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Youth protection and the prevention of juvenile delinquency

Keeping cinema on the right side of the law

University of Illinois at Chicago, sahall{at}uic.edu

The year 1926 marked the passage of Germany’s Law to Protect Youth from Worthless and Obscene Publications. In combination with the Reich Motion Picture Law of 1920, this legislation sought to shelter minors from the corrupting forces of cultural narrative and imagery. As the discourse surrounding these laws attests, the terms of Germany’s so-called ‘cinema debate’ were ambivalent, and discussions about films thematizing crime were especially complex. Whereas many detective and crime films were condemned for glorifying delinquency, brutalizing the senses and exposing youth to excessive details about criminal activity, educational films and films that sounded a warning were viewed by reformists as ideal means to teach moral responsibility and good citizenship. This paper explores the purported connection between visual imagery, sensual—psychological stimulation, crime and censorship during the early years of the Weimar period.

Key Words: censorship • educational films • A. H. Kober • Siegfried Kracauer • Friedrich Porges • youth crime

Journal of European Studies, Vol. 39, No. 3, 353-370 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0047244109106687


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