Forbidden to forbid? Euphemizing the Obscene. ; Interdit d’interdire ? Euphémiser l'obscène. ; Forbidden to forbid? Euphemizing the Obscene.: A discursive study of the use of the term 'obscene' and its derivatives by cinematographic censors in the United States. ; Interdit d’interdire ? Euphémiser l'obscène.: Étude discursive de l’usage du terme « obscène » et de ses dérivés par les instances censorielles cinématographiques aux États-Unis.

International audience ; Obscenity no longer figures, at least in appearance, among the concerns of contemporary North American film censors.contemporary North American film censors. While it figured prominently in various versions of the Production Code that regulated the U.S. film industry until the 1960s, the term "obscene" and its various derivatives seem to have largely disappeared from the vocabulary of the film regulatory body by 1968. Yet, if the word has disappeared, the notion remains, evoked in different forms ranging from periphrasis to litote. This article is therefore interested in the "discourse of censors" in the North American cinematographic field. It examines more precisely the modalities and the reasons - notably the impasse of its legal definition - of this eviction of the term "obscene" from the vocabulary of the censors. This analysis aims at revealing, between "classic" Hollywood and the contemporary industry, the permanence hidden under the apparent liberalization of morals and representations: a logic of polishing the censorial rhetoric, which tends to avoid naming too clearly what it aims at prohibiting. But also an evolution, showing that censorship, which is now called classification, must now advance with a hidden face, adopting a liberal rhetoric that is very different from the explicit prohibition and moralization that reigned in the days of the Hays Code. ; L’obscénité ne figure plus, en apparence du moins, parmi les préoccupations des censeurscinématographiques nord-américains contemporains. S’ils apparaissaient en bonne place dans les versions différentes du Production Code qui régulait l’industrie cinématographique aux États-Unis jusque dans les années 1960, le terme « obscène » et ses divers dérivés semblent avoir largement disparu du vocabulaire de l’organisme de régulation cinématographique à partir de 1968. Pourtant, si le mot a disparu, la notion demeure, évoquée sous des formes différentes allant de la périphrase à la litote. Cet article s’intéresse donc au « discours ...