MOVIE CENSORSHIP PB (Smithsonian Studies in the History of Film & Television)

Book Description

From the earliest days of public outrage over "indecent" nickelodeon shows, Americans have worried about the power of the movies. The eleven essays in this book examine nearly a century of struggle over cinematic representations of sex, crime, violence, religion, race, and ethnicity, revealing that the effort to regulate the screen has reflected deep social and cultural schisms. In addition to the editor, contributors include Daniel Czitrom, Marybeth Hamilton, Garth Jowett, Charles Lyons, Richard Maltby, Charles Musser, Alison M. Parker, Charlene Regester, Ruth Vasey, and Stephen Vaughn. Together they make it clear that censoring the movies is more than just a reflex against "indecency," however defined. Whether censorship protects the vulnerable or suppresses the creative, it is part of a broader culture war that breaks out recurrently as Americans try to come to terms with the market, the state, and the plural society in which they live.

Censored 2005: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)

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Superb
Extra, Extra...Read All About It......
A Unintended Parody
They Do The Digging For You
More Proof of Media Monopoly

Censored 2005: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Peter Phillips , and Project Censored
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Censored 2006: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Censored 2003: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Censored 2007: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
20 Years of Censored News

ASIN: 1583226559

Book Description

Praise for Project Censored:

"Buy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this collection of suppressed stories allows us."-San Diego Review

"Devastating evidence of the dumbing down of mainstream news in America. . . . . Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens."-Los Angeles Times

"A terrific resource."-Library Journal

"A distant early warning system for society's problems."-American Journalism Review

Project Censored highlights the year's 25 most important underreported news stories, alerting readers to deficiencies in corporate media. And this year, for the first time ever, Censored 2005 will add some original reporting of its own, breaking a major news story in its pages. Censored 2005 additionally features essays by Stephanie Dyer, Ph.D., (on cross-ownership of U.S. broadcast media), and Normon Soloman (on the state of media in the US).

Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored, is an associate professor of sociology at Sonoma State University. He is known for his op-ed pieces in the alternative press and independent newspapers nationwide, including Z Magazine and Social Policy. He frequently speaks on censorship and various sociopolitical issues on radio and TV talk shows, including Talk of the Nation, Public Interest, World Radio Network, and Democracy Now!. He lives in rural Sonoma County, California.

Project Censored, founded in 1976 by Carl Jensen, has as its principal objective the advocacy for and protection of First Amendment rights and the freedom of information in the United States.

Customer Reviews:

Superb.......2005-10-17

CENSORED 2005, like others of the series, reveal in sobering detail how much of the news we see is distorted, filtered and corrupted before it reaches us. If nothing else, readers will learn to be more cautious and less trusting in the news we are fed.

Extra, Extra...Read All About It.............2005-06-06

This is the first "Project Censored" book I have ever bought and it's jaw-dropping.

The once great esteemed American media/press has been degraded to jibber-jabber. Entertainment has become critical "news". There is hardly anymore investigative reporting, just many reporters offering opinions (aka "pundits"), and everything is just "spin", depending on what side of the political spectrum your views happen to land on.

This is the crux of "Project Censored 2005". This book offers the top 25 underreported stories of 2004, that would vastly improve an average American's understanding of the world if they were reported properly. Many of these stories are backed up by numerous references galore so anyone can follow up on these stories. The scariest parts of the book deal with corporate consolidation (monopoly) of media and Junk News/ News Abuse. When you read these sections, you will begin to wonder if America really has "free press".

Example: In June 5, 2005's edition of NYC's Daily News, the one year wedding anniversary of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony made page 2 headlines, while the murder of a 9 year old girl was pushed to page 4. Also,the devastating tsunami that struck south Asia was quickly pushed aside for the earth-shattering divorce of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. CNN, FOX and countless other major news channels covered this extensively. Instead of focusing on the genocide of Sudan, Paris Hilton's engagement ring made front page news. The War on Terror? Bah!!!! American Idol gets more coverage. Depleted Uranium used in the military getting much press? No way!!! Instead, the media would have you believe that Angelina Jolie's and Brad Pitt's getaway to Kenya is waaaaay more newsworthy (what's with all this Brad Pitt attention anyway? He's okay looking and all, but give us a break already!). Essence magazine was just purchased by Time Warner. When you read which corporations own which media (from books to music, to magazines to radio stations to TV and cable channels) you will be stunned at what few corporations own basically the majority of American press. Big Brother much?

Project Censored delves into these issues and insists that there needs to be huge overhaul of American media, for a society's press basically reflects the society...when a country's press becomes empty, ridiculous, frivolous, and all "spin" what does that say about the society? When entertainment becomes news worthy, American society is headed towards trouble.

Some people suggest this book is "liberal spin". But I ask anyone, from the few examples I gave above, do you really think this is spin or the cold-hard truth. Watch and read news magazines and papers and I dare you say otherwise.

A Unintended Parody .......2005-03-07

Hey, these are the people who claim 9/11 was some secret plot of Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, Exxon, blah, blah, blah

What's amusing is that as you read this book you can almost smell a whiff of Columbian Gold as these aging baby-boomers relieve the 60s by spinning dark conspiracies about how The Man is keeping them down.

This book is premised in another era...where you got your news from one monopoly newspaper and three tv networks. Back when there was REAL media consolidation. It's almost like the internet hasn't happened in their world.

One of the most telling stories they chose surrounds the 'Academic Bill Of Rights' which calls for intellectual diversity on college campuses....a direct challenge to the insular collegiate world from which the authors come. Sonnds like they are the ones who are afraid they'll lose their ability to censor what their students hear.

I use to take this stuff seriously when I was in college, but then I went out into the real world. This stuff reads like comedy.

They Do The Digging For You.......2005-02-25

As someone who is constantly reading periodicals, newspapers, and websites; searching for the REAL story of what's going on in the U.S. and the world, I have to say this book is absolutely wonderful.

Of course a few stories in this book you have probably already read somewhere, if you stay informed. But it is unlikely that you have heard/read about them all, and furthermore this book gives you links and info about each story so you can go into depth about each suppressed story.

Suppressed, that is, by the major media conglomerates who own damn near all the media out there; and soon will own even more thanks to deregulation.

A good buy, and a good read. Oh yeah, and it has an introduction by good ole Greg Palast, one of the finest investigative reporters alive today.

More Proof of Media Monopoly.......2005-01-17

I have followed the annual Project Censored guides for the better part of a decade, and can even credit the series with partially inspiring my recent master's degree in media studies. In that field, the overwhelming concern for the past several years has been the growing corporate consolidation of the media. Consequently, media outlets have a structural focus on news stories that reinforce the worldview of the corporate elite, and maintain the political and economic status quo, while simply ignoring stories that shed a bad light on such power structures. To a greater extent than ever, the "censored" stories located by the team this year predominantly feature corporate malfeasance and the consolidation of power by political and corporate elites, with unheralded harm being done to real people, along with a trampling of the common good and the public rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Alas, since this is a group project, once again the Project Censored team has included their great findings in a disappointingly inconsistent book. Not to mention the frequent typos and other signs of poor technical editing, this book is often sunk by self-righteousness from the very same journalists who have courageously brought the under-reported stories to light. These original reporters, writing their own follow-ups and investigative reports here, usually complain about how the mainstream press and general public continue to ignore their work - complaints that are tiresome and unnecessary, because since we're reading this book we're already completely aware of the problem. One low point is "Lifestyles of the Rich and Oligopolistic" in which Stephanie Dyer ruins an expose on the boards of directors of media giants by complaining about how individual directors don't share her personal politics. Even worse is "U.S. Coverage of Israel and Palestine: Choosing Sides" in which extraordinarily holier-than-thou freelance reporter Alison Weir unloads blanket criticism of all media (including, strangely enough, Project Censored) for under-reporting the namesake conflict, but offers little real structural analysis of why such under-reporting happens or how the situation could be improved.

Fortunately, the remaining media analysis in this year's edition is generally strong and enlightening, although coverage of the media monopoly process is a bit repetitive and merely distills information that has already been well covered by experts in the field (especially my personal favorite, Robert McChesney). As usual, the stories uncovered by the Project Censored team are extremely important for those who want to know more about not only the behavior of the mainstream media, but the state of the world for the 99.9% of us who are not members of the elite. But you will have to put up with a certain amount of self-righteousness and poor writing and editing as the team can't quite create a book as strong as the stories it uncovers. [~doomsdayer520~]

MR SMITH GOES TO TOKYO (Smithsonian Studies in the History of Film and Television)

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MR SMITH GOES TO TOKYO (Smithsonian Studies in the History of Film and Television)
Kyoko Hirano
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1560981571

Prime-Time Television: A Concise History

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A complete and accessible understanding of the media medium of television

Prime-Time Television: A Concise History
Barbara Moore , Marvin R. Bensman , and Jim Van Dyke
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275981428

Book Description

Television is a unique medium in that both its dramas and its comedies have the ability to tell their stories over real time, with characters developing over years rather than just the two hours allowed in a movie or the few hundred pages of a book. Despite this, very few authors have attempted to look at television from this vantage point. Prime-Time Television provides an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of television. The focus here is on programming: the shows, their producers, the genres, the trends, and the influences. Everyone interested in the questions of why the programs look the way they do, why they're scheduled as they are, why some shows air while others are cancelled, and what has shaped and influenced the shows we see, will want this book. The chapters are organized chronologically, beginning with an examination of radio's influence on early television, and cover all major developments--technological, aesthetic, and to some extent cultural--in the medium. Concise sidebars cover more concise topics, such as the quiz show scandals, and the introduction of the three-camera filmed sitcom with "I Love Lucy," a model that has remained the standard for over 50 years.

Customer Reviews:

A complete and accessible understanding of the media medium of television .......2006-07-04

Prime-Time Television: A Concise History collectively co-authored by the team of academicians Barbara Moore (College of Communications, University of Tennessee), Marvin R. Bensman (University of Memphis), and Jim Van Dyke (Marian College, Milwaukee) provides a complete and accessible understanding of the media medium of television through the historical and modern study of sitcoms, dramas, and other prime-time television particulars. Delving deep into the intricacies of American popular culture and the influential role played by many television shows, Prime-Time Television features a scholarly analysis of the shows, producers, genres, trends, and ideals behind various influential televisions productions. A seminal contribution to university level Popular Culture reference collections, Prime-Time Television is very strongly recommended reading, especially for students of the sociological and cultural implications of ever-popular prime-time television, from its earliest roots and developments, and the psychological structuring behind so many television programs.

Cinema, Censorship, and the State: The Writings of Nagisa Oshima (October Books)

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Vital writings on cinema...
Fascinating insights into Oshima's screenwriting * directing

Cinema, Censorship, and the State: The Writings of Nagisa Oshima (October Books)
Nagisa Oshima
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema (Midland Book, Mb 469)

ASIN: 0262650398

Book Description

Nagisa Oshima is generally regarded as the most important Japanese film. director after Kurosawa and is one of Japan's most productive and celebrated postwar artists. His early films represent the Japanese New Wave at its zenith, and the films he has made since (including In the Realm of the Senses and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence) have won international acclaim. The more than 40 writings that make up this intellectual autobiography reveal a rare conjunction of personal candor and political commitment. Entertaining, concise, disarmingingly insightful, they trace in vivid and carefully articulated detail the development of Oshima's theory and practice.

The writings are arranged in chronological order and cover the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s. Following a historical overview of the contemporary Japanese cinema, a substantial section articulates the theoretical and political rationale of 0shima's film production. Among many other topics considered in his essays, Oshima questions the economics of film production, the ethics of the documentary film, censorship (both political and sexual), and the relation of aesthetics and social taboos.

Customer Reviews:

Vital writings on cinema..........2007-07-08

Oshima on Oshima - the bulk of this extremely intriguing collection of translated essays details his 60s heyday, with 1976 as the rough cutoff point.

The essays detailing years before the start of his film career are the most intriguing - childhood, grade school and university - as Oshima devotes considerable detail to intellectual influences that drifted into his life beginning at a very early age; this writing recontextualizes quite a bit of his cinematic output, which seems far more organic now than it would first appear to be. Writings touching upon his entry into the film industry are similarly insightful; throughout Oshima does less political theorizing than the title would imply, instead gravitating towards material that provides additional personal and historical context for his startling and intuitive films.

Oshima held a fascination with 'outsiders' of all varieties - in the hands of many filmmakers this is either a camp affectation, or a stylistic and symbolic one, but the writing here pulls another theme from Oshima's body of work - strong interests in human rights, the persistence of discrimination and arbitrary social hierarchies in seemingly developed societies, oppression and personal liberty, and these interrelated themes are very consistent through several films, all made during the 1960s. His writing here detailing trips to South Korea makes these concerns more explicit, and after a read through these pages, certain films - 'Death By Hanging' in particular - seem less like new wave stuntmaking, and more like some of the more urgent protest missives to emerge from the 1960s.

I would have liked to see a bit more detailing of the technical process behind certain films - the frenetic creation of 'Death By Hanging' is discussed at some length, which is very welcome. But it is clear from viewing several of his provocative and very tightly-constructed late 60s films that Oshima is one of the more formidable film theorists to emerge during or since the 1960s - making use of bold stylistic experimentalism ("Diary Of A Shinjuku Thief"), reality-based psychological dramas ("Boy" and "Ceremony"), or an overlapping mix of both ("In The Realm Of The Senses" and "Death By Hanging"). Thus a bit more technical discussion of his varied structural ideas and theories would have been a nice addition here.

But this remains a vital bit of film writing from one of the more genuinely iconoclastic filmmakers out there.

-David Alston

Fascinating insights into Oshima's screenwriting * directing.......1998-11-03

This book is written specifically for those who are interested particularly in the filmmaking of Nagisa Oshima's earlier films. I was a bit disappointed to find that there was little (if anything) written about MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR LAWRENCE (1983), EMPIRE OF PASSION (1980), and MAX MON AMOUR (1988?-his only French parlour comedy). Otherwise, there is plenty written about Mr. Oshima's aspirations and political/social ideas which account for his unusual and sometimes unpopular films. Of interest to most readers will be the chapter concerning IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976), his drama (Oshima describes how he questioned his male actors, asking if they could 'arise' in front of a camera-most of the Japanese potentials were intimidated). Not at all like other Japanese filmmakers in terms of some of his opinions and methods, Oshima certainly stands out as the eccentric director of the Japanese 'new wave'. Note that the book is several years old, so it does not cover films after EMPIRE OF PASSION.

Saturday Morning Censors: Television Regulation before the V-Chip (Console-ing Passions)

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A must read for anyone serious about children and the media
I'd rather be doing anything else...

Saturday Morning Censors: Television Regulation before the V-Chip (Console-ing Passions)
Heather Hendershot , and Heather Hendershot
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer Culture (Communications, Media, and Culture)
Kids' Media Culture (Console-ing Passions)
Babes in Tomorrowland: Walt Disney and the Making of the American Child, 1930-1960
The Children's Culture Reader
Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids

ASIN: 0822322404

Book Description

Many parents, politicians, and activists agree that there’s too much violence and not enough education on children’s television. Current solutions range from the legislative (the Children’s Television Act of 1990) to the technological (the V-chip). Saturday Morning Censors examines the history of adults’ attempts to safeguard children from the violence, sexism, racism, and commercialism on television since the 1950s. By focusing on what censorship and regulation are and how they work—rather than on whether they should exist—Heather Hendershot shows how adults use these processes to reinforce their own ideas about childhood innocence.
Drawing on archival studio material, interviews with censors and animators, and social science research, Hendershot analyzes media activist strategies, sexism and racism at the level of cartoon manufacture, and the product-linked cartoons of the 1980s, such as Strawberry Shortcake and Transformers. But in order to more fully examine adult reception of children’s TV, she also discusses “good” programs like Sesame Street and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Providing valuable historical context for debates surrounding such current issues as the V-chip and the banning of Power Rangers toys in elementary schools, Saturday Morning Censors demonstrates how censorship can reveal more fears than it hides.
Saturday Morning Censors will appeal to educators, parents, and media activists, as well as to those in cultural studies, television studies, gender studies, and American social history.

Customer Reviews:

A must read for anyone serious about children and the media.......2004-04-27

If you are interested in the topic of children and the media, this is an important book to read. You'll learn about the regulatory politics and tv production practices that gave rise to classic children's tv shows like Sesame Street, Strawberry Shortcake, and GI Joe--and that have continued to influence the content of children's tv in important (and often deeply problematic) ways. It is a serious read, but well written and compelling. I have used chapters from the book in classes I've taught (university level) on children and the media, and the discussions that have followed (about deregulation, commercialism, gender, cultural imperialism...) have been very lively. In many cases, students have continued to refer back to concepts raised in the book throughout the course.

I'd rather be doing anything else..........1999-11-09

This book is entirely too complex to understand. It tends to jump from topic to topic without ever clearly explaining the various factions involved in regulating children's television content and programming. Hendershot succeeds in being both condescending and boring in her approach to the study of children's television.

Censored 1999: The News That Didn't Make the News, the Year's Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)

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Amazing!
Censored 1999 is a beginner's resource to neglected news
Stunning! Horrific! Read This, Get Mad, and Act!!

Censored 1999: The News That Didn't Make the News, the Year's Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Peter Phillips
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Censored 1998: The News That Didn't Make the News-The Year's Top 25 Censored News Stories (Censored)
Censored 2000: The Years Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Censored 2003: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)
Censored 1997: The News That Didn't Make the News-The Year's Top 25 Censored News Stories (Censored)
Censored 2005: The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored)

ASIN: 1888363797

Amazon.com

While members of the press and punditry were crawling all over each other to talk about Bill Clinton's sex life throughout 1998, other things were happening that you may not have heard about. Like the American government's repeated noncompliance with the UN's comprehensive test ban treaty on nuclear weapons. Or Nigerian soldiers being helicoptered to a Chevron facility by the company, shooting at a group of student demonstrators there, and killing two of them. Or that recently declassified documents suggest that--despite what we were told in the '50s--the fluoride in our water might not be so safe after all. Catch up on these and other stories the mainstream media never quite got around to reporting. Censored 1999 also has updates on coverage of the top underreported stories of 1998, a guide to online news resources, and several cartoons by Tom Tomorrow skewering the established media perspective. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

Compiled by the Project Censored staff under the directorship of Peter Phillips, with over 150 student researchers, faculty, media scholars, and critics, Censored 1999 stands in stark contrast to the news reported by the major networks or the daily newspapers. This year's collection features: Luke Hiken with the National Lawyers Guild on the First Amendment and pirate radio stations in the U.S.; Steve Wilson and Jane Akre on Fox News and the controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) story ; "Censored Dja Vu" -- Censored stories from previous years that have since received mainstream coverage; and "Junk Food News" -- The most over-covered, least newsworthy stories that dominated the media at the expense of real news. Also included are the "Censored Resource Guide," "Censored Guide to On-line Resources," and "Alternative Writer's Market."

Customer Reviews:

Amazing!.......1999-11-18

The mainstream press controls what you see on the evening news and for most people that may be find, for the rest you need to read this book. What you haven't been told just might surprise you.

From how the United States has undermine the nuclear test ban treaty to tax money use to support death squads and 23 other "missing" stories, you may find yourself outraged and infuriated and maybe a little scared.

Project Censored has certainly done their homework with book; they bring out what we really need to know, not at all like the mainstream media reporting about sex in the oval office.

It would behoove every person to buy this book and begin to read reality for a change. It would also behoove everyone to take a closer look at what is being reported versus what they really need to know.

Censored 1999 is a beginner's resource to neglected news.......1999-05-20

Censored 1999 is a great resource for learning about the atrocities that corporate media overlooks. However, none of the articles present enough information; articles involving the death of millions of people, big money corporate scandals, and other major issues are usually given 2-3 pages. While Censored 1999 provides resources where the reader can get more information on these topics, the book itself has too much breadth and too little depth. This can hardly be blamed on Censored 1999, though; if the media itself did a better job of covering the real issues, then all of 1999's news wouldn't have to be crammed into a single book. Censored 1999 is a necessary index to the real issues, but if you want the full story you'll still have to do most of the research yourself.

Stunning! Horrific! Read This, Get Mad, and Act!!.......1999-03-26

The top-censored stories of 1998 are more nightmarish than usual. The corporate gods whose interests are best served by the underreporting or ignoring of these stories are becoming stronger and stronger. Corporations may soon be able to sue and defeat governments whose citizens are protected by current laws; Monsanto may bankrupt farmers with its one-shot sterile seeds; fluoride may make you sick or kill you; the same company responsible for your breast cancer may sell you drugs to cure it; etc.

Book Description

Lenny Bruce's words had the power to provoke laughter and debate—as well as shock and outrage. It was the force of his voice that would place him on the wrong side of the law in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Lenny committed his life to telling the truth. But the truth he told infuriated those in power, and authorities in the largest, most progressive cities in the country worked relentlessly to put him in jail. To them, Lenny's words were filthy, depraved. But to his fans—the hip, the discontented, the fringe—his words were not only sharp and hilarious, they were a light in the dark to the repressed society of the early 1960s.

Lenny's battles were fought on stage and in the courtroom—against cops in San Francisco and L.A. who took notes at his performances, against judges in Chicago and against a prosecutor in New York with a zeal to bring the comedian down.

Lenny also fought his addiction to heroin and, at times, his own lawyers. And there were those who never stopped fighting for Lenny—people like Steve Allen, Phil Spector and William Kunstler.

To better understand the power of Lenny's performances, the authors have compiled an audio CD of the routines that got him in trouble, as well as interviews with his defenders and prosecutors, and his friends and followers, including George Carlin, Hugh Hefner and Margaret Cho.

The first carefully documented account of Lenny Bruce's career and free speech struggles, The Trials of Lenny Bruce paints a vivid, shocking, hilarious and tragic portrait of a man too honest for his time.

The Trials of Lenny Bruce includes a one-hour audio CD narrated by Nat Hentoff that features:
--Lenny Bruce performances (including ones for which he was busted)
--Notorious routines, including "Religions, Inc.," "Blah Blah Blah," "Thank You Mask Man" and "Las Vegas Tits and Ass"
--Interviews with George Carlin, Hugh Hefner, Margaret Cho and others

Customer Reviews:

Lenny Bruce something of an enigma.......2003-04-21

Comedian has Lenny Bruce always been something of an enigma.
Some compared him to the famous satirist Jonathan Swift, who was a moralist and who endeavoured to uncover the hypocrisy of various situations arising out of society.
His defence attorneys even pointed out "he was not a mad man writing dirty words on the walls of a public toilet. He was an original social critic with an unconventional vocabulary."

Others, however, including some well known journalists, perceived him as a "sick comedian" with a foul mouth, whose commentaries using filthy, obnoxious, depraved and obscene language pertaining to religion, race, sex, and government were of no social value.

The dilemma-was he not protected under the First Amendment of the American Constitution pertaining to freedom of speech, notwithstanding his shocking language?

Authors Ronald K.L. Collins and David M. Skover, two attorneys and experts on the First Amendment, have authored a book entitled The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon.

This is the first comprehensive and carefully documented account of Lenny Bruce's career and free speech struggles.

Bruce had been involved in at least eight obscenity arrests, and had been subjected to six-obscenity court cases conducted in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York over a span of four years involving some 3, 500 pages of trial transcripts.

For the most part, they all focused on so called "word crimes" concentrating on the following principal legal issues:

Were his routines steeped in "bitter social criticism" of unquestionable value?

Was his use of course language sexually arousing to the audience?

If the words were non-erotic, how could they have been obscene? As mentioned, something is not necessarily obscene merely because it is in bad taste, shocking, disgusting, stupid, vulgar, embarrassing, immoral or offensive?

Does the dominant appeal of the material used, taken as a whole, have a substantial tendency to deprave or corrupt the average person by inciting lascivious thoughts or arousing lustful desires?

Did his use of "dirty words" corrupt the morals of youth or others, when you consider that under age persons were not permitted to attend the performances?

Should an artist's use of word-taboos be judged, at least in significant part, by community standards?

To better understand the power of Bruce's performances and all of the above legal questions, the authors have cleverly included a CD narrated by one of Bruce's most adamant supporters, Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, highlighting some of his performances and trials. The CD also contains interviews with some of his ardent defenders, George Carlin, Hugh Hefner and Margaret Cho, and as a contrast, interviews with some of his prosecutors.

Lenny Bruce died a tragic figure. He never lived to see the day where the courts recognized that comedians should not be imprisoned for their words. As the authors state, "the life of Lenny Bruce is a great cautionary tale about why First Amendment freedom must be the rule rather than the exception."

This is a must read book for defenders of the First Amendment, who will not be disappointed with its meticulous research and easy to understand analysis of the pertinent legal issues.

Norm Goldman-bookpleasures.com

A completely one-sided picture.......2003-01-29

Let me start by saying that I'm a fan of the First Amendment, and of the idea of and ideas of courageous people like Lenny Bruce who stand up for it in the face of considerable and outrageous persecution. Before getting this book, I knew very little about Lenny Bruce apart from the standard accolades to his artistic integrity and courage; after getting this book, the only additional information I have is that Ronald K. L. Collins and David M. Skover have spent a considerable number of pages in creating a shrine to someone whom they clearly admire greatly.

There's no problem with admiring someone, even in a biography, but the way this book is packaged makes it sound as if it's a penetrating legal analysis offering some enlightening picture of Lenny's life. Maybe I didn't read this deeply enough, but what I saw was page after page of `Good ol' Lenny, and the things he did. Then the cops came in.' Yes, as I say, what Lenny was doing (onstage, if not in his private life) was basically right, and certainly impressive; yes, the legal harrassment he received was absurd, and hounded him to his death -- but surely that's not all there is to the picture. I wanted to find out about the life of an important, if largely indirect, fight for the First Amendment; I found only a testament that Free Speech Good, coupled with a few timid caveats that the subject was not a saint.

That said, how about the writing? Well, again, I picked up the book for some sort of insight into the legal twists and tangles of the matter, something to make me really begin to understand the cases; what I found was the work of someone who I think has great insight, but who was more concerned with showing that he was as cool as Lenny than with sharing that insight with his readers.

By the way, the CD is great, although it takes a few listens to see how it hangs together.

A First Amendment Martyr.......2002-11-08

Lenny Bruce lived to shock people. His nightclub routines, full of the worst of the four letter words, made fun of stuff which people, especially his contemporaries, were supposed to take seriously: religion, marriage, intimacy. However, _The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon_ (Sourcebooks) by Ronald K. L. Collins and David M. Skover, makes plain that the iconoclastic Bruce had enormous respect for the law. His rooms were cluttered with tapes, court transcripts, and legal research efforts, and he wrote letters to judges trying to explain how his comedy was legally protected speech. He even showed civic respect for the policemen who were so often out to get him. Bruce saw that it was his job to change the law, and while he never really managed that, he made historic changes by fighting battles that those after him would not have to fight. The authors of this engrossing book have found that his story is virtually absent from the history of the First Amendment; this is a corrective.

Bruce was arrested many times for obscenity, but particularly interesting in this book is the demonstration that what often drove the arrests was irritation about his blasphemy. Bruce had routines that could bother any denomination. After mockingly accepting Jewish responsibility for killing Jesus, he roared, "We Jews killed Christ, and if he comes back, we'll kill him again!" He had a hilarious routine in which Christ and Moses come into the back of St. Patrick's Cathedral, to the embarrassment of Cardinal Spellman and Archbishop Sheen, who have to telephone the pope to explain ("_Of course they're white!_"). We have no blasphemy laws in this country (to the dismay, still, of some), but he was literally brought up on blasphemy charges. Blasphemy could not stick, but obscenity might. The problem Bruce had was that according to the Supreme Court decision in _Roth_, a work had to be taken as a whole, but the cops and prosecutors always concentrated on the specific words. The vice squad informers could, during a performance, tally every naughty synonym Bruce used for genitalia or coitus, and then present the list for consideration by the grand jury. Consideration to the sweep of Bruce's satire was seldom given.

As demonstrated in this comprehensive and well referenced volume, by two lawyers who obviously love their subject and enjoy explaining First Amendment issues, Bruce has had a resurrection. There have been plays and movies, but more importantly, as George Carlin (who was once arrested for attending a Bruce performance) said, "Lenny opened all the doors, or kicked them down." The nightclubs and comedy clubs are now open for anyone, with the sensible idea that if you might be offended by what you hear, don't pay to go in. A stand-up comic might fear bombing on stage, or getting heckled, but because Bruce has already taken the heat, no comic has to fear getting arrested. Within this book is a CD of Bruce giving some of his most famous routines, and commentary by admirers and detractors. On it, Margaret Cho, who continues in the tradition of offering outrageous satirical commentary, says that she knows part of her job, as Bruce's descendant, is to disrupt polite society, but she knows what has gone before: "I don't want to end up like him, but I want to be like him."

First Amendment Icon.......2002-09-18

This is really an excellent book. The first 200 pages focus on the embattled comedian, his bits and his scrapes with the law. As someone who was never a Lenny Bruce fan I found this section a provocative read. However, I found the book becoming progressively more compelling as the authors get into the details of the First Amendment trials. They do a masterful job of intergrating theory with the mechanics of placing the factual "matter" (the testimony) before the finder of fact.
In its discussion of the post-death and resurrected Lenny Bruce the book ascends to its highest level. The irony of Lenny Bruce as a First Amendment icon, whose free speech is beyond challange and the political destruction of William Kuh provide brilliant insights on the vicissitudes of American popular culture since the 1960s

An Amazing Look at the Life of A Groundbreaking Comedian.......2002-08-19

Not many people know of Lenny Bruce. But most people do know about Sam Kinison, George Carlin, Denis Leary, Andrew "Dice" Clay, and other caustic comedians. Without Lenny Bruce to pave the way (and in the process become a martyr to the First Amendment), it's possible that none of these performers would be around today. Lenny Bruce pioneered the world of the caustic, vulgar, frank and (often too-) honest comedian, and paid the price of his life for it. Here, in Collins and Skover's detailed account of the comedian's life, trials, incarceration, and eventual death, the spirit of Lenny Bruce is brought back to glorious life and used as an example of the dangers inherent in allowing government to decide what we should see, hear, or say. Anyone interested in this dark chapter of our First Amendment should grab this book immediately!

Average customer rating:

An important and interesting book

Monty Python: The Case Against
Robert Hewison
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0413486605

Customer Reviews:

An important and interesting book.......2005-04-03

This book chronicles all the legal trouble of the Monty Python group, from the beginning to Life of Brian. It could be boring, but it is actually very funny. It contains a lot of material that was edited out by the Python's themselves becaues even they thought it too offensive!
When you read about the aggression and legal wranglings of conservative "christians" you start wonder if Python parodied reality or if reality parodied the Python's!
We can read about the attacks on Life of Brian as a blue-print for the new "crusade" against everything the evangelicals don't like.

The Persian Gulf TV War (Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries)

Average customer rating:

Channel Surfing
Recommended - especially timely with Iraqi War
Great discussion of media coverage during the Gulf War.

The Persian Gulf TV War (Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries)
Douglas Kellner
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy: Terrorism, War, and Election Battles (Cultural Politics & the Promise of Democracy)
From 9/11 to Terror War: The Dangers of the Bush Legacy
Television and the Crisis of Democracy (Interventions--Theory and Contemporary Politics)
Seeing Through the Media: The Persian Gulf War (Communications, Media, and Culture)
Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern

ASIN: 0813316154

Customer Reviews:

Channel Surfing.......2003-05-14

I found this book to be rather interesting and fresh look at the war and the TV coverage. It is also interesting given the current events in the Gulf. Reading a book like this you really get a good feel for how countries look after themselves in international affairs. The book takes a bit of a dissenting look at the war with a cautious eye at the news media. Basically the author does not have a lot of good things to say about President Bush and his administration. There are some conspiracy theories floated in the book, but not enough to make the document fall into the "unbelievable rant" category.

The overriding direction the book takes is the argument that instead of debating the issues of public concern surrounding the war, the mainstream media uncritically promoted the policies of the Bush administration and military. The author goes on to try and prove that the media was managed by the US government in one of the best-managed media propaganda campaigns in history. The author certainly believed this theory; it was just that I as the reader was not convinced that there was the large conspiracy.

It just seamed to me that the issues the author highlighted could also be explained as the media needing to fill 24 hours a day of breaking news so they grasp at anything they can get. Also the claims he makes that the new outlets were in the Bush back pockets because they were so excited to be at war, I came away thinking it was just natural to be excited when reporting about such issues as a war. The one complaint I do have is the authors almost debilitating hatred for all things large and bureaucratic, he dislikes the government and big media. The problem is that it tended to shade his writing and I found myself skipping past some of the nastier comments or sections. This took away from what otherwise was an interesting and unique look at the war and the TV coverage it received.

Recommended - especially timely with Iraqi War.......2003-04-16

I found this book on my girlfriend's bookshelf (she had it for a class at UT while in undergrad), and I really enjoyed it and have recommended it to many people. Kellner brings a lot of interesting footage from the first Persian Gulf War to light and puts it in historical context. I read it before the start of the war in Iraq, and felt much more educated and objective when watching the countless hours of footage from all the major news networks. Kellner accurately questions the objectivity of our news sources, news anchors, and the media conglomerates that own them. Any person serious about perserving a democracy in which the public is accurately informed should give it a read.

Great discussion of media coverage during the Gulf War........1999-04-27

This book is an important contribution to the clearer comprehension of media coverage of a major US foreign intervention. Douglas Kellner has unearthed some rather ugly truths that make democracy and freedom of the press appear mere illusions. Kellner analyzes "official" media presentations and compares them to more reliable sources, producing a nuanced treatment of US imperialism in the Persian Gulf. An excellent source for critical perspective and analysis, Kellner consistently poses the important questions pressing politicians and policy-makers for answers.

Kellner leaves the reader to continue questioning fundamental issues regarding foreign policy and how our blind acceptance of the professed goals further the power of our interventionist state. I highly recommend any of Douglas Kellner's books.

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