Censorship at Home and Abroad

Abstract

they are members of families, and they tell at home what they see on the screen -that there is hardly an American living today whom the film does not reach in some way or other. Furthermore, the graphic nature of this form of entertainment has caused many people to derive lasting impressions from what they have seen on the screen. Also, a very large percentage of the motion picture audience is made up of children, who are impressionable and inclined to take much of what they see in the movies at face value. The glamorous appeal of the stars results in the young spectators' intensive reaction, which often is as strong as though the events, merely seen on the screen, had taken place in their parents' home or in their back yard or street. Like most young businesses, the motion picture industry took a little time to become aware of its heavy responsibility toward the public. During its growth it at times unintentionally offended the very people it wanted to entertain. Protests from the public about content and tone of the pictures became frequent. Business-wise, these danger signals could not be overlooked. In time, the industry's awareness of these dangers resulted in the creation of the Production Code, which became the instrument for industry-wide self-