Blog 6

Blog Prompt

For this blog, you will explain how and why a censorship mechanism such as the Production Code (see below) would negatively impact women's empowerment and representation in the entertainment industry? Consider the institutional alignments of the era, standards for gender roles, and the concepts of "sin" and "scandal" as they relate to the readings for this module. Be sure include and properly cite at least two concepts from the module readings in your blogs.

What is the Motion Picture Production Code (1930)?

In 1930 the Motion Picture Production Code was adopted by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), the industry's self-governing body, as a means of setting moral standards and guidelines within the industry. The MPPDA began enforcement of the Code in 1934, requiring they screen every film before it was released to the public, and that enforcement remained in place until 1968.

The Code was designed to combat behaviors such as those that led to early Hollywood scandals (Black, 1989; Gardner, 1987; Johnson-Yale, 2015; Mondello, 2008). These scandals, such as the case of popular actor, murderer, and rapist Fatty Arbuckle, reflect some of the same concerns now being highlighted and debated in the Culture Industry: rape, sexual harassment, misogynistic behavior, and what was called "moral decline."

Examples of language from the code include: that no picture should ever "lower the moral standards of those who see it" and that "the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin" (Mondello, 2008).

The primary activity of the Code was to censor movies, generally by encouraging the studios to self-censor. With this self-policing attitude, the movie studios of the era managed to create some of the most misogynistic standards for women and women's roles, and act almost entirely within the male gaze of the camera, which would seem on the surface to conflict with the Code's goals of reducing scandalous and overtly sexual behavior. Similarly, the lessening of women's careers behind the camera coincides with the implementation of the Code.

It is not until after the Code and Code-based censorship was removed in 1968 that we began to see a return of women in high-level production roles, other than those films and television series aimed at women audiences such as the soap opera. After the Code is also when we see more and more female characters beginning to act beyond the limitations of the male gaze as highlighted by Mulvey.

References

Black, G. D. (1989). Hollywood Censored: The Production Code Administration and the Hollywood Film Industry, 1930-1940. Film History, 167-189.

Gardner, G. C. (1987). The censorship papers: Movie censorship letters from the Hays Office, 1934-1968. New York: Dodd Mead.

Johnson-Yale, C. (2015). Frozen in Hollywood: Postwar film policy and the new power-geometry of globalizing production labor. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 32(1), 33-47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2014.998251

Mondello, B. (2008, August 8). Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 years on. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/templates/story/...oryId=93301189

Don't Forget

• Don't forget to complete two responses to your peers, and in those responses don't just agree or disagree. Instead, consider the following:
  • challenging their choices
  • asking questions
  • giving examples
• Use citations and references, where appropriate