Following the U.S. v Paramount decision (1948) and the Hollywood blacklist that targeted both producers and talent, the years following World War II were not kind to the movie industry. While those two major events changed the course of Hollywood filmmaking, it was the rise of television that inaugurated the end of “America’s love affair with movies” (American Cinema, 1995). The rapid popularity of television left film producers and directors desperate to get audiences back to the cinema by exhibiting films with more mature content, and with narratives that reflected the cultural and social tensions of the time.
The Film Studios Collaborate With the Television Networks Once television became a household norm in the mid-1950s, the film studios …show more content…
While this change was a step in the right direction, it was not until director Otto Preminger bucked the Production Code Administration (PCA) by filming The Moon Is Blue (1953) without their approval. The popularity of that mature film (which grossed over $4 million) was released by United Artists without a PCA seal, and was the sign that Hollywood needed to take “a long hard look at censorship” (Lewis, 2008, p. …show more content…
In response, in 1956, the PCA softened its stance declared that “the words hell and damn could be uttered” (Lewis, 2008, p. 240) in movies. This was not the change filmmakers and distributers were hoping for, and during this time censorship was being fought in the courts at state and county jurisdictions. A decision by the New York State Court of Appeals in the Excelsior Pictures v. Regents of the University of New York State matter (1957), stated that, “the depiction of naked people in not per se obscene” (Lewis, 2008, p. 243). With an increasing number of movies of an adult nature being released many in Hollywood recognized the need for a new production code. Jack Valenti was made president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which in 1966 created For Mature Audiences, a new movie designation meant to restrict children from seeing a mature movie without an adult. Six films employed this designation in 1966, and by 1967 forty-four movies were designated For Mature Audiences. By 1968 this sole designation evolved into a wholly new rating system with the following designations: G (general audiences); M (mature audiences); R (restricted, no one under 16 without an adult); X (no one under sixteen admitted). The MPAA created a subdivision called the Code and Rating Administration (CARA) to implement this rating system, which was the end of the PCA (Lewis,