How Did the Production Code Affect the Way Hollywood Narratives Were Structured in the 1930s? Make Close Reference to at Least One Film from the Period.
The great depression and roaring twenties era in America lead to Hollywood producing what some thought of as a constant succession of sordid and immoral films; films that revolved around crime, sin and infidelity. This led to the creation of ‘the production code’ “adopted in 1930 to roll back the profligacy of the 1920s and
Set a reformed America again on the path of righteousness in the new harsher decade”
(Doherty, p 6). Throughout this essay I will examine the ways in which the regulations the production code put in place affected Hollywood narratives throughout the 1930s. As well as examining the strong difference in regulation between the early and late 1930s.
The Production code, also known as the Hayes code (named after Will H. Hayes president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America), was written by Martin Quigley a Roman Catholic layman and Father Daniel Lord a Jesuit priest. As a result the whole document contained strong religious connotations. The code was designed to address the “evinced concern for the proper nurturing of the young and the protection of women, demanded due respect or indigenous ethnics and foreign peoples, and sought to uplift the low orders and convert the criminal mentality“ (Doherty, p 6). The code contained two main categories of regulations.
Firstly based around general principles and a moral vision and then secondly around particular applications. This was a list detailing material that should be forbidden from Hollywood films.
However the appointed head of the Hayes office committee, Jason Joy was not a strong enforcer of the codes regulations. This led to the era of 1930- 1934 to be known as the pre –code a time in which the rules of the Hayes code were often ignored by filmmakers. As a result narratives of films made in the early 1930s were not greatly affected by the code and continued to be what some considered as sinful and outrageous as ever. The code was viewed as a mockery
Set a reformed America again on the path of righteousness in the new harsher decade”
(Doherty, p 6). Throughout this essay I will examine the ways in which the regulations the production code put in place affected Hollywood narratives throughout the 1930s. As well as examining the strong difference in regulation between the early and late 1930s.
The Production code, also known as the Hayes code (named after Will H. Hayes president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America), was written by Martin Quigley a Roman Catholic layman and Father Daniel Lord a Jesuit priest. As a result the whole document contained strong religious connotations. The code was designed to address the “evinced concern for the proper nurturing of the young and the protection of women, demanded due respect or indigenous ethnics and foreign peoples, and sought to uplift the low orders and convert the criminal mentality“ (Doherty, p 6). The code contained two main categories of regulations.
Firstly based around general principles and a moral vision and then secondly around particular applications. This was a list detailing material that should be forbidden from Hollywood films.
However the appointed head of the Hayes office committee, Jason Joy was not a strong enforcer of the codes regulations. This led to the era of 1930- 1934 to be known as the pre –code a time in which the rules of the Hayes code were often ignored by filmmakers. As a result narratives of films made in the early 1930s were not greatly affected by the code and continued to be what some considered as sinful and outrageous as ever. The code was viewed as a mockery
Bibliography: 4. Kaplan, Anne, ‘Fetishism and the Repression of Motherhood in VonSternberg’s “Blonde Venus” (1932)’ in her Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera (Routledge, 1996) 5. Leff, Leonard J 6. Maltby, Richard ,Hollywood Cinema,(Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1995) 7. Schatz ,Thomas, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (Faber 1998), pp 10. Conradt,Stacy (March 31, 2010), The Quick 10: 9 Movies and Shows Affected by the Hays Code http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/51551#ixzz1j0bXfARp last accessed 9th Jan 2012