Hollywood is making its way outside
of its traditional home in California.
Many movies are now being filmed in the South and along the East Coast.
While Louisiana has been a popular home for many movies lately, Memphis and
Tennessee as a whole are trying to sell themselves as another option for
filming locations. As a movie buff, I’m incredibly excited by this prospect,
but I’m also excited as a historian.
We
read about Lloyd T. Binford and the Memphis Board of Censors and the cultural
control they had over Memphis during the first half of the twentieth century.
Anything with too much violence, allusions to sex, actors with “immoral”
personal lives, or allusions to the equality of the races was banned. Binford
and the board were part of the larger Crump Machine that used political control
and force to determine the direction of Memphis’ future. Even though he was
getting older, Binford ended his career on the Board of Censors because he was
aware of the changing times. As we
all know, movies have greatly evolved since the early twentieth century. What
would have garnered a strict R-rating is now a loose PG-13 rating today. This
is an indicator that what is deemed socially acceptable is expanding and I find
it highly appropriate that Memphis be a home to this new movie business.
The
article focuses on the economic advantages that the film industry could bring
to the area, but I also think that it would also bring its history full circle.
We do know Hollywood struggles to be racially diverse and provide movies tell the
stories of different types of people. However, Memphis and its history could help
bridge this gap while Hollywood could serve as a platform to allow Memphis to
demonstrate how far its come. Memphis
and Binford were known nationally for its notorious censorship even when other
states were dissolving their censorship boards altogether. While some people
may not be aware of that, others are.
There was another article a few years ago in the Memphis Flyer detailing
the harsh censorship of Binford. By bringing large scale film productions to
Memphis, it would demonstrate to the community and to the country that Memphis
is no longer under the oppressive ruling of the Crump Machine. We may still
struggle with other race issues, but we are working to improve them and move
forward.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/banned-in-memphis/Content?oid=1144204
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