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Regulation, Movies
In their early years, movies did not have First Amendment protection in the United States, and states established film censorship boards. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, First Amendment protection was extended to films, and industry self-regulation became the norm. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) established an age-based ratings system in 1968. Despite its flaws, the MPAA's ratings system has served as a model for other media, especially television and video games. Regardless of the medium, the burden on parents is growing as technology speeds forward, making it increasingly difficult for them to monitor what their children consume. Industry self-regulation—or self-categorization—can only place labels on content; it is up to parents to stay informed and decide what's appropriate for their children.
| Table 1 Court Rulings Related to Internet Regulation |
|---|
| Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, 542 U.S. 656 (2004). |
| Child Online Protection Act, 47 U.S.C.S. §231 (1998). |
| Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, 15 U.S.C.S. §6501 (1998). |
| Children's Internet Protection Act, 47 U.S.C.S. §902 (2000). |
| Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C.S. §223 (2000). |
| Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act, 47 U.S.C.S. §901 (2002). |
| Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997). |
| United States v. American Civil Liberties Union, 540 U.S. 93 (2003). |
The Early Years
In the early days of the movie industry, government censors and industry regulators battled for control of screen content. Pennsylvania was the first state to institute a film censorship board in 1911, and other states followed suit. Spurred on by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1915 decision in the Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio case, which deemed film a “business pure and simple” and denied movies the First Amendment protection granted to print media, the push was on for a federal film censorship board.
The studio heads hired Will Hays, a former postmaster general under President Warren G. Harding, to “clean” the screen and to promote industry selfregulation over state and federal censorship boards. Hays fought censorship boards successfully throughout the 1920s, and, in 1930, the Hays Code—a list of content prohibitions and sensitive areas—of self-regulation was written. However, with the country in the grips of the Depression and box office revenue declining, filmmakers ignored the code, instead infusing greater levels of sex and violence into films to lure people back into theaters. Social reformers, Catholic leaders, politicians, and—for the first time—researchers (as part of the Payne Fund Studies published in 1933) decried the dangerous influences of films on the audience. In 1934, with the threat of a federal censorship board renewed, the Hays Code became the Production Code, and Joseph Breen was named head of the Production Code Administration (PCA). Under Breen, many popular films from the early 1930s were taken out of circulation, and new productions needed a “seal of approval” to play in mainstream theaters. For a brief period of time, the PCA and Breen wielded considerable power in Hollywood.
From Production Code to Ratings System
On November 1, 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) replaced the Production Code with an age-based ratings system, but the code's slow death actually began shortly after World War II. In 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Burstyn v. Wilson case, which dealt with producer Joseph Burstyn's attempt to show Italian director Roberto Rossellini's, The Miracle, believed by some to be sacrilegious, in the United States and declared film a “significant medium for the communication of ideas.” First Amendment protection for motion pictures would soon follow.
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