I will use this essay to talk about 40 years of film censorship in Spain, during dictatorship of General Franco (1936-1976). But before going into this I will review some point of the history of censorship and cinema , I'll explored the past to see its evolution and mutation, the difference with other arts and its propaganda purposes. Within the central issue, which is the retrograde and silly censorship in Spain during the dictatorship, ranging from the carnal to the political, I´ll explore about movies censored, and as well film witch evaded it.
.The cinema was born free, and soon learned to express feelings, leading reactions to the viewer, beyond the astonishment that produced the photography in motion. That ability to excite or enrage the public would soon cause problems.
The first themes treated were documentaries (workers leaving a factory,waves crashing on the shore, a gardener watering the lawn ..), and the theatrical fantasies (circus acts, dancers and drama actors acting for the cameras, impossible journeys...). And used different techniques to make objects disappear, overlaps,double exposures and dissolves, demonstrated that the film not only served to record the reality but could also recreate or falsify it.
A trip to the moon_Melies.They make bivouac in the moon. startin 5:30m
Historically, the right to freedom of information and expression was coined in the modern age, by Article 11 of the Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789, "The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man,every citizen may therefore speak, write and publish freely, although it is responsible for the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by law".
Film is a expression, but the level of mutilation to remove some frames or to cut a piece of canvas, was and is different.
Carmencita (1894)_became perhaps one the first film censored in the history. It is curious that the first film had censored of history has a Spanish protagonist. The dancer shocked the New Jersey senator who saw a show inappropriate. This was made it known to the exhibitor with an ultimatum: either retired that short of the program or the other functions would be cancelled. Thus, in addition it was also the first film shown in the U.S. that showed a woman alone and in front of the camera.
The First Kiss (1896_Edison) was also the first scandal among the spectators, but it was not prohibited. A belly dance from the film Fatima Djemille (1903), which was crossed out and represented the first example of film censorship.
The history of film censorship comes from the scandalous and disproportionate reactions of retrograde civic groups and religious, trying to trample the right of everyone to judge for themselves. In contrast to private enjoy in a book or newspaper, the film was made in large dark rooms and a mixed audience. The social character and promiscuous, did suspect in the eyes of moralists. In Madrid an order of civil government ordered the separation of the spectators in the cinema, by gender. And Britain wanted switch on the light during the projection.
But anyway, the censorship as organisation was born in Sweden (1909), arrived in Britain (1911) and Spain (1912) and came to stay. Love and sex, religion and morality, politics and society, these were the object and purpose of their existence.
The censorship came to the film when film began to project social issues. Film is an excellent element of propaganda, and censorship is one of the main tools that regulates the thinking of the masses. In different countries and historical periods, censorship had an important role, far beyond prohibiting the exhibition of films with taboo subjects, this is to indoctrinate the masses. The realism and suggestion of the motion photography, with its psychological power, emotionally and its ability to induce behaviours, were higher than in any other media known and, therefore, it was treated with special vigilance.
Throughout the twentieth century, different political regimes have tried to "convince" the spectator through the film of fiction that their lifestyle was the best.
The guardian angels responsible for preventing the Spanish sinned, dreaming of better worlds in the darkness of the cinema in the difficult times of dictatorship, that the film does not encourage the sin of thinking, in a Spain under the dictates of political intolerance and religious fundamentalism. The moral and sex and dangerous ideologies were the subject of a rigorous censorship which goes to ridiculous. The dictatorial system, church and society itself was censored.
Censorship not discriminate Spanish or foreign films (escaped the censorship fundamental and decisive of the script, a situation that placed at a disadvantage to Spanish cinema), but which was censored in dubbing dialogues. No one could speak of human beings, the reality of men and women. No one could speak of human reality. Plus a series of decrees as the following would not help Spanish artists: prohibiting the export of domestic films based on their low quality or other that forced the Spanish film companies that their capital was entirely Spanish. All this affects the development of Spanish cinema creating frustration in the public and in the creators.
.The censors were expressed with great frankness, his comments perfectly reflect the mentality of the Franco dictatorship. I pick up here some examples of the absurd censorship that was lived.
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)_ was considered a gay hero, which diverted attention from men to women's sexuality, psychologically damaging undifferentiated adolescents. Dracula was considered a work "for the mentally retarded" or On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959) where the characters, knowing they will die of hopeless causes, to commit suicide collectively decide drunk and indulging in free love instead of praying and entrust their souls to God.
Some Like It Hot(1959)_ censured by gay advocacy "Jack Lemmon transvestite did not please the official driver of the dictatorship. The comedy was banned because it was seen favouring homosexuality, and the file was written:" No, if only to survive the ban on gays".
Mogambo(1953)_ A jump of adultery to incest. One of the paradigms of stupidity censor in the dub of the film Mogambo, twisted minds want to hide from the Spanish public the love affair character. They did not think anything better to convert the characters (husband and wife) on brothers, altered the dubbing. If there was no marriage had not adultery, immorality punished by the Church and the demure society of the time. It fell with the change adultery turned into something much more morbid: incest.
Nor "Sor Citroen" escaped. A community of nuns, who is in charge of orphan girls, decides motorized. The dictatorship cut to a scene in which eating soup while reciting the highway code.
El Inquilino_The Tenant(1957)_chronic eviction is another case of no reason repressive. Was first approved (Ministry of Information) and then prohibited (Ministry of Housing). It was later authorized with significant cuts and changes. In the original version, the protagonist ended with his family and their belongings on the street. Housing problems were tremendous, but the regime could not tolerate that exhibit an eviction. The director was forced to find a happy ending and the family was accommodated in an neighborhood called New Hope.
Viridiana (Buñuel 1961)_ was a film labelled "blasphemous" by the Catholic Church when it was released in 1961. Viridiana is the story of a young novitiate who is drugged and almost raped by an uncle, during a visit to his country estate.
A closing scene in the movie that also caused offense, shows Viridiana with her hair loose, after burning the 'crown of thorns' she wore to enhance her devotions. She knocks the door of Jorge's bedroom and finds him in the company of the servant Ramona. Jorge invites Viridiana to join them saying they were 'only playing cards' - suggestive of a ménage à trois. This scene had to be replaced as requested by the censorship, and was replaced by an image where the three characters are playing cards...But anyway was censurated.
Other examples of censorship:
There is also a number of Spanish films that passes through censorship by metaphorical character when expressing thoughts. Each director created a different language to avoid censorship, using irony, visual violence, double meaning and linguistic omission of the message. Movies were able to express in camouflaged form, or in a comic appearance the sad truth that Spain lived.
The spirit of the beehive(Victor Erice 1973)_The really great in Erice's film is his poetic language:cinematography and lighting recreate the hive. In addition, the ability to have Erice without counting things emphasized in the use of silences full of content. The story is told through metaphors and allusions. Thus, the censorship does not realize what is happening and to be the spectator tie the rope to deciphers her the meaning. The film is a puzzle that hides a complaint.
Welcome, Mister Marshall(1953, Luis Garcia Berlanga)_It's an exaltation, not without criticism, the common people, their virtues and their some ingenuity to the situation of the country's inability to change course. The indifference to the political situation at that time. It is also a criticism of the regime: the uncultured bureaucrats and braggarts, the desire for international acceptance,the regime's absolute ingenuity about the great progress and comfort that we would receive in exchange for our support of the Empire and the Church's participation in the power structure outdated and backward. In addition, a critique of poverty and economic deprivation, social and cultural, in which lived Franco's Spain. But it also gives them a deserved blow to the Americans, carry a help than expected everything, but who pass without leaving anything, just expenses, issues and invoices.
On the big screen could not be very short skirt or long neckline.The generous cleavage of actress Abbe Lane led the cutting of a sequence of "Susan and I"(1957). The producer had to add a few inches of lace.
This scene from "Psycho" was also censored by the moral and repressive puritanism.
Conclusion
Censorship is a common evil of the whole planet, which is linked to the context where it occurs and the character that has the power shift at the time. Desire for power, fear of losing it and of course the omnipresence of the church are the keys to their evolution. Forty years in the dark where love and sex, religion and morality, politics and society, were the targets of manipulation of censorship.
The mind of the censor went so far that seems like a joke.
The First Kiss (1896_Edison) was also the first scandal among the spectators, but it was not prohibited. A belly dance from the film Fatima Djemille (1903), which was crossed out and represented the first example of film censorship.
The history of film censorship comes from the scandalous and disproportionate reactions of retrograde civic groups and religious, trying to trample the right of everyone to judge for themselves. In contrast to private enjoy in a book or newspaper, the film was made in large dark rooms and a mixed audience. The social character and promiscuous, did suspect in the eyes of moralists. In Madrid an order of civil government ordered the separation of the spectators in the cinema, by gender. And Britain wanted switch on the light during the projection.
But anyway, the censorship as organisation was born in Sweden (1909), arrived in Britain (1911) and Spain (1912) and came to stay. Love and sex, religion and morality, politics and society, these were the object and purpose of their existence.
The Spanish case could not be different, shows the closed-mindedness of a time when Spain was subject to the discipline of an army barracks and under the morale of a convent. The Film Censorship Board Superior, which obliged those who wished to make a film, to submit the script previously and then the film.
The guardian angels responsible for preventing the Spanish sinned, dreaming of better worlds in the darkness of the cinema in the difficult times of dictatorship, that the film does not encourage the sin of thinking, in a Spain under the dictates of political intolerance and religious fundamentalism. The moral and sex and dangerous ideologies were the subject of a rigorous censorship which goes to ridiculous. The dictatorial system, church and society itself was censored.Censorship not discriminate Spanish or foreign films (escaped the censorship fundamental and decisive of the script, a situation that placed at a disadvantage to Spanish cinema), but which was censored in dubbing dialogues. No one could speak of human beings, the reality of men and women. No one could speak of human reality. Plus a series of decrees as the following would not help Spanish artists: prohibiting the export of domestic films based on their low quality or other that forced the Spanish film companies that their capital was entirely Spanish. All this affects the development of Spanish cinema creating frustration in the public and in the creators.
.The censors were expressed with great frankness, his comments perfectly reflect the mentality of the Franco dictatorship. I pick up here some examples of the absurd censorship that was lived.
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)_ was considered a gay hero, which diverted attention from men to women's sexuality, psychologically damaging undifferentiated adolescents. Dracula was considered a work "for the mentally retarded" or On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959) where the characters, knowing they will die of hopeless causes, to commit suicide collectively decide drunk and indulging in free love instead of praying and entrust their souls to God.Some Like It Hot(1959)_ censured by gay advocacy "Jack Lemmon transvestite did not please the official driver of the dictatorship. The comedy was banned because it was seen favouring homosexuality, and the file was written:" No, if only to survive the ban on gays".Mogambo(1953)_ A jump of adultery to incest. One of the paradigms of stupidity censor in the dub of the film Mogambo, twisted minds want to hide from the Spanish public the love affair character. They did not think anything better to convert the characters (husband and wife) on brothers, altered the dubbing. If there was no marriage had not adultery, immorality punished by the Church and the demure society of the time. It fell with the change adultery turned into something much more morbid: incest.
Paths of Glory (1957)_ censured for its anti-military message, and starkly show the dirty reality of armed conflict, the action takes place in the First World War, the film became extremely uncomfortable. The film was shown three decades after the shooting, when Franco was buried 11 years.
Nor "Sor Citroen" escaped. A community of nuns, who is in charge of orphan girls, decides motorized. The dictatorship cut to a scene in which eating soup while reciting the highway code. El Inquilino_The Tenant(1957)_chronic eviction is another case of no reason repressive. Was first approved (Ministry of Information) and then prohibited (Ministry of Housing). It was later authorized with significant cuts and changes. In the original version, the protagonist ended with his family and their belongings on the street. Housing problems were tremendous, but the regime could not tolerate that exhibit an eviction. The director was forced to find a happy ending and the family was accommodated in an neighborhood called New Hope.
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| 24:45 |
A closing scene in the movie that also caused offense, shows Viridiana with her hair loose, after burning the 'crown of thorns' she wore to enhance her devotions. She knocks the door of Jorge's bedroom and finds him in the company of the servant Ramona. Jorge invites Viridiana to join them saying they were 'only playing cards' - suggestive of a ménage à trois. This scene had to be replaced as requested by the censorship, and was replaced by an image where the three characters are playing cards...But anyway was censurated.
Other examples of censorship:
There is also a number of Spanish films that passes through censorship by metaphorical character when expressing thoughts. Each director created a different language to avoid censorship, using irony, visual violence, double meaning and linguistic omission of the message. Movies were able to express in camouflaged form, or in a comic appearance the sad truth that Spain lived.
The spirit of the beehive(Victor Erice 1973)_The really great in Erice's film is his poetic language:cinematography and lighting recreate the hive. In addition, the ability to have Erice without counting things emphasized in the use of silences full of content. The story is told through metaphors and allusions. Thus, the censorship does not realize what is happening and to be the spectator tie the rope to deciphers her the meaning. The film is a puzzle that hides a complaint.
The first encounter with cinema profoundly influenced everything about this film would unfold. It arises from a chid´s gaze entranced by certain primitive images.
The girl taking is as fact, not fiction. This film opens the door to imagination and dreams as a way to flee the real world. Live and cinema, fact and fiction intertwine in a play of light and shadow.
The girl taking is as fact, not fiction. This film opens the door to imagination and dreams as a way to flee the real world. Live and cinema, fact and fiction intertwine in a play of light and shadow.
Ana´s imagination reassembles the fragments of an elusive reality. When she places the ayes on Don José, a figure assembled from pieces just like Frankestein, she is recreating and calling forth her own vision from her own spirit.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/414454/Spirit-Of-The-Beehive-The-Movie-Clip-Don-Jose-Can-See.html
Welcome, Mister Marshall(1953, Luis Garcia Berlanga)_It's an exaltation, not without criticism, the common people, their virtues and their some ingenuity to the situation of the country's inability to change course. The indifference to the political situation at that time. It is also a criticism of the regime: the uncultured bureaucrats and braggarts, the desire for international acceptance,the regime's absolute ingenuity about the great progress and comfort that we would receive in exchange for our support of the Empire and the Church's participation in the power structure outdated and backward. In addition, a critique of poverty and economic deprivation, social and cultural, in which lived Franco's Spain. But it also gives them a deserved blow to the Americans, carry a help than expected everything, but who pass without leaving anything, just expenses, issues and invoices.
On the big screen could not be very short skirt or long neckline.The generous cleavage of actress Abbe Lane led the cutting of a sequence of "Susan and I"(1957). The producer had to add a few inches of lace.This scene from "Psycho" was also censored by the moral and repressive puritanism.
Censorship is a common evil of the whole planet, which is linked to the context where it occurs and the character that has the power shift at the time. Desire for power, fear of losing it and of course the omnipresence of the church are the keys to their evolution. Forty years in the dark where love and sex, religion and morality, politics and society, were the targets of manipulation of censorship.
The mind of the censor went so far that seems like a joke.
Bibliography
.The evolution of the exercise of film censorship during the Franco regime, Igor Minteguía Arregui
.The Spanish Civil War on film,
.Once upon a time censorship,Exequiel Lucero.
.The cinema of autarchy (1939-1950)
.Cinema and power: the Spanish cinema and secularization of public discourse on morality during political transition and consolidation of democracy.
.The Film Juan Antonio Bardem and censorship Franco (1951-1963):the contradictions of cinematic repression
.Propaganda y medios de comunicación social durante el franquismo (1939-1962).The Film Juan Antonio Bardem and censorship Franco (1951-1963):the contradictions of cinematic repression
Hi Sonia
ReplyDeleteThe subject of Censorship in Spanish Cinema is very interesting and so is the material you are using to illustrate your discussion. You have clearly undertaken a lot of research for this post.
If you have not begun your essay/presentation for film theory you could develop this material and submit if for assessment for Film Theory Outcome 2.
If you decide to do that, you will need to develop the structure - for example provide an introduction and conclusion - and your arguments.
Let me know what you think.
dianne.barry@me.com