Win a Nobel Prize & Best Foreign Film Oscar, expect cops banging on your door

There's also a remarkable documentary film about this censorship incident, "Banned in Oklahoma."

VLEEPTRON EDITING NOTE: The original Web version of the following was mechanically/typographically "junky" -- for example, all apostrophes originally appear as =A2 , some sort of software loopiness. Vleeptron has merely cleaned up these digital transmission errors, but has in no way changed the original text information.

The boldfacing, on the other hand, is Vleeptron's own emphasis.

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[PUBLIB:3847] "Tin Drum" seized as obscene in Oklahoma (fwd)
PUBLIB plib2 at sunsite.berkeley.EDU
Mon Jul 21 22:53:38 EDT 1997

Subject: "Tin Drum" seized as obscene in Oklahoma

Forwarded from ALAOIF...

Following is a report on The Tin Drum from the July Intellectual Freedom Action News. I will post the full issue later this afternoon.

Cynthia Robinson
Associate Director
Office for Intellectual Freedom
American Library Association

The 1979 Oscar-winning film The Tin Drum has become the center of a growing controversy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. State District Court Judge Richard Freedom ruled June 25 that the film has scenes of child pornography and is obscene under Oklahoma state law. Based on his ruling, Oklahoma City police seized videotapes of the film from video shops and homes.

The Tin Drum is the story of a young boy who wills himself to stop growing because of his anger over the behavior of adults in Nazi Germany. The film, which is widely regarded as a classic, was directed by Volker Schloendorff and won an Oscar for best foreign film in 1979. The scene which generated concern implies oral sex between a young boy and a teenage girl.

The controversy began when a local group, Oklahomans for Children and Families, (OCAF) asked the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System to remove the video from its collection. The library refused, saying it did not consider the film pornographic. OCAF then had a member check out the
video, and turned over the library's copy to Judge Freeman, who said he had no choice but to deem the film obscene under Oklahoma's law. Based on his ruling, the Oklahoma City police went to video stores to seize copies of the film; they also sought the names of individuals who had rented the film. In at least one case, they were given names and addresses and visited the homes of those individuals to seize the videos. Michael Camfield, development director of the Oklahoma ACLU, was one of three individuals asked to surrender a video, which he had rented from a local
Blockbuster Video.

While the police seizures occurred in Oklahoma City, some video-rental stores across the state pulled The Tin Drum from their shelves until the matter is resolved. In Tulsa County, the state's second largest, District Attorney Bill LaFortune said he would not seize copies from the library or video stores, saying he found the film *does not violate the state's obscenity statutes when general constitutional standards are applied.*

A lawsuit has been filed by the ACLU on Mr. Camfield's behalf, citing violations of his First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure; the Fourteenth secures the right of due process. The suit also
invokes the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits anyone from obtaining or divulging information about customers's rentals without their explicit written permission.

*No one disputes that child pornography is evil, but we cannot turn our cultural decisions over to people who would put a fig leaf in front of a Michelangelo statue,* said Michael Salem, Oklahoma ACLU co-operating attorney. Furthermore, he stated, *It is a violation of federal law to acquire the records of a customer at a video store without a court order or a search warrant.*

The Video Software Dealers Association has said it is also filing suit, focusing on violations of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Video Privacy Protection Act. It also contends that the film is not obscene under Oklahoma law.

The Video Privacy Protection Act was enacted in 1988, prompted by the revelation that, during his contentious Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, reporters had obtained a list of films rented by Robert Bork and his family.

Blockbuster video is undertaking it own investigation. *It is a company policy never to give out names... . We're in touch with our legal counsel,* said Jonathan Baskin, senior vice president for corporate communications. *We take this very seriously. This is not only a legal issue for us -- it's a moral issue. The employees know the policy. We don't yet know what went on in the store.*

The situation in Oklahoma City is still evolving, and all the facts are not yet clear. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom is involved in discussions with the Oklahoma Metropolitan Library System and ALA attorney Bruce Ennis. We will update Action News readers on this situation and
possible ALA involvement in the August issue.

Additional information is available at
http://www.state.ok.us/~odl/fyi/tdlaunch.htm