I know of no Hays or Breen "Commissions" charged with
investigating the effects of cinematic violence. Indeed, this is a
subject both would have assiduously avoided, since both (Hays as the head
of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association and Breen as
head of the MPPPDA's Production Code Authority) were responsible, in one
way or another, for declaiming the positive social and cultural effects of
Hollywood's product. I suspect the orginal posting was after the Payne
Fund Studies, commissioned by the Motion Picture Research Council and
conducted between 1929 and 1932, investigating deleterious effects of
motion pictures on children. A summary of the findings was published by
H. J. Forman in 1933 as *Our Movie Made Children,* and clearly served as
an impetus to the formation of the Legion of Decency and Hay's response to
the Legion, the PCA.
A modest proposal: For the benefit of its administrators and
future generations who plumb the SCREEN-L archives, I suggest more
descriptive subject lines than "Need info."
_______________________________________________________________________________
William Lafferty, PhD
Department of Theatre Arts [log in to unmask]
Wright State University office (937) 775-4581 or 3072
Dayton, OH 45435-0001 USA facsimile (937) 775-3787
The universe was once conceived almost as a vast preserve, landscaped
for heroes, plotted to provide them the appropriate adventures. The rules
were known and respected, the adversaries honorable, the oracles articulate
and precise as the directives of a six-lane parkway. Errors of weakness or
vanity led, with measured momentum, to the tragedy which resolved
everything. Today, the rules are ambiguous, the adversary is concealed in
aliases, the oracles broadcast a babble of contradictions.
--- Maya Deren, from her notes for *At Land*
----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama.
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