|
Sample Question 1
Sample Question 2
Sample Question 3
Sample Question 4
Sample Question 5
Question 1
A film containing several explicit sex scenes was shown in a small religious town. Although there were the sex scenes, other communities where the film was shown found it to be acceptable because, on the whole, it contained literary value. The sex scenes and the other scenes could not be separated. Under recent Supreme Court rulings on obscenity, what would the constitutionality of the movie be if a movie patron brought suit to ban the movie from playing?
A) Unconstitutional because the film was obscene by community standards.
B) Unconstitutional because the film contained graphic sexual material.
C) Constitutional because the film contained serious artistic value and has to be considered as a whole.
D) Constitutional because the film was not found to be too obscene by most other communities.
-
Answer
(C) is the best answer
because it applies all the elements of the "obscenity test". The fact situation tells you that the film at issue was shown in other communities which "found it to be acceptable because, on the whole, it contained literary value". It also recites that "the sex scenes ... could not be separated" from the rest of the film. The prevailing test is whether the average person (presumably representative of the "other communities" which had seen the film in this case) applying contemporary community standards (which was done here), would find that the dominant theme of the materials taken as a whole (a given here) appeals to sexual prurient interest. This film passes each element of the test based on the facts given.
(A) is incorrect because it is conclusory. Whether the film was "obscene by community standards" is what we are trying to determine here; apparently it was not in other local communities.
(B) is incorrect because the mere sexual content, even if "graphic", would not make the film per se obscene; the film must be considered "as a whole".
(D) is only partially correct and therefore not the best answer because it only gives one of the elements which are more applicable in (C).
TEST TIP:You may want to remember obscenity cases by the mnemonic SLAPS. In order to be obscene, the material taken as a whole must lack SLAPS:
Serious
Literary
Artistic
Political or
Scientific Value
... and it must appeal to the average person's sexual prurient (lustful) interests applying contemporary community standards. Miller v. California.
Six categories of speech not protected by 1st Amendment can be remembered by the mnemonic DO FICA:
Defamation
Obscenity
Fighting words
Imminent violence
Crime
Advertising (commercial advertising that is deceptive, misleading, or false)
return to top
|
