I agree with the main line of Jonathan Walley's argument, but I would also note that the Production Code had a de facto influence rather than a de jure influence. There were many local film censorship boards, and it set a rough standard for them. For example, NYC had its own board that reviewed films before theatrical release. For this reason, Amos Vogel's Cinema 16 was a membership organization (a club, so to speak) which allowed it to operate without passing any censorship review. However, any theatrical screenings that were open to the public did face possible police problems. (The same public thing applied to live performance and thus covered burlesque, stand up comics, etc.) Jonas Mekas ran into problems several times with screening certain films since he operated in late night screenings at regular commercial venues.
Eventually (mostly in the 1960s and 1970s) assorted court cases modified the situation, and the local censorship boards were seen as an anachronism. In Chicago, for example the local board was made up of the widows of police who had lost their lives in service: basically, Irish Catholic white women. But, it's worth remembering that whatever the law and policies in place, actual enforcement is in the hands of police (who often operate in the most literal frame of mind) and prosecutors (who can pick and choose which "vice" situations and events they will pursue). Thus notoriously conservative Boston did have a small restricted "Combat Zone," and NYC's 42nd St. gradually evolved (or devolved) from a family entertainment zone into a rather more sleazy one. But to return to the initial question: (I haven't seen any early Markopouos for decades ) is any of it available anywhere? Is any of it "pornographic" in any sense? Does it even show any sex other than lonely longing? He withdrew all his films and left for elsewhere, and even got Sitney to remove the chapter on him from the basic book on US experimental film history. To the extent is work wasn't shown it seems that was largely self-willed. Could be wrong, though… Chuck Kleinhans On Oct 28, 2012, at 6:13 PM, Jonathan Walley wrote: Eleni, I'd be interested to hear other peoples' perspective on this, but the Production Code had little, if anything, to do with censorship problems encountered by experimental filmmakers like Anger or Markopoulos. The Code was developed by the film industry (i.e. Hollywood), and, to the best of my knowledge, only affected the production (and distribution) of industry films - that is, films made by the Hollywood studios. It was a mechanism the industry developed to "self regulate," precisely so their films WOULDN'T be censored by outside law enforcement or other government authorities. The Code thus had no bearing on filmmakers working outside the industry, which would certainly include Anger and Markopoulos. This isn't to say that such filmmakers faced no censorship - they faced it from legal authorities and "morality" and "decency" groups - just that they didn't face it from within the industry, since they were not a part of that industry and thus were not bound by its internal strictures. The "rules" of the Code had no legal power, as they were voluntarily imposed from within the industry BY the industry itself. They were essentially "company policy," not state or federal law. And a film released with the Production Code Administration's seal of approval could still be censored by local government authorities if those authorities believed the film contravened state or local laws governing film content. I read the relevant passages of Russo's book, and while he does mention the Code while also discussing the films of Anger and other experimental filmmakers, he seems only to be drawing a - rather vague - parallel. If I read him right he never actually claims that the Production Code had any direct impact on experimental films. And if he DOES say that somewhere, it's not accurate. Any censorship of experimental films came from the government, not the industry, and thus not the Code. I realize this doesn't answer your question about Markopoulos being censored, but I hope it helps a little. Best, Jonathan Jonathan Walley Associate Professor of Cinema Denison University [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Eleni Philippou <[email protected]> wrote: Hello everyone, I am reading Vito Russo's book The Celluloid Closet about the Production Code in order to control homosexual references in the movies in America during the '40s and '50s. As an example, he mentions Kenneth Anger's work and how difficult was for Anger to release Fireworks and Scorpio Rising because of this Production Code. Does anyone know if Gregory Markopoulos faced the same problem with the censorship? Thank you very much for your help. Best, Eleni Filippou _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list [email protected] https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list [email protected] https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks Chuck Kleinhans [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
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