Socially Tuned out

As motion pictures begin to enter the forum two sides develop as Paul Starr states in chapter 9. "Reformers tended to divide themselves into two camps, though there was much overlap between them: the advocates of repression, who called for government censorship, and the advocates of amelioration and uplift." This neophyte media was to be regulated. There were two paths as the quote explains.

The one of uplift sought to balance out the negative images presented by nickelodeons with other less explicit means of entertainment. The other route presented regulation of media. Although it was an issue of meeting in the middle what is significant is the conclusions that they come to. One is that foreign productions are deemed less positive and more filled with debauchery than American content when rather both American and European films were equal in there negative content. This is an instance were a medium is regulated not necessarily by a government agency but by ideas towards it.