The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942 Review

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The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942 ReviewIf you're going to criticize a book, it is helpful if you 1)understand the argument of the book; and 2) understand how the author goes about making that argument. Every critcism that the reader from LA makes about this book reveals the reader's own ignorance.
LA Reader either ignores the fact that Jacobs has consulted over 100 censorship case files or does not know what these are (I am guessing the latter). Ignorance may also explain why LA reader attacks Jacobs for not having watched a film that no longer exists, and then ignores the fact that she painstakingly reconstructs the film as accurately as possible from available evidence (screenplays, studio memoranda, case files). Again, perhaps LA reader does not know what these are.
While one might not agree with Jacobs' conclusions, one can certainly not call them baseless. Jacobs may, at times, overstate continuities between the early 30s and later 30s, but at least she is aware of the fact that the Code existed and was enforced before 1934, unlike other books on the era (see Complicated Women, Sin in Soft Focus, for example).
This simplistic (and erroneous) view of censorship seems to have clouded LA Reader's judgement. Unfortunately, this view is one that is embraced by too many popular books on the subject (again, see Complicated Women and Sin in Soft Focus). LA Reader's apparent defense of this view, ignorance of the facts, and eagerness to attack a book that attempts to paint a more accurate picture of the way self-censorship worked in Hollywood, indicates that her/his views should be taken with a large grain of salt. On second thought, they should be ignored entirely.The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942 OverviewThe 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.

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