Module: HIS5104-20 Censorship, Morality and Freedom in British and American Popular Culture in the 20th Century

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Cliff Williamson

Module Tutor Contact Details: C.Williamson@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module critically examine the different ways in which popular culture has been on the front line of debates about morality, censorship and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic in the Twentieth century.

It will examine the critical flashpoints in the controversies over popular culture from anxieties about ragtime jazz music, through moves towards censorship in cinema, to scares over comic books, video nasties, heavy metal music and computer games.

The course will also cover the debates about blasphemy, obscenity and race in which popular culture has often been embroiled for example the Gay News trial in the 1970s, the Lady Chatterley’s Lover prosecution in the 1960s as well as the furore over D.W Griffith’s movie ‘Birth of a Nation’ in 1915.

Although the course will heavily focus on so-called ‘moral panics’ it will examine how changing attitudes to gender, sexuality, and freedom of expression have often found expression in popular culture from feminist demonstrations at beauty contests, to the role of disco in bringing the gay underground club scene into the mainstream and how the Sensations art show in 1990s London challenged notions of what was regarded as legitimate art.

Overall, the module aims to show how the larger societal debates about morality, censorship and freedom may be best understood through their impact on popular culture and the chronicling of the many 20th century culture wars in the UK and the USA.

2.Outline syllabus:

We will investigate the following topics and themes in varying levels of detail:

• Cleaning the Swamp; the regulation of public morality.

• The Hollywood Production Code and the British board of Film Censors; the emergence of film censorship.

• The Well of Loneliness; LGBT popular culture in the era of persecution.

• Race baiting and colour bars; racism, xenophobia and civil rights.

• Seduction of the Innocent; Juvenile delinquency and popular Culture.

• Obscenity in literature; legal challenges from Ulysses to Lady Chatterley’s Lover and beyond.

• Who Crushes a Butterfly on a Wheel; Popular Music and the Drugs Culture.

• Mrs Whitehouse and the White House; The Culture Wars of the 1960s/70s.

• Beauty pageants and Disco Sucks; popular culture, feminism and Gay rights

• The Rewind factor; Video Nasties.

• Suicide Solution and Sugar Walls; Heavy Metal on trial and The Parent’s Music Resource Centre.

• Sensations; Art, expression and public taste.

• Game Over; Home entertainment and moral panics.

3.Teaching and learning activities:

Lectures, seminars, workshops, group discussions, set reading.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Essay, 2000 words

• % Weighting: 40%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Project, 3000 word equivalent

• % Weighting: 60%