Granted the Lord-Quigley was more lenient than other material we have read, I still completely disagree with everything it outlines. I don’t believe that the film industry should be censored, regardless of the material and content of the film. There are better solutions which can be made than to simply cut scenes. The code seems to make most of its decisions based on what is appropriate to be viewed by children. This is a very limiting guideline. Also, there are concerns about “uneducated people” wanting to immitate the immoral acts they see in movies. I think this is a terrible stereotype and to assume that only uneducated people commit crimes and sin is completely ridiculous. Also, it seems that the film industry is commonly used as a scapegoat when such acts are committed. The code also outlined that films should not serve to make the life of criminals alluring or involve material which makes the audiences sympathy lie with the criminal. In terms of Scarface, the code seems to be loosely applied. The alternate endings are a main distinction of the code being applied to the movie. Had no code been established, the original script ending would have shown Camonte’a lifestyle to be far more appealing. However, the alternate endings ruined any appeal the lifestyle of a gangster may have. The scenes of corruption of law officials which were cut are also addressed in the code. The code states that there should be no scenes which reflect poorly on the government and the court system. Furthermore, Mrs. Camonte’s feelings towards Tony also is addressed in the code. Her feelings about her son leave a strong impression on the viewer and help to assure us that if his mother cannot even seen the good in him, then there must be no good present. The incest plot also comes into play in regards to the code. Incest is considered a taboo and seen as immoral, which is a clear violation of the code. However, there are parts of the code that don’t seem to have been applied to the production of Scarface. For instance, Every person in group 3 agreed that they felt bad for Tony Camonte at the end of the film. The code states that the audiences sympathy should not lie with the criminal or anti-hero. However, the audience commonly will side with Tony Camonte because we are rarely exposed to his character flaws. We never really see him murder people or commit other crimes, with the exception of Guino. Due to a lack of so called “immoral” scenes, Tony Camonte is portrayed as nice guy with a sense of humor. Had we been exposed to his criminal ways, our sympathies would have lied else where. The humor which is used throughout the film is also key to our opinion of the gangsters. It serves to humanize them, thus making them more appealing. The code seems to be loosely applied to Scarface, but there are certain instances where Scarface seems to have slipped by the censors.
