Linda Williams
Jon Lewis weaves a compelling narrative of how box office
needs-rather than moral strictures-have dictated the history of film
regulation. Telling the complex and fascinating story of how Hollywood
abandoned the Production Code and developed the ratings system and
then telling the even more compelling story of how the X rating became
a desirable marketing device when hard core pornography became
popular, Hollywood v. Hard Core reveals a great deal about the true
business of censorship.
—Linda Williams, author of Hard Core: Power,
Pleasure, and the "Frenzy of the Visible"
From the Publisher
"When it comes to censorship in Hollywood, the bottom line is the ticket line. That's the central message in Jon Lewis's provocativeand insightful investigation of the movie industry's history of self-regulation....Lewis shows that Hollywood films are a triumph ofcommerce over art, and that the film industry has consistently used internal censorship and government-industrial collusion to guaranteethat its cash flow is never seriously threatened."
-The New York Times Book Review,
"...an accomplished, comprehensive, and provocative new history of censorship and the American film industry...And what of the perennialtussles between politicos and the film industry? All show business, suggests Lewis, make-believe veiling the real power structure that hasnothing to do with morals, let alone art (it would be interesting to get his take on the recent marketing brouhaha and its relationship tothe recent threatened actors and writers strikes). A staggering saga worthy itself of a Hollywood movie, Hollywood v. Hardcore is filmhistory at its most illuminating and intense."
-The Boston Phoenix,
"As provocative as his sometimes X-rated subject matter, film scholar Lewis detects an intimate relationship between the seemingly strange bedfellows of mainstream Hollywood cinema and hardcore pornography. From postal inspector Anthony Comstock to virtue maven William Bennett, from the Hays Office that monitored the golden age of Hollywood to the alphabet ratings system that labels the motion pictures in today's multiplex malls, Lewis's wry, informative, and always insightful study of American film censorship demonstrates that the most effective media surveillance happens before you see the movie. Hollywood v. Hard Core is highly recommended for audiences of all ages."
-Thomas Doherty,author of Pre-Code Hollywood
"Jon Lewis weaves a compelling narrative of how box office needs-rather than moral strictures-have dictated the history of film regulation. Telling the complex and fascinating story of how Hollywood abandoned the Production Code and developed the ratings system and then telling the even more compelling story of how the X rating became a desirable marketing device when hard core pornography became popular, Hollywood v. Hard Core reveals a great deal about the true business of censorship."
-Linda Williams,author of Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the "Frenzy of the Visible"
"This is a fascinating account, both entertaining and scholarly."
-Journal of the West
Thomas Doherty
As provocative as his sometimes X-rated subject matter, film scholar
Lewis detects an intimate relationship between the seemingly strange
bedfellows of mainstream Hollywood cinema and hardcore pornography.
From postal inspector Anthony Comstock to virtue maven William
Bennett, from the Hays Office that monitored the golden age of
Hollywood to the alphabet ratings system that labels the motion
pictures in today's multiplex malls, Lewis's wry, informative, and
always insightful study of American film censorship demonstrates that
the most effective media surveillance happens before you see the
movie. Hollywood v. Hard Core is highly recommended for audiences of
all ages.
—Thomas Doherty, author of Pre-Code Hollywood
