Difficult Reputations by Gary Alan Fine

Author:Gary Alan Fine [Fine, Gary Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780226249414
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2001-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 2. Popular magazine articles on “Moving Pictures and Morals.” Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature.

The discussion of the moral character of Hollywood was not created by the Arbuckle incident, although the incident contributed to public debate. An enumeration of articles in the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature from the period 1910–1929 reveals that more articles on “Moving Pictures and Morals” were published in 1921 than in any other year before or after (see fig. 2); however, of the fourteen articles in the category for 1921, thirteen were published before September 1921! The intense interest in the Arbuckle case was a result of the debate about Hollywood morality, not its cause.

THE PRECIPITATING EVENT

As constructionists note, for public attention to emerge, a major event (e.g., a scandal) is necessary to focus debate. Generalized beliefs had effects, but it was the arrest and trial of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle that galvanized public attention. The Arbuckle party crystallized the generalized beliefs of the public and demonstrated that Hollywood was immoral and immediate action was needed. Yet, without the beliefs, conditions of strain, and structural possibilities for publicizing the event, Rappe’s death might have passed unremarked, never becoming a scandal. The transformation of the event into a scandal plays on interpretations of the situation in Arbuckle’s hotel site. Was the scandal the rape (which did not occur)? Was the scandal the drinking (which did occur)? Or was the scandal the “Hollywood orgy” (a matter of definition)? Since the evidence supporting rape/murder was thin (a single witness who the prosecution knew was lying), I argue that the definition of what occurred depended on the position of a mistrusted industry. The “rape” of Virginia Rappe (by a corpulent Arbuckle,13 often with a Coke bottle!) served as a dramatic image of a community—and society at large—gone wild (Schudson 1976).

According to journalist Adele Rogers St. John’s (1969:117) memoir of Hollywood in the 1920s, the Arbuckle party was ordinary by Hollywood standards. Flouting sexual morality and Prohibition was part of the lifestyle of many in Hollywood. The party was a normal event within the subculture—and the revelers had the misfortune of having their behavior made public to an unsympathetic audience. Scandals involve the exposure of subculturally or institutionally routine behaviors to those who do not share these standards. One defense of the Watergate scandal (Schudson 1992) was that the behaviors in question were normal political behavior; likewise, the scandals of organized collegiate athletics are justified as cases of business as usual that happened to be uncovered (Santomier et al. 1980). Because the behaviors are deviant by the standards of the larger community, the justification is typically ineffective, and the attacked community must use other defenses.

Within days of his arrest, Arbuckle became “a symbol of everything objectionable about Hollywood” (Vaughn 1990:41); his soiree typified the “wild Hollywood party.” In the following weeks, newspapers across the nation gave wide attention to the case. Thousands viewed the body of Virginia Rappe at a Hollywood funeral home (Los Angeles Times 1921d); thousands more clogged the San Francisco court building, hoping to attend the trial (Los Angeles Times 1921c).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.