Censorship and Violence in Entertainment

Originally published October 29, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1354

It always starts in different ways, ways that you are always convinced cannot, will not, ever apply to you. Frequently it will begin in regards to some sort of subject matter that you actually applaud. You pat your elected representatives on the back and say, “Go to!” and consider your tax dollars well spent. It always seems to begin with the best of intentions, and as Samuel Johnson said, Hëll is paved with good intentions. Curiously, he said nothing about the frequently-mentioned road to Hëll, although Clive Staples Lewis, in The Screwtape Letters, did have something to say about that oft’ taken pathway: “The safest road to Hëll is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

In 1950, there was a forty-seven year old Tennessee Democrat named Estes Kefauver, who—although he didn’t start it up—wound up heading a United States Senate committee for investigating organized crime. According to Harlan Ellison, one of the areas that Kefauver desired to investigate was magazine distribution. “Everyone knew at the time that the entire distribution industry was completely controlled by the Mafia,” said Ellison. “That’s what Kefauver was going after, those were the guys that he wanted. He didn’t really care about comic books at all. It was just a side issue to him, not really relevant to his goal of nailing mobsters who were running magazine distribution.”

But a subcommittee was formed and an investigation held, instigated and cooperated with by an assortment of individuals, each with their own agenda. There was, of course, Frederic Wertham, whose research into juvenile delinquency convinced him that there was a cause-and-effect between comic books and youths gone astray. This was a conclusion he drew primarily because kids had been arrested while carrying horror comics. Curiously, he never interviewed the millions of kids who read the exact same comics and never got into trouble at all; a reading of Seduction of the Innocent will indicate a thesis shot through with holes, bad research, and illogical conclusions. At the same time, as Mark Evanier described in such detail in recent issues, publishers saw Kefauver’s subcommittee as an opportunity to drive Bill Gaines and his horror publications out of business.

“Kefauver himself wasn’t a bad guy at all,” said Ellison. “He really just wanted to crack down on the Mafia, and he was right, they were running magazine distribution. I have no problem with Kefauver.”

Yet Kefauver’s good intentions resulted in the censorious Comic Code Authority, which clings to the industry to this day (although I should make note that I was recently informed by Tom DeFalco that the no-exit-wound, no-red-blood dictate was in fact an internal Marvel policy that DeFalco himself developed, which is not what I was told when the stories were being drawn. At the time I was told it was the CCA.)

So now you figure, it’s forty years later. Such things could never happen again. We can relax a little.

Nope.

Let’s look at two recent bouts with censorship, one that’s in the process of being short-circuited, another that’s still going on. In both cases, it’s proof that the fight for free expression is an ongoing one, and anyone in the comic industry who thinks that we’re invulnerable is kidding himself.

I have been following with interest the series of articles running in Variety (all written by reporter Christopher Stern) regarding the efforts of one Sam Brownback, Republican Senator from the great state of Kansas. In late September, Brownback endeavored to establish a Special Committee on American Culture, which was to have a broad mandate and subpoena power. Brownback is “a vocal critic of Hollywood, which he has suggested is responsible for creating a culture of violence and profanity that has undermined the morality of America’s youth.” Which is exactly what they were saying forty years ago, back when Brownback was—well—one of America’s youth.

The article went on to say that, according to spokesmen, “the special committee will also look at family issues such as out-of-wedlock births and divorce, not just the entertainment industry. The goals of the committee include collecting data on the impact of pop culture; exploring links between violent entertainment and crime; and investigating possible connections between explicit sexual material and teen sexual activity.”

It was also mentioned that the Federal Trade Commission is already investigating the entertainment industry in connection with marketing violence to young people. I didn’t know that. Did you know that? I read that tidbit and felt a distant chill. It also stated that President Clinton requested that the Surgeon General examine the effects of popular entertainment on youths, while Congress “is also still weighing a proposal to create a national commission on youth violence that would also take a look at popular culture’s impact on the behavior of the nation’s teenagers.” This, of course, as part of Congress’ efforts to do something (i.e., find a scapegoat) after the Columbine shootings.

Over subsequent weeks, the story became even more interesting. Brownback’s proposed special committee was downgraded to a task force, which is like a hurricane being reclassified as a squall. What caused him to back down? Senate Democrats, “fearful that the committee would become a forum for conservative critics of popular culture,” found a way—for possibly the first time in history—that liberals could actually take advantage of the power of the National Rifle Association. They insisted that any Committee incorporate, into its mandate, an investigation of handguns. It seemed an utterly reasonable stipulation. After all, copies of Omaha, Cat Dancer or a videocassette of Pulp Fiction didn’t mow down students at Columbine. They were shot. California Democrat Barbara Boxer, in a subsequent letter to Senate Majority Leader (and Brownback backer) Trent Lott, “I simply cannot understand how it is possible to create a task force that would study the causes of violence in America without considering the role of guns in society. If you were to leave guns out of the mix, I would be compelled to raise this matter on the floor of the Senate.”

Well, now Brownback et al had a problem. None of them wanted to be responsible for pointing any finger of blame at, or put the GOP in opposition to, the mighty NRA. Heaven forbid that the committee discovers that the availability of guns rather than Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a prime, if not the prime, contributor to teen violence.

As of this point, Brownback is reportedly having difficulty finding backers, even for the scaled down task force. “It’s not moving forward,” his spokesmen have stated, saying that the insistence that guns be incorporated into the mix “created a ‘hang-up’ for Brownback.” Oh yes, I just bet it did. I can’t help but feel that, because of guns, a bullet was dodged.

But that doesn’t mean comic book fans can breathe easily. There’s still the FTC, there’s still the surgeon general, and there’s still Brownsback, Trent, and others, looking to protect America’s youths from everything except that which can actually kill them. And if you’re under the impression that comic books are somehow going to be immune from that searchlight, well, remember… Kefauver was just out to get Mafioso running distribution. And look what that resulted in.

Then again, we have the Brooklyn museum, which is presently right on the firing line. More on that next week.

(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to at Second Age, Inc., PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705.)