Law and Social Controls (1949)

★★★★★ · Interdependance · Film Fan · 2004-05-31

The terminology may change, but the "Social Controls" outlined in this film are still in operation today. The adult advisors guide a group of young leaders to make their own decision about the closing hours of their "Teen Canteen." An example of 50s oppression? Hardly. "Custom," "Moral Code," and "the Law" were explained to Janet Jackson after her 2004 Superbowl "exposure." The FCC will tell you that if Custom and Moral Code fail, the Law will step in with hefty fines. The guards et al. at Abu Ghraib prison, I'm sure, have a lot to say about offending "Custom" and "Moral Code," not to mention…

★★★★★ · Moral codes and Janet Jackson · AlexJonesLemming · 2006-07-19

You can't honestly believe Janet Jackson decided all on her own on what clothes to wear and how to choreograph that stunt. Of course, ALL the media and entertainment corporations involved had to sign off on this, or nearly all. I can imagine the discussions --- either on how this would appear 'hip', OR more likely, on how it would generate controversy, OR even MORE CYNICALLY, on how Jackon's "risque" (to echo a term my mother would use) performance might generate a backlash serving the interests of the Authorities.

★★★★★ · Idiocracy in the comments · AstridStar · 2024-02-17

Where to begin? The commentary -- from moral preening about "Rosa Park" and invoking the demon of "white" people (ffs) to complaints of the content being "too heavy" -- gives one a sense of a howling hurricane of shrieking lunatics. Does anyone have a functioning brain cell remaining in this idiocracy we are living in?! This film is a time capsule of another time and, apparently, another planet. These public service-type messages were created in a time when, unlike the completely enlightened times we now find ourselves living in (heavy sarcasm), human being were frailer creatures who…

★★★★ · Law and social guidance · Steve Nordby · 2004-05-31

This film is rather accurate from a particular sociological prespective. Social control is about obediance. The adults rationalize conformity as being in the best interest of the teens. Now, what about social change? Has there ever been a social guidance film on social change? Let me try: "Hey kids, we are part of the community, so if we want to stay open late, it is our *lawful* right. It is a *good* idea to let kids decide for themselves how late they want to stay out so they learn a sense and limits of a 24 hour day, and besides it is *customary* for teens to stay up late!" Oh but I forgot…

★★ · You WILL Conform! · donwert · 2010-06-13

Steve Nordby, below, has nailed it. This film is all about instructing teens to obey laws, moral codes and customs. By using the trivial question of how late the "Teen Canteen" should stay open, it sidesteps the far more serious question of what to do when the "social controls" are used to an evil end---such as for the oppression of minority groups as was true throughout the South when this film was made. I wonder whether any kids watching this in, say, Montgomery in 1949, thought about that or raised the question in class...I rather doubt it.