Hollywood Blacklist Essay

The Paramount decision and the Hollywood blacklist altered the direction of the filmmaking business in America in several ways. One of the most key ways was that it put an end to the vertical integration the studios had designed for themselves which was the way movies were distributed with exclusivity clauses attached, specifically because it violated the antitrust laws of the United States. The investigation and litigation began just before the turn of the century and continued until late into the 1940s. The essential parts of block booking were either truncated or eliminated, so studios were no longer able to blind bid blocks of film, full length or short films, to theaters. They could only block book feature films and only after allowing

The list eventually grew to include more than 100 others and as a result, some of those people found other means to make films, such as moving to a country outside of the United States. The unemployment of the blacklisted led to the production of anti-communist movies being released, ultimately propaganda in most ways, which further solidified the cause. It created the emergence of a new realm of stars, such as Marilyn Monroe and others who were willing to govern themselves according to the wants of the HUAC. There was some division about the ordeal. Most who had influence in the film adhered to what the committee wanted, avoiding those who had been black or “grey” listed, but there were people of stature such as Eleanor Roosevelt who had a different opinion on the matter. In 1947, she was quoted in her own newspaper column, “My Day”, as saying that the film industry had great influence and that influence could be good or bad. She contended that even as such, it’s not the government who should be the determining factor in whether or what the filmmakers do is good or bad but the people who actually go to see these works of