By: Dustin Peterson
Films Beginning
•First movie was made between
1880 to 1890
•First commercial film was called
“Workers Leaving the Lumiere
Factory “ and was produced in
1895.
•Contained no sound
•32 people paid in attendance to
witness the birth of Cinema
•Consisted of 10 short 46 second
films
•First film with sound was in April
of 1923 in New York
•First colored Film appeared in
1922
•Black and white was still used
predominately until the mid 50’s.
•Click here to view First
film
• Click here for One of the
First Colored films
•Early Film with Sound
A Brief Timeline of the evolution of Censorship
1900 – 1960
•First censorship acts enacted in Chicago in 1907
•Sparked many cities across the nation to enact their own laws
•Many Groups such as The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), heavily lobbied for
government regulation of films.
•In 1915 the Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio, the supreme court ruled
that films were not covered under the First amendment, thus allowing local governments to
continue to censor films.
•In 1930 the Hays codes are created condemns movies that "lower the moral standards" of
viewers and promises that "the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown to the side of
crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin." Movie producers pay little attention to the Code, however.
•1945 the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is formed, later to completely
reevaluate the Hays Codes.
•In 1952 in the case of Burstyn v. Wilson, the supreme court for the first time rules that "motion
pictures are a significant medium for the communication of ideas," entitled to some First
Amendment protection.
•In 1956 the MPAA initiates a review of certain codes, which results in loosening its prohibitions
on the portrayal of drug use, abortion, prostitution, and abortion. The revised code added a
prohibition on blasphemy and ridiculing the clergy.
Timeline 1960 –
present
•In 1968 the MPAA institutes a nationwide system of voluntary ratings based on the viewer's age, The
original ratings are G for General Audiences, M for Mature Audiences, R for 16 and above, unless
accompanied by a parent or guardian, and X, under 16 not admitted.
•1970s - 1980s The X rating, comes to be associated with pornography. Newspapers and TV refuse
advertisements for X-rated movies, and some theaters refuse to screen X-rated movies.
•1990 The X rating is replaced by NC-17 to tell art film from pornography. Even with this religious activists
pressured large video chains and retailers, such as Blockbuster and Wal-Mart, not to stock NC-17 titles.
•1900-Current- While MPAA membership is voluntary, all seven major Hollywood studios submit their
films to its rating board. Many Movie theaters will not show films with out an MPAA rating. But there has
been a substantial market for non-rated films in the DVD release of some films.
Some Pros and Cons of Censoring
films
Pros
Cons
 Censoring out pornographic
material Prevents young children
from inadvertently seeing such
images
 Puts a hamper on the creative
nature of an individual.
 Allows the filtering of offensive
language and action
 It is sometimes misused for ones
own gain
 Upholds the moral values of the
people
 There are many different standards
of morals among the people and can
be quite different from the imposed
 Helps people who are sensitive to
offensive material to be rightfully
warned of such material in their
films
 Freedom of speech is put in
jeopardy
ones by the censorship.
References
Jack Valenti , 2005. How it All Began.
http://www.mpaa.org/Ratings_HowItAllBegan.asp
Bill Wright. December 3, 2007 . First Movie Ever Made: A History of Film Firsts.
Associated Content. Retrieved from:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/461209/the_first_movie_ever_made_a_his
tory_pg3.html?cat=37
Teresa, Koberstein . A brief history of film censorship. Retrieved from
http://www.ncac.org/issues/film_censorship.cfm