Taboos and censorship in Independent American

Cinema

Flaviä Bröwne, Alicia Byrne$, Jo$hua Maddox Wellington.

“How does independent American cinema push the boundaries of content and censorship to pervade the consciousness of a wider

audience?”

Our Project:

• 6 cinematic examples– Distribution– Marketing– Classification– Reception

• 3 thematic explorations• The ramifications of censorship

Our Presentation:

• Happiness (1998)• Boys Don’t Cry (1999)• Mysterious Skin (2005)

What constitutes an independent film?

MPAA

Motion Picture Association of America

NC-17

“no one 17 or under admitted”

‘None of the premium pay-channels—HBO, Cinemax,

Showtime, the Movie Channel, Starz, etc.—screen NC-17 films.

Blockbuster and Kmart won’t shelve NC-17 rated

videos’- Thomas Elsaesser

‘Since [...] Blockbuster controls nearly a third of the rental market, and, in most mid- and small-size

markets has vanquished its independent competition, this meant that we were effectively

banned throughout a great deal of the United States. That's how censorship works these days.’- James Schamus

“NC-17 rating can cost a picture millions of dollars”

- Paul Derbarabedian, Box Office Analyst

“Well, in a construct where most movies are written by men,

directed by men, they’re mostly the male experience, so even in

sex scenes they’re from the male perspective. I think female

pleasure is unnatural, I think female pleasure is scary, in the

narrative setting. I think unfamiliarity is what breeds these

NC-17’s”

“If it’s the same gender sex, they seem to often have a bigger problem than if it’s a man and a

women”- David Ansen, film critic,

Newsweek

Our conclusions on censorship

"It just seems backwards that to show human sexuality in pretty much any form is getting to R

territory, while you can shoot as many bodies without any blood

and still get PG-13, I mean, what are we training our kids for?"

- Darren Aronofsky