Censorship in Movies 7

The films that I found most interesting were the films made during the 1930’s era of American censorship.  It Happened in One Night gave a good example of what these films were capable of, most notably creating sexually tense situations without mentioning sex or showing and explicit sexual conduct.  The gender role swap was also present, having the man take on the role of a cook while the woman was completely dependent on the man for sustenance.   The movie His Girl Friday further exemplified the role of the assertive masculine female character.  Her character is that of a news reporter and her job demands that she interact with other assertive men most of her time.   Bringing up Baby was also a good example of how to create a chaotic storyline so outrageous that it almost doesn’t need an explicit sexual scene for entertainment.  Without the ability to add sex, directors during this time needed to think of creative ways to make sexually tense scenarios occur in the story.  Bringing up Baby succeeds with a flamboyant female character, a leopard, and a foolish paleontologist.

The Early American films of the 30’s are a bit similar to the Indian and Iranian systems in  that much sexuality is censured from their films.  Many Bollywood films were not even allowed to include kissing.  In Persepolis, It is seen how the main female character cannot even hold hands with her boyfriend in fear of arrest.  Her family had to pay a hefty fee or else let her be whipped.  With rules like this in society, it is not surprising that these things are also banned from visual media.  Iran tends to make their films in such a way that makes the sexual censures irrelevant.  This is done by using children in movies, such as the movie Children of Heaven.  Since the story revolves around a child it is much easier to avoid sexual situations.