Page 329 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

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ConCLusion
Debates regarding obscenity and indecency are so heavily charged because
they speak to core values and behavioral norms by which various groups and in-
dividuals expect or demand others to live. Thus, for instance, gay and lesbian lit-
erature, film, and television have often been coded as obscene or indecent when
judged from a conservatively heteronormative value system, resulting in paren-
tal warnings being attached to programs that in any way mention, much less
depict, gay or lesbian sexuality. Even medical terminology remains obscene and/
or indecent to some, especially in media that is available to children. This poses
the significant problem to regulators and producers of determining a standard
definition of “obscenity” and “indecency,” and predictably entails outrage and
activism on behalf of those who disagree with the standard of the moment.
As the reactions to obscenity and indecency change with varying levels of
severity, as rules and conventions ebb and flow, and as ever-developing media
technologies introduce new battlegrounds, so too will our definitions of what
should and should not be said or shown change in the future. Obscenity and in-
decency are likely to form the substance of many a debate long into the future, as
we use media depictions and imagery as the fodder for vigorous discussion over
what constitutes appropriate behavior both inside and outside of the media.
see also Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer Representations on
TV; Government Censorship and Freedom of Speech; Media and the Crisis of
Values; Media Reform; Pornography; Regulating the Airwaves; Representations
of Women; Shock Jocks; Youth and Media.

Further reading: Bernstein, Matthew. Controlling Hollywood: Censorship and Regulation in
the Studio Era. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1999; Heins, Marjorie. Not
in Front of the Children: “Indecency,” Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth. New York:
Hill and Wang, 2001; Hilliard, Robert L., and Michael C. Keith. Dirty Discourse: Sex and
Indecency in Broadcasting, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007; Leff, Leonard J. The Dame
in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code. Lexington: University
Press of Kentucky, 2001; Lipshultz, Jeremy H. Broadcast Indecency: FCC Regulation and
the First Amendment. Newton, MA: Focus Press, 1997; Sandler, Kevin. The Naked Truth:
Why Hollywood Does Not Make NC-17 Films. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University
Press, 2006; Sova, Dawn B. Forbidden Films: Censorship Histories of 125 Motion Pictures.
New York: Facts on File, 2001.
Gwenyth Jackaway

online digital FilM and teleVision

As the distribution of film and television becomes increasingly available
through the Internet in digital form, it continues to influence the modes of pro-
duction, business models, marketing, cultural practices, and meaning creation
that surround the consumption of the new products. The current conflicts that
are being negotiated between public and private space, programming and on-
demand consumption, sharing and piracy, and corporate control and publicity