The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942 / Edition 1

by Lea Jacobs

Overview

The story of the fallen woman was a staple of film melodrama in the late 1920s and 1930s. In traditional plots, a woman commits a sexual transgression, usually adultery. She becomes an outcast, often a prostitute, suffering humiliations that culminate in her death. In more modern variants, the heroine is a stereotypical "kept woman," "gold digger," or wisecracking shopgirl who uses men to become rich. In The Wages of Sin, Lea Jacobs uses the fallen woman film, which served as a focal point for public criticism of the film industry, to explore Hollywood's system of self-censorship and the evolution of the rules governing representations of sexuality.

Drawing on the extensive case files of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), the industry trade association responsible for censorship, Jacobs focuses on six films. Her close analyses of The Easiest Way, Baby Face, Blonde Venus, Anna Karenina, Kitty Foyle, and Stella Dallas reveal the ideology of self-regulation at work and the social constraints affecting the film industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520207905
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	06/01/1997
Series:	Wisconsin Studies in Film Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Lea Jacobs is Associate Professor of Film at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. The Fallen Woman Film and the Impetus for Censorship
2. The Studio Relations Committee's Policies and Procedures
3. Glamour and Gold Diggers
4. Something Other than a Sob Story
5. The Production Code Administration's Policies and Procedures
6. Class and Glamour in the Films of the Late Thirties
7. Afterword
Appendix: Censorship Cases Reviewed
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Examines the institutional framework of film censorship before and after the 1934 change of administration, through the arguments used against a recognized and targeted genre, which portrayed women who had transgressed sexual codes. A paper edition (unseen), $15. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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