Film and Video Censorship in Modern Britain pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2026

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出版者:Columbia Univ Pr

作者:Petley, Julian

出品人:

页数:240

译者:

出版时间:2011-8

价格:$ 118.65

装帧:HRD

isbn号码:9780748625383

丛书系列:

图书标签:

• Film censorship
• Video censorship
• British cinema
• Media regulation
• Cultural policy
• History of film
• History of video
• Censorship history
• United Kingdom
• Media studies

A Century of Shadows: Examining the Evolution of Public Morality and Media Control in Britain (1900-2000) This comprehensive volume delves into the intricate and often turbulent history of public morality enforcement and media regulation in Great Britain throughout the 20th century. Moving beyond simplistic narratives of moral panic, this work provides a granular analysis of the legal frameworks, institutional power structures, and shifting societal anxieties that shaped what Britons were permitted to see, read, and hear. The book is structured chronologically and thematically, tracing the transition from Victorian-era moral rigidity, maintained primarily through the Lord Chamberlain's office and common law obscenity provisions, into the more complex, decentralized regulatory environment of the late 20th century. It positions media control not as a static imposition of censorship, but as a dynamic negotiation between moral entrepreneurs, political interests, technological innovation, and evolving definitions of public taste and harm. Part I: The Age of Authority (1900–1945) establishes the bedrock of British media governance. It scrutinizes the enduring influence of the Obscene Publications Act 1857 (the ‘Comstockery’ legislation) and its application to literature, theatre, and early forms of moving pictures. The analysis pays particular attention to the role of the Metropolitan Police (Censorship of Street Literature) and the often-opaque decision-making processes within the Lord Chamberlain's Department, the gatekeeper for public stage performance. A significant portion of this section is dedicated to the emergence and institutionalization of film control. Focusing on the period immediately preceding and following the establishment of the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) in 1912, the book argues that this voluntary body arose less from government mandate and more from the industry's preemptive desire to avoid crippling statutory regulation. The text examines early classification issues, such as the moral policing of ‘sex hygiene’ films and depictions of crime, revealing how early censorship often served to protect the reputation of the Empire as much as the innocence of the audience. Case studies include the policing of early British melodramas and the importation of controversial American and European features. Part II: Post-War Adjustments and Cultural Conflicts (1945–1970) explores the challenges faced by established authorities in a rapidly modernizing society. The immediate post-war era saw renewed anxieties concerning juvenile delinquency and the perceived corrupting influence of imported media, particularly American crime comics and 'pulp' literature. This section provides an in-depth examination of the crucial legal battles that redefined the boundaries of permissible expression. The trials concerning works such as D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (1960) and the literary shifts that followed are analyzed not merely as free speech victories, but as symptomatic of a fundamental realignment in judicial and public attitudes toward sexuality, bodily realism, and artistic merit. The study meticulously details the arguments presented by both prosecution and defense, revealing the ideological underpinnings of the 'literary defense' and its eventual institutionalization. Simultaneously, the narrative charts the increasing professionalization and complexification of film certification. The implementation of the Cinematograph Films Act 1952 granted local authorities greater oversight, leading to regional variations in acceptable content. The book contrasts the relatively liberal stance adopted by London county councils with more conservative boroughs, illustrating the fragmented landscape of cultural governance. The rise of independent cinema and its confrontation with BBFC mandates regarding nudity and violence forms a core element of this part. Part III: The Age of Diversification and Deregulation (1970–2000) addresses the fracturing of centralized control in the face of new media technologies and shifting social liberalism. The decline of the Lord Chamberlain’s power (culminating in the Theatres Act 1968) and the gradual erosion of the BBFC’s monolithic authority are central themes. This part investigates the introduction of home video technology—the VCR—as the ultimate disruptive force. The resultant surge in easily accessible, unclassified material forced the state to respond belatedly. The book dedicates substantial attention to the Video Recordings Act 1984 and the ensuing establishment of the Video Recordings Act Advisory Council (VRAAC). This legislative response is analyzed as a reactive measure, attempting to impose classification standards onto a medium that had already outpaced traditional regulatory mechanisms. The focus here shifts from what was being shown to how it was being distributed, highlighting issues of parental responsibility and 'video nasties' moral panics. Furthermore, the volume examines the impact of terrestrial television broadcasting regulations, focusing on the mandates of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and later the Radio Authority (RA). While distinct from theatrical or literary censorship, broadcast regulation established standards for taste and decency that inevitably bled into public expectations for other media. The concluding chapters explore the nascent debates surrounding the internet at the century's close—the faint whispers of future regulatory challenges concerning global, decentralized information—setting the stage for the challenges of the 21st century. Throughout, the text emphasizes archival research, drawing heavily upon governmental papers, regulatory committee minutes, solicitor correspondence, and internal industry memoranda. It argues that the British approach to media control was characterized not by monolithic suppression, but by a continuous, pragmatic process of "negotiated exclusion," where anxieties about race, class, sexual deviancy, and political subversion were constantly being redefined against the backdrop of artistic freedom and commercial viability. The result is a nuanced history that reveals the cultural fault lines upon which modern British society was built.

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这部著作的问世，无疑为我们理解英国社会变迁中一个常常被忽视的侧面提供了极具价值的视角。我原以为我对英国的文化管控史已经有了较为全面的认知，毕竟在学术研究的道路上涉猎颇广，但翻开这本书的扉页，那种扑面而来的学术严谨性和材料的丰富性，立刻让我意识到我原有的认知框架需要被修正和拓宽。作者似乎并未将重点仅仅放在那些显而易见的、关于道德或色情的禁令上，而是深入挖掘了更微妙的、更具社会结构性的审查机制是如何运作和演变的。例如，书中对战后初期，尤其是在广播电视媒体崛起初期，政府如何通过看似温和的“指导方针”来规范内容呈现的细节描述，读来令人深思。那种将国家意识形态的塑造无形地嵌入到媒体播放标准中的做法，远比直接的“禁止”更具长远的文化影响力。我特别欣赏作者在处理复杂案例时的那种平衡感，既不回避争议，也保持了批判性的距离，没有陷入简单的道德审判，而是致力于描绘出权力、社会规范与艺术表达之间持续的、动态的博弈过程。这本书不仅仅是历史记录，更是一份关于文化权力如何自我维护和适应环境的精妙案例分析。

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坦白说，初拿到这本书时，我有些担心它会过于侧重于法律条文和行政流程的枯燥叙述，毕竟涉及到官方机构的运作，往往容易流于形式。然而，作者成功地将这些冰冷的制度文件赋予了鲜活的人性。通过对几位关键审查员的生平侧写和他们所面对的时代压力，我们看到了制度的执行者们如何挣扎于个人良知与职业要求之间。这种对“执行者”的关注，是很多同类研究常常忽略的视角。比如说，书中对战后初期关于“儿童保护”名义下对某些艺术电影的干预，其背后的“家长式作风”是如何被巧妙地包装和合理化的，描绘得入木三分。这不仅仅是关于“看与不看”的简单问题，更是关于国家权力如何渗透到家庭私人空间，并试图定义何为“适宜的童年经验”的深层社会心理学研究。读完后，我对英国文化政策制定者的思维模式有了全新的、更为细致的理解。

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这本书的叙事节奏和结构设计简直是大师级的。它没有采用那种平铺直叙的时间线性叙事，而是巧妙地围绕几个核心的“审查战场”展开——比如家庭伦理、政治异议和身体自主权这三大领域。这种聚焦式的写作方法，使得原本可能显得庞杂的历史脉络变得清晰有力。尤其让我眼前一亮的是，作者在探讨从电影审查到视频录像带（VHS）兴起这段过渡期时的论述。当内容传播的控制权从中心化的监管机构手中，部分下放给家庭消费者时，社会焦虑是如何重新配置和升级的？作者对此的解析，展现了技术变革对既有权力结构的颠覆性影响。我感觉自己不是在读一本关于“审查”的书，而是在阅读一部关于英国社会如何努力定义其“现代性”边界的编年史。那些被审查的片段，如今看来或许微不足道，但在当时，它们承载了整个社会对未来走向的巨大不确定性和规范重建的强烈愿望，这种洞察力令人叹服。

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如果要用一个词来形容这部作品的冲击力，那应该是“解构”。它不是简单地罗列了“被禁”的清单，而是系统性地解构了“禁令”本身是如何被建构起来的。作者对“公共道德”这一模糊概念的分析尤其精妙，她展示了“公共道德”是如何像一个可塑的粘土，在不同的政治气候下被不同的利益集团塑形，以服务于特定的社会控制目的。我注意到，书中对后殖民语境下审查标准的演变进行了非常微妙的处理，揭示了审查制度如何在维护“本土纯洁性”的旗号下，不自觉地强化了某些既有的等级观念。这本书的价值在于，它迫使我们跳出非黑即白的二元对立思维，去理解在看似保守的文化管理背后，隐藏着多少精妙的、不断调整的策略和哲学思辨。对于任何对文化史、媒体研究或者权力结构研究感兴趣的人来说，这本书都是一本不可或缺的、具有里程碑意义的读物。

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读完这本书，我的感受复杂而深刻，它仿佛为我打开了一扇通往另一个时空的窗口，那里充满了规训、抗争与妥协的拉锯战。我记得其中关于特定电影类型——比如那些涉及阶级冲突或殖民地历史题材的作品——在不同时期是如何被“悄悄地”调整叙事焦点的部分，简直是教科书级别的分析。作者没有满足于仅仅列举哪些镜头被剪辑掉或者哪些台词被替换，而是深入剖析了审查委员会的内部辩论记录，展示了审查官们的意识形态是如何在“保护公众情感”和“维护国际形象”之间摇摆不定。这让我体会到，审查制度的每一次裁决，背后都凝聚着复杂的政治考量和时代情绪。相较于那些通俗易懂的文化史读物，本书的学术深度要求读者必须有足够的耐心去消化那些详实的档案材料，但这种付出绝对是值得的，因为它揭示了“可见性”背后的“不可见性”的力量是如何塑造一代人的集体记忆的。我几乎可以想象，当年那些电影制作人面对的心理压力与创作困境，那份压抑感透过文字都清晰可感。

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