Film Censorship In Western Australia: Public, Government And Industry Responses 1898-1928
AbstractThis paper examines the responses made by the Western Australian public, government and film industry to the question of film censorship between 1898 and 1928: it reveals the similarities and differences between Western Australian responses and responses in the eastern states. Central to the paper is the changing public perceptions, between the early 1900s and 1927, of the effect of films upon the child and society. Many of the issues that are relevant today were as hotly debated and as socially divisive then as they are now. The tension over who should and should not regulate and the reasons for the apparent modern day obsession with moral protections have their roots in this history. |