The Motion Picture Production Code - Essay Example

Pre Hollywood & Motion Picture Production Introduction "I think of cinemas, panoramic sleights, With multitudes bent toward some ?ashing scene, Never disclosed but hastened to again, Foretold to other eyes on the same screen.” ~ Hart Crane, The Bridge In his poem The Bridge, Hart Crane poetically emphasizes the primitive influence films have, through a powerful medium coercing cultural tenets often wrestling with its resistance to interpretation, on the society. As long as the film history goes, it is safe to assume that motion pictures have had a high impact, good or bad, moral or immoral, on the minds of its audience. But as Hollywood perpetually hangs between morals policing and freedom of speech, there has been a constant conflict between the filmmakers and the rest of the world (religious groups, policy makers, traditionalists or mainstream media). Film history suggests that the moment someone observed that the new medium of "moving pictures" could be used to show images that might not be appropriate for all ages and all lifestyles, the movement toward movie had censorship began. This write-up essays the evolution of this censorship in the form of Production Code and the world of Hollywood before the inception of this code, often called the Pre-Code era of Hollywood. The Pre-Code Hollywood Pre-Code Hollywood is the marquee name for a brief period of time in the motion-picture history, 1930-1934 that interfaced between 1930, the official adoption of Production Code and 1934, the rigorous enforcement of the Production Code (Doherty). The four-year interval marks a fascinating and atypical time in Hollywood History, when the censorship was lax and the industry made the most out of it, exploiting all extreme subjects such as sex, vice, violence, and moral meanings forced upon Hollywood. The phrase reminds cinegoers of the time when trigger-happy gangsters, quipping dames, and disruptive rebels of either gender, ran loose in the anarchistic terrain of American Cinema. During this period, Hollywood cinema reached its liberal heights as never before. Women could play imperfect roles and not simply virginal doormats or monstrous vamps; actions could be morally and ethically ambiguous, colored in shades of grey, not just black and white; social and political problems could be discussed without constraints, and sex, seduction and malignity were not taboo subjects (Dohetry). The starting point of the pre-code period in Hollywood has been at the hearth of much discussion amongst researchers. One sect of people consider the onset of sound movies in late 1920s to lead to the commencement of this era while another sect of scholars believe March 31st, 1930 to be the beginning of this era, the date when Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) pledged to abide with by the Production Code (that was being written). Pre-Code in context: It is only logical to look into factors that drove Hollywood towards extremism in their content and nature. To understand the context of Pre-Code Hollywood, it is important to see the other internal and external environments that cusped with this development. It should be noted that at the time of the conception, America was going through The Great Depression, one of the worst years in the history of United States. Ironically, in such desperate times, Hollywood was revolutionized by two media developments - commercial radio broadcasting and synchronized sound cinema. Interfacing issues such as crippling economy, skyrocketing expenses of new sound technology and market erosion by radio brought Hollywood to a desperate state – unparalleled cultural and financial breakdown. As the most noticeable supplier of the national mythos, Pre-Code Hollywood negotiated the cultural disturbances by venting radical bents and reformulating American traditions into DreamWorks and an illusionary seductive world. Though later lauded for forthright sex and bare skin, Pre-code Hollywood was more about economics than erotica. Despite scarcity of money to buy food, Americans thronged to theatres to escape their lives’ disappointments. The edgiest of these movies were produced by Warner Bros. that picked the pulse of working class and no-longer working class by specializing in slum-pent melodramas with low-rent characters. As mentioned above, a number of themes distinctly appeared in this era such as eroticism, crime and violence, etc. Some of prominent feature films in these themes are described below: Women, Sex and Seductive Films Laughing Sinners, The Road to Ruin, Free Love, Merrily We Go to Hell, Laughter in Hell, Safe in Hell, The Devil is Driving are some movies that today will be known, for a stretch of moral anarchy, leading inevitably to disgrace, by censors as “Sex films” were one of the most commercial movies during Pre-code Hollywood era. Call her Savage (1932) was a narrative of a wild young woman rebelling against the beliefs of her father, and had extravagant scenes of marital infidelity, interracial marital infidelity, sadomasochistic whipping, erotic frolicking, exposure of female flesh, female catfights, prostitution and sexual abuse in marriage (STEELE). Crime Films American criminality reached its new heights in the wide-screens of Pre-coded Hollywood. Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, Underworld, The Big House and I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang contained violence that would not be seen until decades later. One of the prominent crime films of this era was Howard Hughes’ Scarface (1932) that glorified gangster lifestyle and ferocity, was raw, harsh and brimming with unsubtle symbolism. Motion Picture Production Code Prior to the advent of Pre-code era, censorship in the United States was exercised on a local option basis. Many states and individual cities had their own censorship boards that frequently asked for deletion of shots, or title cards before a film could be exhibited within its borders, or banning the film completely. The banning of the film was instead turned into a marketing ploy to gain publicity in liberal cities. In early 1920s, a bunch of risque films and a series of off-screen scandals tarnished the image of Hollywood as a morally compromised business. Catholic groups, public and politicians voiced their outrage at the declining moral values in America. In order to rehabilitate its image, Hollywood appointed ex-RNC chairman Will H. Hays to regulate the industry in an ethical manner. Hays set about recruiting influential organizations by involving them as consultants to build industry standards. In defense of the industry, Hays produced “Don’ts and Be Carefuls” in 1927 that meant to guide the content in motion pictures. As these rules were not strictly enforced, after a few years, most of the producers started to relax and in late 1920s accelerated their gear towards crime, violence, profanity and sexual infidelity themes. Hence, in 1930, a new code was written, known as Motion Picture Production Code. The Production code was a sophisticated work of a Jesuit priest, Father Daniel Lord, and Martin Quigley, a prominent Roman Catholic layman. As expected from religious leaders, the document was not a murmured list of complains from the conservatives but was a polished dissertation re?ecting long and deep thought in aesthetics, education, communications theory, and moral philosophy. The Production Code expressed a progressive and reformist urge to protect the society by nurturing the young and the protecting women, demanding due respect for indigenous ethnics and foreigners, and sought to convert the criminal mentality. The Code was structured in two parts, a set of “general principles” (the moral vision) and “particular applications” (specifying the list of forbidden material). Films were not rated for different age groups by the use of Production Code, but were either approved for release or not. This system was followed by the MPPDA until 1968 when the letter ratings system was established. Provisions of the Code Bellow are some of the (specific) points that were highlighted in the Motion Picture Production Code (Hayes): No plot or theme should definitely side with evil and against good. Comedies and farces should not make fun of good, innocence, morality or justice. No plot should by its treatment throw the sympathy of the audience with sin, crime, wrong-doing or evil. Vulgar expressions come under the same treatment as vulgarity in general. Where women and children are to see the film, vulgar expressions (and oaths) should be cut to the absolute essentials required by the situation. Criminals should not be made heroes, even if they are historical criminals. Obscenity should not be suggested by gesture, manner, etc. Enforcement of Production Code Appalled by the daring and controversial portrayal of life in Pre-Code Hollywood films, many religious and political organizations pushed for the enforcement of Production Code in Hollywood. In February 1933, when another Pre-code sex drama She Done Him Wrong was released by Paramount Studio, the architect of the Production Code, Father Daniel Lord, was inflamed and became a part of Legion of Decency, a group that pledged the cleanse the system. The movement gained further momentum with public outcry. In the June of 1934, Motion Picture Production Code was enforced and the major studios consented not to release a movie without the Code’s seal of appeal marking the end of Pre-Code Hollywood era. Works Cited 1. Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen & the Production Code Administration. NY: Columbia University Press, 2007. 2. Dohetry, Thomas. Pre Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934. NY: Columbia University Press, 1999. 3. Hayes, David. The Production Code of the Motion Picture Industry (1930-1967). 14 May 2011 . 4. STEELE, HELEN. "WICKED WOMEN: WOMEN & PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD." 2006. Guernicus. 14 May 2011 . 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