Historical dictionary of Spanish cinema

CENSORSHIP

Censorship: translation

Official film censorship in Spain started in 1912, and remained in place as an explicit system to control artistic expression, enforced in one form or another, until 1977. The power to censor spectacles was held, in the early periods, by the central government, and later by local governors. Two main criteria marked a film as undesirable in the first four decades of censorship. On the one hand, there were references to "buenas costumbres" ("good habits"). In Spain (as elsewhere in Europe), this was manifested in the control of representations that had to do with human sexuality and marital life. For decades, even rather common behaviors like adultery (not to mention prostitution orhomosexuality) were frowned upon by the authorities. On the other, the authorities were particularly concerned about the expression of dissident political opinions, and this remained a central criterion, enforced until the disappearance of legal censorship codes. This concern became more stressed in periods of unrest (so frequent in the early decades of the 20th century), such as at the beginning and end of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and the two-year right-wing Republican period between 1934 and 1936. In those periods, cinemas could be, and often were, closed and the people responsible for forbidden propaganda could be incarcerated, although the approach was not always consistent.
The triumph of the Franco rebel army brought 40 years of dictator-ship and a centralization of censorship (the new system was set up in 1941), which became a powerful tool to control artistic expression and the communication of ideas. Film now depended on central government institutions, and it was subject to severe controls. There were two different periods. Until 1963, there were no explicit and specific guidelines on what would not be allowed, thus censorship had an arbitrary element. In the 1955Salamanca Conversations, filmmakers demanded that a set of criteria be drawn up.The second period began with the application of the 1963 code, and filmmaking became a game to circumvent explicit guidelines through suggestion, irony, or obscure references.
The earliest Francoist regulations of censorship practice date from 1938; that is to say, from before the triumph of the Fascist army. Each Spanish script that sought permission to be shot and every foreign film was reviewed by a committee of four "experts" from the church, the army, and the para-fascist Falange party. They could actually forbid the scriptin totoor, as was most often the case, could suggest emendations to prevent "corrupt" interpretations of reality. They looked carefully into the potential ideological implications in every single instance, but since most political dissidents had left the country or were stifled by the threat of death penalties or jail, the actual amount of problematic texts was very limited.
Of course, censorship worked not only by forbidding certain ideas, but also by encouraging and supporting some films that contained the "right" kind of images and themes to the detriment of others. Since Spanish film relied heavily on institutional support and government funding schemes, by rewarding certain kinds of films that gave the "right" image of the country, those who did not follow such official guidelines had no access to extra funds.
Another area of concern, particularly for the Catholic Church, was representation of sex and sexuality. In discussing Spanish film censorship of sexual matters, it is often overlooked that the international situation in this sense was very similar. Until 1961, the Hays Code determined what could be represented in Hollywood studio films, and even in countries with no official censorship, the authorities frowned upon anything that went against certain notions of public morality. Besides, no matter what actual censors focused on, censor-ship worked particularly as a threat that led to self-censorship.
Censorship could take many forms: on many occasions, kisses were shortened to reduce their passion rating, or problematic scenes were deleted; on a number of occasions, dubbing was altered to make the film's plot conform to a more acceptable ideology or morality. For instance, a voice-over was added at the end ofBicycle Thieves(Vittorio de Sicca, 1948) to guarantee that the protagonist would end up happy. Among the films forbidden in the first period were Roberto Rossellini's postwar output, as well as Luchino Visconti'sneorealistfilms, Ernst Lubitsch'sTo Be or Not To Be(1942), Chaplin'sThe Great Dictator(1941) and, at the end of the first period, Billy Wilder'sSome Like It Hot(1959) and Federico Fellini'sLa dolce vita(1960).
In the early 1960s, the Hays Code became more flexible, and the approach in other Western countries became less consistent. Spain, however, retained an officially Catholic and ultraconservative regime, and censorship regulations were tightened. In 1962, José María García Escudero, a right-wing reformist, became head for film policies (Director General de Cinematografía) and agreed to introduce a censorship code. In this way, a list of regulations on what could be represented on film came into force in February 1963. Every script had to be submitted to a censorship commission of 13 experts, chaired by the director of cinematography; each wrote his or her report and each case was discussed separately. In some cases, censors were very strict, especially when considering the work of filmmakers labeled as problematic, likeLuis G.Berlanga. In other cases, potentially "dangerous" films simply were accepted.
As the decade progressed, dissidence became stronger. The authorities were at odds to show in international venues that Spain was on the path toward modernity, and freedom of expression became an issue. Filmmakers insisted that unless censors were more flexible, it was impossible to believe in openness. One consequence is that attitudes changed from period to period. Whereas in the late 1960s a brief era of liberalization occurred, the beginning of the 1970s was one of the harshest periods. Although censorship was officially derogated in 1977, there was evidence that old habits would die hard whenPilarMiró'sEl Crimen de Cuenca(The Cuenca Crime) was banned temporarily in 1979 because, it was stated, it offended the Civil Guard.

  1. censorship—мед.сущ. самоконтроль Англорусский медицинский словарь....Англо-русский медицинский словарь
  2. censorship—censorship translation nounADJECTIVE strict government military state wartime Internet media political press official VERB CENSORSHIP impose The government has...Collocations dictionary
  3. censorship—censorship bersetzung censorship Zensur f...Englisch-Deutsch Worterbuch gesetz
  4. censorship—Censorship translation During the period of partition films in the Polish territories were censored according to the laws of the occupying powers. After regaining indepen...Guide to cinema
  5. censorship—Censorship translation The GottschedNeuberstrong reforms of the s had firmly established in both the public and the aristocratic consciousness that theater was a moral in...Historical dictionary of German Theatre
  6. censorship—Censorship translation Film censorship regulations were first introduced in Italy in by a law that established the requirement for all films to be furnished with an offi...Historical dictionary of Italian cinema
  7. censorship—Censorship translation Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution of each Scandinavian country. Under the absolutist monarchs who ruled prior to the establis...Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater
  8. censorship—Censorship translation During the period of the Republicin the th and th centuries censorship of the press was in the hands of local and re gional authorities. The States...Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands
  9. censorship—CENSORSHIP translation Censorship in modern Japan has served as both a political expedient wielded by government as well as a selfregulating tool used by the publishing h...Japanese literature and theater
  10. censorship—censorship translationSee armed forces censorship civil censorship field press censorship national censorship primary censorship prisoner of war censorship secondary cens...Military dictionary
  11. censorship—censorship translationSynonyms and related wordsabbreviation abridgment bamboo curtain barrier of secrecy blackout block blockage blocking bluepenciling bowdlerization ca...Moby Thesaurus
  12. censorship—censorship translation STANLEY KUBRICK ran into censorship restrictions with SPARTACUSem homosexuality and violence LOLITAem pedophilia and A CLOCKWORK ORANGEem rape and ...The Encyclopedia of Stanley Kubrick
  13. censorship—censorship translation The censoring of theatre existed from its beginnings and in America this proclivity initially stemmed from Puritans who viewed the stage as a den o...The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater
  14. censorship—[sensp]цензурацензорцензура подавление подсознательных влечений...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  15. censorship—цензура...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  16. censorship—цензура...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  17. censorship—военная цензура воен....Англо-русский словарь военных терминов
  18. censorship—n усечение цензура...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  19. censorship—censorship [sensp] nu цензура должность цензора...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  20. censorship—сущ. цензура государственный надзор за печатью и средствами массовой информации to impose introduce censorship вводить цензуру to exercise practice censorship осуществ...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  21. censorship—цензура должность цензора...Англо-русский словарь по патентам и товарным знакам
  22. censorship—Цензура censorship of advertisement censorship of press preliminary censorship...Англо-русский словарь по полиграфии
  23. censorship—n .strong цензура .strong пост и срок полномочий цензора .strong в психоанализе внутренняя цензура сознания термин введен З. Фрейдом проявляющаяся в томampGTфункциями эг...Англо-русский словарь по социологии
  24. censorship—стат.цензурирование усечение...Англо-русский словарь по экономике
  25. censorship—nto be subjected to censorship подвергаться цензуреto employ strict censorship применять строгую цензуруto impose to introduce censorship on smthem устанавливать вво...Англо-русский словарь политической терминологии
  26. censorship—n. цензура должность цензора...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  27. censorship—сущ.emstrong цензура пост и срок полномочий цензора в психоанализе внутренняя цензура сознания термин введен З. Фрейдом проявляющаяся в том что функциями эго и суперэго ...Англо-русский социологический словарь
  28. censorship—цензорство...Англо-русский технический словарь
  29. censorship—сущ. пол. цензура система государственного надзора за печатью и средствами массовой информацииem strict press censorship [censorship of the press\] жесткая цензура пресс...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  30. censorship—цензура должность цензора...Англо-русский юридический словарь
  31. censorship—n цензура посада цензора...Англо-украинский словарь
  32. censorship—цензура посада цензора censorship for national security reasons цензура з мркувань нацонально безпеки censorship committee censorship limitations censorship of obscenit...Англо-украинский юридический словарь
  33. censorship—n цензура...Англо-український дипломатичний словник
  34. censorship—цензура...Англо-український словник
  35. censorship—n цензура посада цензора....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  36. censorship—цензура посада цензора censorship for national security reasons цензура з мркувань нацонально безпеки censorship committeecensorship limitationscensorship of obscenityce...Англо-український юридичний словник
  37. censorship—Цензура. Краткий толковый словарь по полиграфии....Краткий толковый словарь по полиграфии
  38. censorship—[sensp] n. цензура. ист. пост и срок полномочий цензора в Древнем Риме. censor I...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  39. censorship—censorship [sensp] ni . цензура . ист. iпост и срок полномочий цензора в Древнем Римеi . censor I...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  40. censorship—sensp n . цензура . ист. emпост и срок полномочий цензора в Древнем Римеem . censor I...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна