Season Ellison - The Cinematic Theater (review) - Theatre Journal 58:4 (original) (raw)
Related papers
2013
The present paper explores several aspects of censorship in the London theatre of the 1890s and 1900s. Although the Lord Chamberlain banned a number of plays which later gained canonical status (Wilde's Salomé, Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession), it will be argued that indirect censorship by actor-managers and theatre critics as well as self-censorship by playwrights was more significant in the last decade of the 19 th century. It appears that the majority of agents in the theatrical field subscribed to prevailing Victorian moral and ideological paradigms. While some dramatists, e.g. Arthur Wing Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones, probed the limits of the universally acceptable in the commercial theatre, the autocratic actor-managers, dreading interventions of the Lord Chamberlain as well as financial losses, hesitated to produce advanced plays and also forced the authors to revise potentially offensive passages. A gradually strengthening opposing force was also at work, the theatre societies, which, essentially, undermined the authority of the Lord Chamberlain. Contrary to the general antagonism, a case study shows the bizarre collaboration between the alternative theatre and the Examiner of Plays prior to the staging of Alan's Wife. In the first decade of the twentieth century major playwrights were involved in a continuing struggle against censorship. Two case studies, that of the banning of Harley Granville Barker's Waste and that of Edward Garnett's The Breaking Point in 1907, shed light on two different aspects of the censorship debate. While major 54 | Rudolf Weiss critics fully supported the ban on Waste, on the grounds of protecting the average playgoer, it is exactly this latter notion which is deconstructed in Garnett's response to the Examiner of Plays. In the final section of the paper some of the major arguments in the censorship campaign, which eventually resulted in the establishment of a parliamentary committee in 1909, are delineated and evaluated.
The Effect of Censorship on American Film Adaptations of Shakespearean Plays
From July 1, 1934, to November 1, 1968, the Production Code Administration (PCA) oversaw the creation of American motion pictures, in order to improve Hollywood’s moral standing. To assist in this endeavor, the studios produced film adaptations of classic literature, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. In the first two years of the Code’s inception, two Shakespearean films were produced by major studios: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) and Romeo and Juliet (1936). But were these classic adaptations able to avoid the censorship that other films endured? With the use of archived collections, film viewings, and an in-depth analysis of the plays, multiple versions of the scripts, and other available surviving documents, I was able to see how these productions were affected by the enforcement of film censorship and what it said about the position of Shakespeare’s work in society. A Midsummer Night’s Dream tended to use self-regulation, so as to avoid the censorship of the PCA. However, the film did not escape without some required changes. In spite of the filmmakers’ efforts, there were a few textual changes and the fairy costumes required revisions to meet the PCA’s standards. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, the PCA was far more involved in all stages of the film’s production. There were many documented text changes and even a case in which the censors objected to how the actors and director executed a scene on film. The motion picture was created as if it were of the greatest importance by all involved. And, as it were, the existing archives paint a picture of a production that was a sort of battleground in a sociopolitical war between the censors and the filmmakers. As both films arrived on the international stage, this sociopolitical campaigning did not end. During international distribution, the films were each accepted, rejected, and forced to endure further censorship, in order to become acceptable for public screening. This censorship often relayed a message about the location’s societal views and its contrast to American society.
Out of Silence: Censorship in Theatre and Performance
2013
This collection of essays on the subject of theatre and various forms of censorship gathers in an original and stimulating manner the voices of academics, practitioners and artist-scholars. "Out of Silence" is an impassioned volume that focuses not only on governmental censorship, but also on the self-censorship of theatre artists in the process of theatre-making and performance
British Film Censorship in the Twenty-First Century
The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Film and Media, 2022
This chapter is about the films that have been censored in the UK in the twenty-first century. It has two aims: first, to pinpoint the kinds of film images, formal choices, structures, and perspectives that are considered 'harmful' and have therefore provoked censorship. Secondly, to unpick the theoretical assumptions behind such decisions. On the one hand, this chapter is descriptive, pointing out the trends that can be seen in the UK classification board's application of its own guidelines; as such it will be of use to those interested in the kinds of films and images that are currently censored, and are likely to be censored in the future in the UK. On the other hand, this chapter provides a critical analysis of these decisions, highlighting the ideological premises that underpin the decision-making processes. It also points to broader issues with censorship regimes that employ media-effects approaches to violence, notably their focus on individual psychology rather than social, political, and economic context.
Censorship and the Configuration of Cinematographic Classicism
L’Atalante. Revista de estudios cinematográficos, El camarote de Père Jules y Associació Cinefòrum L’Atalante. ISSN: 1885-3730; e-ISSN: 2340-6992, 2019
Abstract: Practically from its origins, and especially once it had been consolidated as a spectacle for mass consumption, American cinema had to deal with censorship by different authorities at local, state and federal levels. The industry responded to the problems arising from such censorship by introducing self-regulation, expressed in the Motion Picture Production Code, popularly known as the Hays Code. In addition to their influence on the subjects chosen and how these were treated, these mechanisms of censorship and self-regulation had a highly significant influence on the filmic form. What role did censorship play in the transition from the cinema of attractions to a more narrative model? Was it a determining factor in the establishment of the Institutional Mode of Representation? How did the Production Code interact with other systems and formulas associated with classical cinema, such as the star system or the different film genres? How did the progressive relaxation and subsequent abandonment of the Code affect the mise-en-scène of films? How did classical cinema handle problematic elements related to filmic form resulting from the restrictions of the Code? In this section, six internationally renowned scholars address these questions and offer their views on the subject.
(Dis)Agreements: Censorship and the configuration of cinematic classicism
2019
Practically from its origins, and especially once it had been consolidated as a spectacle for mass consumption, American cinema had to deal with censorship by different authorities at local, state and federal levels. The industry responded to the problems arising from such censorship by introducing self-regulation, expressed in the Motion Picture Production Code, popularly known as the Hays Code. In addition to their influence on the subjects chosen and how these were treated, these mechanisms of censorship and self-regulation had a highly significant influence on the filmic form. What role did censorship play in the transition from the cinema of attractions to a more narrative model? Was it a determining factor in the establishment of the Institutional Mode of Representation? How did the Production Code interact with other systems and formulas associated with classical cinema, such as the star system or the different film genres? How did the progressive relaxation and subsequent ab...