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2006 |
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GORDON GREB |
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BY MOVIE CENSORSHIP  Motion Picture Academy Pres. F. Howard Stoopnagel attempts to block federal inspectors from seizing nominated films in raid. |
Film Czar shuts down TV's Oscar show for indecency
By PROF. GORDON GREB
of TheColumnists.com
Something surprising happened when I sat down to write this week's column. As I needed material from the Internet about “Scarlet Street,” a film directed in l945 by Fritz Lang, I was utterly surprised when the Google search engine turned up the following:
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U. S. FILM CZAR SEIZES FILMS, Orders to stop the 2006 Academy Awards
ceremony were delivered by government representatives to the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences here late last night
and ABC Television immediately was told to take the program off
its schedule. Everyone in the motion picture industry is in shock.
Federal agents swooped down on the film community last night, took control of the film vaults, and confiscated all of this year's Oscar-nominated motion pictures, according to an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokesman, who said the Kodak Theater has been closed. He could not predict when it would open again. “We're still trying to understand what happened,” said one dismayed producer, while being led away. One possible explanation is the rumor that the government will soon appoint a Film Czar to safeguard the cultural health and morality of the country against a creeping and debilitating sickness, which somehow is being blamed on the movies. When the arresting officers of Homeland Security were asked why they were doing this, they asserted these films violated presidential executive order 61984 which forbade the showing of any motion picture deemed to be “obscene, indecent, immoral, inhuman, sacrilegious,” or that would tend to corrupt morals, incite crime or lead to violence. At the news conference called by the motion
picture unit of the agency this morning in Washington, D.C. a
government representative who declined to give his name but resembled
the former head of the country's international propaganda agency,
the “Voice of America,” said, “We had to take
this action now Asked to explain specifically why this year's nominees were banned, he went down the list. Each Best Picture Oscar nominee contains material inimical to the public welfare, he said. Four of the five pictures have already been rated “R” by Hollywood's own critical reviewing agency--the Motion Picture Association of America--proof in itself they had crossed the line: “Brokeback Mountain” is immoral and unacceptable, he said, because it is likely to corrupt the minds of too many young viewers. It depicts two men on the screen not as heroic cowboys but as closet homosexuals engaged in sexually immoral acts and living lifestyles which society has long believed to be queer. (MPPA rating: R for sexuality, nudity, language and some violence). “Capote” is very likely to increase crime and violence. It
is a despicable attempt to win sympathy for criminal elements
in our society by depicting the death penalty in capital cases
as wrong. Viewers also are likely to be misled by the main character
who falls in love with one of the condemned vicious “Crash” is politically incorrect and faultfinding liberal propaganda. It places the blame for racial hatred in Los Angeles mainly on hard-working, clean-living conservatives and unfairly depicts them in a bad light. This film is an attempt to replace 100 per cent Americanism with an unrealistic view of who is chiefly at fault for racism in a multi-cultural society. (MPPA rating: R for language, sexual content and some violence.) "Munich” is historically incorrect and too violent.Although Steven Spielberg seems to have made a sincere effort to document the senseless murder of Olympic Games athletes and what followed afterward, the director plays too fast and loose with known evidence. The film leads us to believe it's the actual story. What we really see is vengeful action that is more fiction than fact and excessively brutal for sensitive viewers. (MPAA rating: R for strong graphic violence, some sexual content, nudity, and language.) “Good Night and Good Luck” is politically incorrect and liberal propaganda. CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow is portrayed as a heroic figure when it was really Sen. Joseph McCarthy who deserved the praise. Thanks to today's conservative authors and revisionist historians, Sen. McCarthy is now seen as having done much good by rooting out communists and contributing to our victory in the Cold War. (MPPA rating: PG for mild thematic elements and some questionable language.) These swift actions may be the result of
growing pressure on the national government to control Hollywood
film content, which has been building recently. Numerous religious
organizations, unhappy with television and theater movies, apparently
have convinced the President to use his executive authority to
appoint a Film Czar to clean things up. |
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EDITOR'S NOTE: The foregoing column
by Professor Greb--like movies themselves--is a complete fantasy.
But only because the Supreme Court made censorship unconstitutional
do we NOT have a Film Czar today. A half-century ago, Greb's research helped the nine justices reach their unanimous decision against censorship in the landmark case, Burstyn v. Wilson, et al (1952). Coming Soon: Read why Greb began his research on censorship in the first place: “Near Riot at Fort Dix Over Banned Movie.” |
| FILM CZAR'S NOTE: The federal authorities wish to commend this website for printing Prof. Greb's writings with a pink background as he is clearly a pinko. This subtle point will not be missed by shrewd readers of this page. |
©2006 by Gordon Greb. The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.The "Oscar" logo and the phrase "Academy Awards" are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. This column first posted Feb. 27, 2006.
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