Parents On The Films And Television example essay topic

Censorship Without the history of Censorship, what type of things would children be watching? Without the unique methods of Censorship, what kinds of films would be being released into the public? Throughout this essay I will be explaining the steps taken to achieve the level of Censorship, that we have now. In 1900-1950 every movie in the world was rated before being released. The government, of the country in which the movie was made always did this. In 1956 the rules were changed.

Each movie's script was now required to go before a Film Board, before being produced. If approved the company was allowed to go on with production. In 1968 the Film Board of the Motion Picture Association of America adopted a new classification system. Instead of the scripts being read, the movies were made, rated by the Board and then put into a category. In 1968 the motion Pictures Association, the National Association of Theater Owners, and the International Film importers all gathered for a meeting about an organization called CARA (classification and rating administration). The main objective of this organization was to educate parents on the films and television that their children watch.

This rarely changed any movies or television shows it just put an age limit on the people to be able to watch them. Anyone over seventeen years of age was allowed to watch anything they chose. There were four categories: 1. G-General 2.

PG-Parental Guidance: all ages admitted. 3. R-Restricted: anyone under 17 requires accompaniment from a parent or guardian. 4. X-No one under 17 is admitted. Throughout History Production companies have been influenced by Religious, Ethnic, Racial and political groups, who have lobbied against content they deem controversial.

In 1953 a producer named Otto Preminger, made a movie called "The Moon is Blue". This movie caused the collapse of the Production Code from previous years. The movie caused such controversy because of one line in it " a professional virgin". Because in 1953 the scripts of movies were read before they were produced, and the organization CARA was not yet established, Otto Preminger was not given a seal of approval. Before he was denied a seal of approval, we were given the opportunity to cut the line out of the movie and go on. So he agreed to cut it out, but the rest of the movie had quotes in it that implied similar things to that.

This is what started the slow loss of power for the Production Code. The Code was renewed in 1956, 1961 and then in 1968 the new approach of the organization CARA was reached. As of 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America has a newer system of rating movies. It is quite similar to that of 1968. There are now five categories: 1. G- general audiences 2.

PG- parental guidance advised. 3. PG-13: parental guidance advised for anyone under 13 years of age. 4. A parent or guardian must accompany r-anyone under 17.5. NC-17 No persons under the age of 17 admitted.

In the past the rule of Censorship has been and is repression, suppression, and oppression. There are usually two different methods of censorship: 1}Formal: this is when government officials control the decision being made. They follow the law to control people's free expression. 2} Informal: this is when there are no laws taking place unless there are rules broken. If so it would go to Formal censorship. Censorship can, now, occur before or after a film is released into television or the movie industry.

It is a very uncommon thing, if a film is released that is not yet rated. If this does happen the company that supports the film is not held responsible for any public disapproval. This is because all films are required to be rated by a Board but very rarely a production company will not change what the Board requests, and show their film to the public at their own risk. The reason this is not illegal, is because it is proven that those companies who do not show responsibility by following the rules on Censorship are not as accepted by the public, as those who do. After a company who does this gets poor acceptance, they can go back and cut the pieces of their film out, that the board required terminated and have it rated again, then present it to the public a second time. Sometimes there are small groups that have the influence on production companies to alter their film, only because they threaten to not buy their product.

Religious, Ethnic, and racial groups have tried over the years to prevent movies and television programs from being played because of elements they deem offensive. The Motion Picture and Television industries use censorship in order to avoid public disapproval. Many of these standards have loosened since 1950. As for the Censorship on television, it is a lot like that of movies. The main difference is television has generally more vague rules of explicit language about sex and bodily functions. FCC (Federal Communications Commission) generated these rules.

It is stated that if repeated poor judgment involving content of a program occurs regularly, it would result in the companies' license being revoked. There are five ratings for television as of 1997, they are: 1. FV-Fantasy Violence 2. D-Suggestive Language 3.

L-Profane Language 4. V- Violence 5. S-Sexual Content In conclusion, without the history of censorship children would be watching unsuitable films. Without the methods of censorship mentioned, many Racial, Political, and religious groups would be fighting many movies being released into the public. Censorship saves the world a lot of trouble, without it, where would we be..