously denying it to media which he deemed uncooperative or pro-Nazi he skillfully managed to gain economic leverage over the major sources of news throughout South America. Moreover, as the newsprint shortage became critical in South America, his office made sure that the indispensable newsprint licenses were allocated only to friendly newspapers. With a staff of some 1,200 in the United States, including mobilized journalists, advertising experts and public opinion analysts, and some $140 million in government funds (expended over five years), the Rockefeller Office mounted a propaganda effort virtually unprecedented in the annals of American history.

Thomas Edison

• Thomas Edison held patent on Kinetoscope (early movie camera) and about 1000 other patents - Created the Motion Picture Patent Company which was essentially a trust of 10+ large companies that had control of almost all aspects of film from the manufacture of film stock, cameras to film, production of films and the theaters - Judges in California were less friendly to Edison. Plus, given the transportation of the day it was more cumbersome to go out to California to enforce breaches of your patents

Propaganda (where term comes from, types, definition, what, how used)

• Types of propaganda - Documentary (not always objective) - Message hidden in subtext • Definition? - General agreement it has to include premeditation and manipulation - Wants to influence and persuade in a particular way • How different? - Different from fact and opinion • Fact is verifiable by research or observed by the senses - Corroborated by outside sources • Where does term come from? - It was originally a neutral term. Pope Gregory XV (1554-1623) 'Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (1622) to combat the Protestant Reformation... meant spreading religious doctrine - 19th century it means efforts of a government to manipulate public opinion • Some of the earliest film propaganda was Spanish American War (1898): War Department filmed battle action to highlight the American cause Term frequently associated with Nazis • Hitler used film as a weapon to educate the German population - 1934 onwards a film hour for the young was part of the curriculum • Only Nazi produced films - Two pronged approach: get support but also weaken morale and resistance - They wanted a competitive industry to Hollywood in Germany • Of the 1097 films produced, only 183 (1933-1945) were overt... far less than the Americans or British • Films were historical dramas • They created 'show camps' (concentration camps Terezin in Czech was for a while one) for investigators like the Red Cross show they would believe treatment was not onerous American Propaganda in WWII era • Anti-Nazi films as early as 1938, films in 1940-1941 had a focus on military readiness - Comedy shorts like Three Stooges You Nazty Spy (1940) and sequel You'll never Heil Again (1941) were anti-Nazi satire... the shorts did not get as much censorship as movies from Hays btw • Studios lost the foreign market in the war so many started working on training videos for government - Bugs Bunny sold war bonds, Warner created Private Snafu, Bugs Bunny made fun of Japanese as did Daffy Duck - Disney Studios did Der Fuehrer's Face (1942) with Donald Duck • Films after Germany invaded Russia took on a more pro-Russian view to help bolster our Ally (4 films specifically)

Film and women of the period

• Women as objects - Possessions of men - Must be pure - Metaphor for USA - Death is preferable to defilement • Entire South is defiled if a woman is touched • Pure nation versus a defiled one • Only non-white woman uses sex to manipulate

Progressive era and impact on film

•Heavy bias to Western and Northern Europeans 1920 Immigration Act that puts in the quota also reflects this bias with preferences Whites, and especially, Northern/Western European Whites are considered mentally, socially, and biologically superior Laws are passed in many states banning inter-racial marriage, forced sterilization of mental defects (Buck v. Bell) These attitudes which were prevalent until WWII By 1928, 376 universities had Eugenics courses and it was taught in elementary, middle, high schools as well Fear of immigration and immigrants Reflected in film as well African American, Asian and Jewish characters were often broad stereotypes with little sympathy or empathy to character Anglo Saxon and Northern European whites are often the heroes Wait... weren't many of the early filmmakers Jewish Going back to Cinematic Learning Film making was beginning in the time of the Progressive era. While we often think of the muckrakers as journalists, there were film makers as well - Crime as a social problem, factory abuses, workers • After the Russian Revolution we do see fewer films of this nature because of the fears of Communism - Also, as Hollywood grew, the workers there started unionizing