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This thesis revisits the effects of moving image regulation, exploring its histories in Canada with an interest in the intersections between arts practitioners and legal processes in the administration of culture. During the 1980s and 1990s, intensified film and video regulatory activities necessitated a coalition space for cultural activism populated by media artists and exhibitors, legal and academic scholars, and public intellectuals engaged with representational and identity politics, producing discourses about sexuality, pornography, race, AIDS, censorship, fundamental freedoms, and art. Considering the current state of the law, largely ignored by arts exhibitors in between moments of crisis, I ask how is the reception of this history reflected in practice with regard to regulation and self-regulation? Drawing on work that develops out of Michel Foucault’s theories of governmentality, I argue that actors across Canada were confronted with the task of negotiating not just how contemporary art survives regulatory scrutiny in public policy arenas and the courts, but also the acceptable boundaries of sexual identities and citizenship. This approach prompts a rethinking of contradictory liberal and libertarian notions of censorship to foreground the way ideas are constrained in all aspects of policy, and the way protocols of dissuasion often fail. As such, censoring acts reveal themselves to be less about restricting access than they are about the administration or legitimation of particular cultural values. This thesis historicizes the mandate of the Ontario Film Review Board, explores aspects of movement strategies as they work to crystallize identities, documents specific speech constraints and their justifications in the law, and suggests functions of counter-speech in video productions of the period. This thesis is guided by a concern with the relationship between cultural citizens and the state and asks what role does the state imagine itself playing in regulating the circulation of images? What are the (mis)understandings of censorship within more recent anti-censorship movement efforts, and what are the opportunities for cultural citizens to negotiate change, both in public policy and in popular consciousness? / Thesis (Ph.D, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-23 11:09:40.235

Cette étude à l’intersection entre pouvoir et espace porte sur le contrôle du cinéma par les autorités des concessions, l’intervention de pouvoirs concurrents dans le champ du cinéma et les activités de l’industrie cinématographique entre 1927 et 1943. Dans les années 1920, Shanghai, en particulier par ses concessions, devient la capitale du cinéma en Chine. En 1927, les autorités de la Concession internationale et celles de la Concession française établissent l’une après l’autre un système de censure cinématographique en prenant en compte l’expérience de leurs métropoles ou de leurs colonies et coopèrent entre elles dans sa mise en œuvre. Pour maintenir les bonnes mœurs et l’ordre public, les censeurs examinent les films en fonction de critères qui relèvent de la morale publique, de la prévention de la criminalité, de la sensibilité nationale ou du rapport avec la politique. Le cinéma en effet n’est pas seulement un outil de divertissement. Il devient aussi un enjeu de la lutte croissante entre les divers pouvoirs. Ainsi les autorités chinoises utilisent le nationalisme en manipulant l’émotion populaire et parviennent à orchestrer des mouvements de protestation « spontanée » pour s’emparer du droit de censure dans les concessions. Le Japon, acteur clé dans l’histoire moderne de la Chine, joue également un rôle dans ce tableau. Avec l’occupation du territoire chinois de Shanghai à partir de 1937, dans la mesure où l’armée japonaise considère le cinéma comme un outil de propagande, elle cherche à contrôler ce secteur. Les autorités des concessions doivent adapter leurs critères de censure au gré des mutations politiques, sociales et culturelles afin de préserver la stabilité sociale ainsi que leurs propres intérêts. Ces mesures ont une influence sur l’industrie du cinéma qui doit trouver un équilibre entre le contrôle exercé par divers pouvoirs et le marché. Une culture spécifique du cinéma s’est ainsi construite. Cette étude entend analyser à la fois l’évolution du système de censure cinématographique et son influence sur l’industrie cinématographique dans le contexte historique, culturel, ethnique, économique et politique de Shanghai entre 1927 et 1943. / This study at the crossroad of power and space focuses on the control of films the authorities of the foreign settlements implemented in Shanghai, the intervention of competing powers in the field of cinema and the activities of the film industry under their control between 1927 and 1943. In the 1920s, Shanghai, and particularly its settlements, became the capital of cinema in China. In 1927, the authorities of the International Settlement and the French Concession both established a system of film censorship that drew on the experience of their metropolitan states or their colonies and began to cooperate in its implementation. To maintain a sound moral environment and public order, the censors examined the films based on criteria such as morality, crime prevention, national sensitivity or politics. Movies were not only a means of entertainment, but also a major issue in the growing struggle among various authorities. In order to take hold of the right of censorship in settlements, the Chinese authorities took advantage of nationalism by manipulating popular emotion and succeeded in provoking campaigns of “spontaneous” protests. In such a context, Japan, a key player in modern Chinese history, also played an important role. After the occupation of the Chinese territory of Shanghai in 1937, the Japanese army, considering that movies were a means of propaganda, tried to control the film industry in Shanghai. The settlements’ authorities had to adapt their censorship criteria to political, social and cultural changes in order to maintain social stability and ensure their own interests. These measures influenced the film industry which had to find a balance between the control by various powers and market forces. A specific film culture thus emerged. This study aims at analysing both the evolution of the film censorship system and its influence on the film industry in the historical, cultural, ethnic, economic and political context of Shanghai between 1927 and 1943.