Prizefighting: The Source of Motion Picture Censorship?
Barak Y. Orbach, an associate professor in the UA's James E. Rogers College of Law, is studying the history of censorship in the motion picture industry.
James Corbett
Robert Fitzsimmons
A new study finds that boxing, rather than sex and crime, led to the birth of movie censorship in the United States.
The research, led by University of Arizona law faculty Barak Y. Orbach, explains how regulations of prizefighting or boxing shaped the history of movie censorship during its first two decades.
Orbach presented his research to the faculty at the UA's James E. Rogers College of Law last week. He challenges the long-held belief that movies about sex and crime led to the enactment of the first censorship laws in the U.S.
It was boxing that "led to the birth of movie censorship in the United States and shaped the history of movie censorship during its first two decades," said Orbach, a UA associate professor of law.
Unlike more recent films like "Raging Bull" and "Million Dollar Baby," prizefighting films showed actual fights.
Boxing was much more brutal during the 19th and early 20th centuries when compared to today. Boxers did not always wear gloves and would often fight 20 to 30 rounds, or more. The sport saw a large number of serious injuries and frequent accidental deaths, Orbach said.
“All newspapers covered events in the boxing world, often dedicating first-page columns to major fights," Orbach said. "Some of the early movie pioneers tried to convert this popularity into box office revenues by filming fights."
The states' initial reaction to such boxing films was to strengthen enforcement of anti-boxing laws and legislating new, tighter statues, Orbach said. But they still did not develop legal mechanisms to deal with prizefighting films.
"The emergence of boxing movies caught states unguarded. The 19th century anti-boxing laws did not prohibit boxing films because their drafters did not envision the advent of moving pictures," Orbach said.
"Many politicians were determined to prevent the long-awaited heavyweight championship between James Corbett and Robert Fitzsimmons. For boxing opponents, this fight symbolized the evil of the blood sport," he added.
When the two athletes agreed to a championship fight, prizefighting was still legal in quite a few states. The planned fight led those states to outlaw boxing within their jurisdictions.
"The concept of movie censorship came to the world after Nevada, that was desperate for cash, repealed its anti-boxing law to accommodate the boxing bouts," Orbach said.
Shortly after Nevada amended its law, the Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight took place and the movie of the fight was about to be released to exhibition. States then realized that anti-prizefighting laws were insufficient when movies were available.
Orbach's study shows that, beginning in 1897, legislation was introduced to ban prizefighting films.
He is working on a comprehensive book on the legal history of the motion picture industry that Yale University Press will publish. While conducting research for his book, Orbach located many forgotten statutes, bills and court decisions that addressed the legality of boxing and boxing films.
Orbach’s study of the birth of movie censorship will be published next year. His study of the legal prohibitions against boxing and boxing films that lasted until 1940 will be published as a book in 2010.
"I find it extremely interesting – the influx of these forgotten developments of the motion picture industry, which were extremely important to the development of movie censorship in the United States," he said. "It is quite important to have an accurate account of the history of movie censorship in the United States."