Our current environment riddled with fears of terrorism and war highlights lessons learned in our past. Between 1947 and 1961, a world of artistic expression was lost in the esclating fear of Communism.
“In this era of how to deal with terrorism, dissent is being stifled as it was in the McCarthy era,” said David Meyers, director of the Fogelson Library at College of Santa Fe. It is important to ensure the cost of fear is not freedom.
“The biggest thing that we lost was their art,” said John Dennis, music and dramatic arts professor.
Dennis said while there is still a rift from the McCarthy era, there is a definite trend toward healing in Hollywood.
The film industry is making strides to right the wrongs of blacklisting and give artist credit for work done during that era. “Many of the relatives of these writers are being hired now,” he said.
“I don’t think many people are aware of the way the media takes care to portray certain things on both television and movies,” said Neil Hebert, theater senior and music and dramatic arts student senator.
There remains a sense that Hollywood still is censoring itself. After Sept. 11, a scene depicting a helicopter caught in a web between two skyscrapers was cut from Spider-Man. In the same manner, “Phone Booth,” a movie about a man trapped in phone booth by a hidden sharpshooter, was not released because of the Washington, D.C. sniper situation.
In the past, the House Committee on Un-American Activities conducted several public hearings to eliminate the Communist influence in the arts. The hearings were public, aired on television, and prosecutors blatantly denied witnesses freedom of speech. Many Hollywood professionals were coerced into naming friends and colleagues as Communists or sympathizers.
After becoming suspects of the Red Influence, the Screen Actor’s Guild, Screen Writer’s Guild, and Screen Director’s Guild did little or nothing to protect members from blacklisting. SAG even cooperated with the committee, explained Ceplair.
Individuals named or even suspected were unable to find work in the motion picture industry, according to Larry Ceplair’s article, “SAG And The Motion Picture Blacklist.”
Although many film professionals were coerced into bringing others into suspicion, many tried to subvert the blacklist by writing under pseudonyms, hiring ghostwriters and naming those already named if called to court. Studio producers became afraid to produce any films that appeared critical of the United States and Hollywood writers censored their work, said Ceplair’s article.
“Artists have a responsibility to themselves to make movies they believe [in] and that they believe is art,” Hebert said. “I don’t know if that happens. Norman Bethune said, ‘The role of the artist is to disturb.’ I don’t know how true that is, but I do believe that is part of what an artist has to do.”