Hollywood Road

"Catholics should boycott the film "Diego Rose". The Hollywood movie circle must reflect on how many films they have made that slander Catholicism in the past..."

On the computer screen, a young man wearing a red baseball cap uttered a lot of words, plus the news about Marquez Costello, the archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Central and Southern California, and the directors’ union board chairman Michael Arted. Brows tightened, Hollywood film and Hollywood directors, when will it be their turn to dictate?

"Michael..."

Bill Rossis, who was sitting next to him, suddenly said, "Hollywood is free to draw materials. This is the most basic power of directors."

"I know." Michael Arted was obviously thinking about something.

Bill Rossis smiled and said, "This time it was the Catholic Church who came out and intervened. The next time there might be other organizations jumping out."

There are many organizations that protest against Hollywood films, such as the Children’s Association, the National Federation of Teachers and Parents, and various environmental and animal protection organizations that are more troublesome, but they are often not the Hollywood films themselves.

Although Michael Arted is old, his eyes are still sharp. Religious and socio-political issues have always been popular topics in Hollywood. If the union is just watching the intervention of the Catholic Church, then next time, maybe cats and dogs will jump out, and the directors don’t need to. After shooting the film, it's all about dealing with these troubles.

This one cannot be filmed, and that one cannot be filmed. How can the directors work normally?

Seeing Michael Arted thinking, Bill Rossis didn’t say much. After Archbishop Marquez Costello’s remarks entered the television, they immediately aroused the attention of public opinion, whether in the media or on the Internet. Related topics can be seen everywhere now.

The man who attacked Murphy jumped out and added a fire, making the film "Diego Rose" more noticeable.

It is no exaggeration to say that their series of actions and plans have basically achieved their intended purpose.

As for the major labor unions in Hollywood, they have also issued remarks in support of the freedom of filmmaking in Hollywood before. How will Michael Arted react? Bill Rossis can fully imagine. After all, this is Hollywood that is flooded with liberalism, not a Catholic force. The traditionally strong northeastern United States.

Michael Arted sat on the sofa chair and fell silent for a short time. The Catholic Church attacked Hollywood not once or twice. When "The Da Vinci Code" was released, Ron Howard and Dan Brown invited Catholics. There will be a lot of accusations, but those two are not like Murphy Stanton, and they choose to respond with silence, and the incident will eventually disappear.

But then, John Patrick Stanley was on the blacklist of the Catholic Church because of "Suspicious Clouds of Child Abuse" and was embarrassed by the media leaning towards the Catholic Church.

As for the later films such as "Angels and Demons", every time there are factors of the Catholic Church babbled and crooked, it is really annoying.

Michael Arted has experienced repeated accusations.

His eyes are getting sharper. This is not the 1930s and 1940s and the 1950s and 1960s. Now Hollywood is full of free creative atmosphere. When will it be the turn of Catholicism to oppress?

It is true that the Catholic Church in the past conducted moral censorship on Hollywood, but it did not bring progress, but various terrible restrictions. On the other hand, in the past forty years of breaking Catholic moral restrictions, Hollywood movies have developed rapidly and have dominated the world film market. !

What do they want to do? Moral review of Hollywood again? Let Hollywood movies go backwards?

Michael Artedhoe stood up. This situation has intensified in recent years. The directors' union cannot allow other forces to interfere in the work of Hollywood directors.

He walked a few steps back and forth and said, "Bill, I will make a suggestion to the board of directors to re-adopt Murphy Stanton to become a member of the directors’ union. You will also ask him to submit an application when you go back. Other things wait for him to become a director’s union The members of ."

"Okay!" Bill Rossis also stood up, "Murphy had long been looking forward to returning to the Directors Guild."

It is obvious that Michael Arted has already expressed his support for Murphy.

"Then let's keep in touch." Bill Rossis promptly said goodbye, "Goodbye, Michael."

Michael Arted nodded, "Goodbye."

Sending away Bill Rossis, Michael Arted picked up his mobile phone and made more than a dozen calls in one breath, and communicated with many permanent members of the Directors’ Union Council on the matter.

As for whether the plots of the movies involving the Catholic Church are based on facts, neither Michael Arted nor other members of the council have ever asked what themes and content of Hollywood filming are in their heads. It is Hollywood’s freedom, and outsiders’ dissatisfaction can be resolved through legal means, but random interference is infringing on their freedom and power!

After receiving a call from Bill Rossis, Murphy immediately prepared the relevant materials and sent it to the directors’ union in person. If there is no major accident, he will do it before and after the Oscar nomination list is announced. Will once again become a member of the directors' union.

The directors’ union, screenwriters’ union and producer’s union, as well as the spokespersons of several other union organizations, stood without exception when asked by the media about a series of disputes between Catholicism and the film "Diego-Ros". On Murphy's side.

Looking at the entire Hollywood movie circle, except for a very small number of Catholic believers who said that the director must be cautious and cautious when selecting directors involving religion, the vast majority of people who were asked about this matter more or less expressed their support for "Diego -Rose means.

In this increasingly liberalized circle, when external forces touch the freedom that people in the circle advertise and regard as the forbidden zone, it is almost inevitable to cause a backlash.

Even though Hollywood and Catholicism once had a deep connection, in this day and age, the situation has long been completely different.

It is because Murphy had a deep understanding of this that he dared to implement such a plan.

In 1929, five Catholics, led by the Catholic publisher Martin Quakeley and the Jesuit Daniel Lauder, drafted a self-disciplined film production regulation for the film industry, aiming to start film production. To the moral restraint. In 1930, this draft was fully accepted by the giants of the film industry and executed by the "Hays Office". This document was the "Film Production Code" that later ruled Hollywood for nearly thirty years.

For Hollywood at the time, the "Hays Code" was a self-regulating method that could not only quell the tide of boycotts of films by various religious organizations, but also avoid police or government intervention in the film industry.

The "Code" positions movies as "popular entertainment", but this entertainment bears a "special moral responsibility" because it has characteristics that are different from any other entertainment or communication method—a kind that can transcend race or class boundaries. , The universal charm that transcends various social or political barriers, so that everyone loves to watch it.

It is precisely for this reason that film producers cannot enjoy the same freedom of expression as stage play authors, novel authors or newspaper editors. Movies have become a moral drama in the 20th century, and they must tell the public how to live a life of compliance.

In the summer of 1933, the Archbishop of Philadelphia claimed that the films released in his diocese "followed" Catholic ethics and called on all church members to boycott these films. In the same year, Chicago Catholic forces also joined the condemnation, and 500,000 female Catholics also co-sponsored them. The so-called "jihad" to boycott Hollywood.

In 1934, the National Church Organization "Catholic Ethics League" was established. Its main responsibility was to review the moral content of Hollywood films, and to issue a list of films that should be completely banned or re-examined to the Hayes office, for those who dare to "escape" the Catholic ethics The film was labeled "condemned," and the league even mobilized millions of Catholics to boycott films they deem "condemned", and even set up pickets in front of theaters to prevent people from entering.

In order to ensure that Catholics abide by the Church’s instructions in the coalition against film, Mike Nicholas, Bishop of Cincinnati, even drafted an oath for the "Ethical League."

From then on, Catholics across the country must take an oath under the leadership of the priest during Mass, admit that the movie is "a serious harm to teenagers, family life, and the country and religion", and promise God not to watch the church. Refers to films considered "evil and unhealthy".

In addition to this verbal oath, many Catholic churches also require believers to sign an official guarantee document. In just a few weeks, more than one million people in Chicago and Boston alone took an anti-movie oath.

This period can be said to be the time when Hollywood was most seriously interfered by the Catholic Church, and it lasted until the end of the Second World War in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

However, in the late 1940s, the Catholic Church’s influence on Hollywood was repeatedly violently shaken. In the face of the disasters brought about by the Second World War, the “warm world” created on the screen based on Catholic moral values ​​became more and more difficult for American audiences to accept. Not to mention overseas audiences suffering from wars.

Beginning in the early 1950s, Catholicism’s tremendous influence on Hollywood began to collapse. The changes in American social thoughts, especially the destructive influence of World War II on traditional concepts, severely weakened the church’s social influence and made the moral precepts of the film production rules. It seemed ridiculous in the eyes of people at that time.

In the 1960s and 1970s, with the rise of anti-traditional movements such as hippies, the influence of Catholicism on Hollywood has diminished to an unnecessary level. In the new century, Hollywood can no longer tolerate the intervention of Catholic forces on itself.

For example, Murphy’s personal experience a few years ago, "The Da Vinci Code" is based on Dan Brown’s novel of the same name. It is full of Catholic content, and many of them have subverted the theoretical foundation of Catholicism. It is conceivable that this film will be affected. The Catholic Church was so obstructed, but the film not only did not abort, it became one of the biggest selling films of the year.

Not only Hollywood has changed, but North American audiences, even some Catholic audiences, have also changed.