Dirty Words and Filthy PicturesFrom the earliest days of cinema, scandalous films such as The Kiss (1896) attracted audiences eager to see provocative images on screen. With controversial content, motion pictures challenged social norms and prevailing laws at the intersection of art and entertainment. Today, the First Amendment protects a wide range of free speech, but this wasnt always the case. For the first fifty years, movies could be censored and banned by city and state