The Hollywood Ten: Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

            Land of the free and home of the brave? Are we really the land of the free? Do we really have the freedoms that were promised us by our founding fathers? Can we freely exercise our right of religion, petition and speech? If so then why were 10 men sent to prison for refusing to answer whether or not they are or have ever been associated with the communist party? Were they free to believe what they want? What about home of the brave? Were they considered brave to stand up for what they believed in by the committee that threw them in prison? Does that make me a communist for arguing that these men had the right to not have to answer the question?

Justice Robert Jackson wrote in the 1943 case West Virginia v. Barnette that “no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." Well, that wasn’t the case when McCarthy created the House Un-American Activities Committee. This committee forced the 10 men known as the “Hollywood Ten,” to answer whether or not they are or have ever been associated with the communist party. When these men refused to answer the question before the committee, they were held in contempt and thrown in prison. Just because these men refused to answer the question about their political beliefs, does that make them Communist? What if they were attempting to prove that they have a right to have their own political beliefs and are protected under that right?

            After World War II, there was a huge fear that Communism was infiltrating Hollywood and that these infiltrators were using film as an avenue for political propaganda. Whether that was the case or not, film has and always will be an avenue for propaganda. In the early years of film, the United States used film as propaganda for supporting the war. There is always some sort of message or agenda that the writer or director is trying to get across. Not everyone is always going to agree with what a film is trying to address.

It is not the responsibility of the government or a committee to control what should or should not be shown in a film or dictate an individual’s political beliefs. The government should never force anyone to believe a certain political way because that is not freedom, that is hypocrisy. Likewise, films shouldn’t be censored according to something like the Hayes code or banned from being shown. We should always have the MPAA rating system to warn individuals about the content shown, but should never ban films because of content. It is the responsibility of the individual to see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. As a parent, it is their responsibility to teach their children and filter what they see. Ultimately, as that child grows up they are responsible for what they believe. Do I believe in Communism? No. But that doesn’t mean that someone else should not be allowed to have their own political beliefs. As Americans, we should have the freedom and liberty to believe whatever we want. Whenever the government or any committee is trying to control what we believe, there is no longer that freedom that every American citizen is promised under the first amendment.