With vigilant concern: the debate arising from the Spanish film censorship law of 1963 in the written press

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the newspapers and magazine's opinions gathered in relation to the appearance of the censorship laws of 1963.The publication of the code generated an intense debate between two different positions: the official one promoted by García Escudero, general director of cinematography, and the one defended by the most reactionary groups, composed by the parents and some members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The discussion, which never addressed the possible suppression of coercive measures, mainly focused on three aspects: who should exercise censorship, what was the role of the viewer and where were the boundaries of it.