{"id":97,"date":"2017-05-25T13:57:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T13:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/?p=97"},"modified":"2017-05-25T13:57:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T13:57:11","slug":"donts-and-be-carefuls-sex-politics-and-morality-in-the-pre-code-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/uncategorized\/donts-and-be-carefuls-sex-politics-and-morality-in-the-pre-code-era\/","title":{"rendered":"“Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls”: Sex, Politics, and Morality in the Pre-Code Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n

While modern-day Hollywood retains a reputation\u00a0of producing politically and sexually progressive content, at one point in time, strict censorship on “controversial” or “liberal” subject matter ensured its films conveyed\u00a0strictly conservative messages to moviegoers. The Hays Code, a set of Hollywood rules and regulations created by Will H. Hays, closely monitored the ideals portrayed in Hollywood films from the 1930s through the 1960s.\u00a0Hays and other traditional administrators used the Code as a means of furthering\u00a0their own political and religious agendas by limiting\u00a0mainstream audiences’\u00a0intake\u00a0of progressive sexual, gender, racial, and political relations.\u00a0“‘Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls’: Sex, Politics, and Morality in the Pre-Code Era” explores the attempts made by Hollywood during\u00a0its years under the Hays Code to shape a white, Christian, conservative, and sexually pure America.<\/p>\n

Biographies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emma Cibula<\/em><\/p>\n

Emma, a senior at Grinnell College (’17), is graduating this May with a degree in History and a concentration in American Studies. In June, Emma plans on moving to Chicago and beginning a job as a technical and legal writing specialist at the immigration law firm Hudson Legal Group. As a History major with a particular interest in 20th Century America, she especially enjoyed learning about the complications of sexual history in the United States.<\/p>\n

Dianna Xing<\/em><\/p>\n

Dianna is a graduating senior from Grinnell College (’17). A Biochemistry and Economics double major, she plans to graduate school in the fall at the University of Alabama-Birmingham for biomedical research. Her previous economic research interests in the history of sexual violence, its motivators, and its prevention brought her to study the history of sex in America.<\/p>\n

Podcast Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits<\/strong><\/p>\n

We would like to thank Gina Donovan for aiding us in the technological processes in the production of this podcast as well as Professor Carolyn Herbst Lewis for her guidance throughout this project.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Primary Sources<\/b><\/p>\n

“#18-A (Fifties Shopping Intro Extended)<\/span>.” Retrieved from\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G-ktarzSPbo<\/span><\/a>. Web. 17 May 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

“1940’s Newsreel Music [Hollywood Strings, SM Brass].” Retrieved from\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6nzkXxXjwxE. Web.<\/p>\n

Baby Face<\/span><\/i>. Directed by Alfred A. Green. Los Angeles: Warner Brothers (1933). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_NkcRllnmFo<\/span><\/a>. Web. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Brown and His Brownies. \u201cHot Lips.\u201d (1927). Retrieved from\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/ia902606.us.archive.org\/0\/items\/BillBrownAndHisBrownies-HotLips\/BillBrownAndHisBrownies-HotLips.mp3<\/span><\/a>. Web. 1 May 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

By The, A. P. “CENSOR IS NAMED FOR FILM CLEAN-UP”.<\/span> New York Times (1923-Current File)<\/span><\/i> (1934). Retrieved from\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/search.proquest.com\/docview\/101213219?accountid=7379<\/span><\/a>. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hall, Mordaunt. \u201cRuth Chatterton as a Business Woman Who Delights in Emulating Catherine <\/span>the Great.\u201d <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i> (1933). Web. 1 May 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHays Film Code Seen as Desire of Theatergoers.\u201d <\/span>Dallas Morning News <\/span><\/i>(1930): 12. Dallas: <\/span>Readex: America\u2019s Historical Newspapers.<\/span><\/i> Web. 15 Mar. 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson, Robert. \u201cCrossroads.\u201d (1937). Retrieved from\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A<\/span><\/a>. Web. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOld movie taboos eased in new code for film industry.\u201d <\/span>New York Times (1923-Current File)<\/span><\/i> (1956). Retrieved from\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/search.proquest.com\/docview\/113670202?accountid=7379<\/span><\/a>. Web 15 Mar. 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPre-Code–The Unmentionables<\/span>.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span> Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=R3-XCvlTkK4&t=16s<\/span><\/a>. Web. 18 May 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Some Like it Hot<\/span><\/i>. Directed by Billy Wilder. Los Angeles: United Artists (1959). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CYUfPTeE0DM<\/span><\/a>. Web. 17 May 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Story of Temple Drake<\/span><\/i>. Directed by Stephen Roberts. Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures (1933). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9eV4w4F5Zsk<\/span><\/a>. Web. 1 May 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTHE TALKIES CODE.\u201d (1930). <\/span>New York Times (1923-Current File)<\/span><\/i> Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/search.proquest.com\/docview\/99005900?accountid=7379<\/span><\/a>. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thornton, A. Roland. “Sadism On The Screen.” <\/span>The British Medical Journal<\/span><\/i> 1, no. 4659 (1950):\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25356816<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWill Hays Film Group Draws Up New Code.\u201d <\/span>Dallas Morning News<\/span><\/i> (1930):<\/span>Dallas: <\/span>Readex: America\u2019s Historical Newspapers.<\/i> Web. 15 Mar. 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWill hays frowns on salacious stories — more musical pictures being made — “tugboat annie,” <\/span>with miss dressier.\u201d (1933, Apr 30). <\/span>New York Times (1923-Current File)<\/span><\/i> Retrieved from\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/search.proquest.com\/docview\/100685170?accountid=7379<\/span><\/a>. Web. 15 Mar. 2017<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondary Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Black, Gregory D. “Hollywood Censored: The Production Code Administration and the <\/span>Hollywood Film Industry, 1930-1940.” <\/span>Film History<\/span><\/i> 3, no. 3 (1989): 167-89. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3814976.<\/span><\/p>\n

Black, Gregory D. <\/span>Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Cambridge: <\/span>Cambridge University Press<\/span><\/i> (1994). <\/span><\/p>\n

Doherty, Thomas. <\/span>Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, <\/span>1930-1934<\/span><\/span>. New York: <\/span>Columbia University Press<\/span><\/i> (1999). <\/span><\/p>\n

Human, Julie. \u201cA Woman Rebels? Gender Roles in 1930s Motion Pictures.\u201d <\/span>The Register of the <\/span><\/i>Kentucky Historical Society<\/span><\/i> (2000). <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23384870<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kehr, Dave. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>A Wanton Woman’s Ways Revealed, 71 Years Later.\u201d<\/span> The New York Times<\/span><\/i> (2005). <\/span>Retrieved from <\/span>http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2005\/01\/09\/movies\/a-wanton-womans-ways-revealed-71-years-later.html?_r=0<\/span><\/a>. Web. 1 May 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

Leff, Leonard J. “The Breening of America.” <\/span>PMLA<\/span><\/i> 106, no. 3 (1991): 432-45.\u00a0<\/span>doi:10.2307\/462777.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leff, Leonard J. and Jerold L. Simmons. \u201cThe Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code from the 1920s to the 1960s.\u201d New York: <\/span>Grove Weidenfeld<\/span><\/i> (1990).<\/span><\/p>\n

Lugowski, David M. “Queering the (New) Deal: Lesbian and Gay Representation and the <\/span>Depression-Era Cultural Politics of Hollywood’s Production Code.” <\/span>Cinema Journal<\/span><\/i> 38, no. 2 (1999): 3-35. <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1225622<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayer, Ruth. \u201c3 Image Power: Seriality, Iconicity, and the Filmic Fu Manchus of the 1930s.\u201d <\/span>from <\/span>Serial Fu Manchu: The Chinese Supervillian and the Spread of Yellow Peril Ideology<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Temple University Press <\/span><\/i>(2014). <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/j.ctt14bs955.6<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Mondello, Rob. \u201cRemembering Hollywood\u2019s Hays Code 40 Years On.\u201d <\/span>NPR<\/span><\/i> (2008). <\/span>http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=93301189<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Muscio, Giuliana. “Cinema and the New Deal” from <\/span>Hollywood’s New Deal<\/span>. 65-104. <\/span>Temple <\/span><\/i>University Press<\/span><\/i> (1997).\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/j.ctt14bs9f9.7<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mennel, Barbara. \u201cQueer Cinema: Schoolgirls, Vampires, and Gay Cowboys.\u201d <\/span>Columbia <\/span><\/i>University Press<\/span><\/i> (2012). <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/10.7312\/menn16313<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Projansky, Sarah. “The Elusive\/Ubiquitous Representation of Rape: A Historical Survey of Rape <\/span>in U.S. Film, 1903-1972.” <\/span>Cinema Journal<\/span><\/i> 41, no. 1 (2001): 63-90. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1225562.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosenberg, Alyssa. \u201c<\/span>Hollywood Can\u2019t Move Toward Equality Until it Confronts its Ugly Racial <\/span>History.\u201d <\/span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/i> (2015). <\/span>https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/act-four\/wp\/2015\/03\/26\/hollywood-cant-move-toward-equality-until-it-confronts-its-ugly-racial-history\/?utm_term=.d82a363a9bc4<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sun, Rebecca. \u201cFrom the Hays Code to <\/span>Loving<\/span><\/i>: Hollywood\u2019s History with Interracial Romance.\u201d <\/span>(2016). <\/span>http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/hays-code-loving-hollywood-s-896342<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tang, Jennifer. “Teaching Notes The Forgotten Women of Pre-Code: An Annotated Filmography <\/span>and Bibliography.” <\/span>Feminist Teacher<\/span><\/i> 20, no. 3 (2010): 237-48. doi:10.5406\/femteacher.20.3.0237.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trowbridge, D.J. \u201c<\/span>Roaring Twenties to the Great Depression, 1920\u20131932\u201d from <\/span>United States <\/span>History, Volume 2<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Flat World Knowledge<\/span><\/i> (2012). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/united-states-history-volume-2\/s09-roaring-twenties-to-the-great-.html<\/span><\/a>. Web. 1 May 2017. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trowbridge, D.J. \u201c<\/span>The Crash: From Decadence to Depression\u201d from <\/span>United States History, <\/span>Volume 2<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Flat World Knowledge<\/span><\/i> (2012). Retrieved from <\/span>https:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/united-states-history-volume-2\/s09-roaring-twenties-to-the-great-.html<\/span><\/a>. Web. 1 May 2017. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tratner, Michael. “Working the Crowd: Movies and Mass Politics.” <\/span>Criticism<\/span><\/i> 45, no. 1 <\/span>(2003): 53-73. <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23126371<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler, Mark. \u201cThe Political History of Classical Hollywood: Moguls, Liberals and Radicals in <\/span>the 1930s\u201d from <\/span>Hollywood and the Great Depression: American Film, Politics and Society in the 1930s<\/span>. <\/span>Edinburgh University Press <\/span><\/i>(2016). <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/10.3366\/j.ctt1g050p5.6<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whyte, Sophie. \u201cFrom Hays Code to Modern Films.\u201d <\/span>Bearing News<\/span><\/i> (2014).\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.bearingnews.org\/2014\/03\/from-hays-code-to-modern-films\/<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wittern-Keller, Laura. “The Tide Turns against the Censors, 1953\u20131957.” In <\/span>Freedom of the <\/span>Screen: Legal Challenges to State Film Censorship, 1915-1981<\/span>, 175-96. <\/span>University Press of Kentucky<\/span><\/i> (2008). http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/j.ctt2jcm28.12.<\/span><\/p>\n

Transcript<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Music and Will H. Hays from \u201cPre-Code Hollywood–The Unmentionables\u201d]: <\/span>You want entertainment? Wholesome, interesting, and vital. This, the Motion Picture Industries is pledged to provide.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201cPre-Code Hollywood–The Unmentionables\u201d and Emma]: To contemporary ears, a proclamation from the Motion Picture Industries of America promising to only offer \u201cwholesome\u201d content to moviegoers might seem outlandish–it certainly did to me and Dianna. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Between the <\/span>Fifty Shades of Grey<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Magic Mike<\/span><\/i> franchises, mainstream Hollywood in recent years has certainly not shied away from controversial, sexualized, or racy subject matter. However, when Will Hays uttered these words in a 1930 newsreel, he did so with the utmost sincerity (Forshner, <\/span>The Community of Cinema: How Cinema and Spectacle Transformed the American Downtown<\/span><\/i>,, 73).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music ends.]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: Hello, everyone. This is Emma and Dianna, speaking to you from Grinnell, Iowa, on May 2nd, 2017. Today we\u2019re going to be talking about the Hays Code, the set of regulations in place in Hollywood from the 1930s through the 1960s. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: In considering the widespread censorship of themes and topics in Hollywood movies through these years, our conversation around this topic kept relating to one central question: What does the incorporation of the Hays Code reveal about the intersection of sexuality and politics from the 1930s all the way through the 1960s?<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: Will H. Hays, the conservative Presbyterian president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America from 1922 to 1945, had been taking note of the supposedly salacious, inappropriate films from the \u201820s. (Leff and Simmons, <\/span>The Dame in the Kimono<\/span><\/i>, 4). In an attempt to curb this scandalous content, Hays, along with outspoken Catholic journalist Martin Quigley and Jesuit priest Daniel A. Lord, tried to minimize societal promiscuity by creating and promoting the Motion Pictures Industry Code in 1930, (Black, <\/span>Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies<\/span><\/i>, 1, 8, 35). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: This generalized set of rules and guidelines, often referred to as the \u201cHays Code,\u201d expanded far beyond a symbolic acceptance of wholesome, and sexually pure values (Tratner, \u201cWorking the Crowd: Movies and Mass Politics,\u201d 54). According to historian Gregory D. Black, religious progressive-era reformers believed that the censorship of sexual, leftist, or violent content would directly promote \u201cAnglo-Saxon\u201d ideals and correlate with the fight against \u201cpoverty, corruption, and injustice,\u201d (Black, \u201cHollywood Censored: The <\/span>Hollywood Censored: The Production Code Administration and the Hollywood Film Industry, 1930-1940<\/span>\u201d). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: The belief that the values portrayed on the big screen necessarily connected to societal morality was widespread, as articles from newspapers such as <\/span>The New York Times <\/span><\/i>drew the conclusion that \u201ctalkies\u201d served as a powerful tool that communicated morality to their viewers, (<\/span>\u201cTHE TALKIES CODE.\u201d <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i>). <\/span>This overarching perception that movies advocated certain values to their audiences, then, meant that the Hays Code served as a means to bring a traditional agenda into the lives of everyday Americans. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: The prolific reach of Hollywood films from the 1930s through the 1960s allowed for the Hays Code to transform into a political tool that limited moviegoers\u2019 interactions with racism, sexism, classism, sexuality, and violence, suggesting that the Code did not merely allow for \u201centertainment,\u201d but the propagation of a conservative, Christian agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201cPre-Code Hollywood–The Unmentionables\u201d]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music ends]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: The 1920s was a Golden Era in American history: in the wake of World War I, real wages and stock prices skyrocketed, cities and towns were booming, conservatism transitioned to progressivism, and the rise of America\u2019s unique, lavish, cosmopolitan culture became iconic hallmarks of the Roaring \u201820s (<\/span> Trowbridge, <\/span>\u201cRoaring Twenties to the Great Depression, 1920\u20131932\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201cCrossroads\u201d and Dianna]: Then, in 1929, the Great Depression hit and the stock market crashed. The near-collapse of America\u2019s banking system followed a global economic depression. By 1933, millions of families were left in poverty, and as malnutrition, disease, and unemployment continued to run rampant, it became clear that the government was in no position to mitigate this crisis (Trowbridge, \u201cThe Crash: From Decadence to Depression\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Music ends].<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: Many Americans blamed the extravagance of the previous era for their predicament, placing conservatism back in political favor. However, wide distrust of political institutions, and especially of the reigning Republican party in office, forced political organizations to turn to Hollywood and the media.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: After the Code was enforced, the push for standardized, censored films was justified by claiming a return to traditional values was the \u201ctrue\u201d desire of moviegoers (<\/span>\u201cHays Film Code Seen as Desire of Theatergoers.\u201d <\/span>Dallas Morning News<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: In attempts to appeal to Americans again, <\/span>the 1932 election became the first in history to systematically use movie celebrities in the cause of political salesmanship<\/span> (<\/span>Wheeler, \u201cThe Political History of Classical Hollywood: Moguls, Liberals and Radicals in the 1930s\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Movies became integral to shaping and sustaining American culture. They provided both a venue for escapism as well as a tool for enforcing political agendas. In fact, during the first year of the Depression, 1930, movie attendance actually increased from the year before, and, even during 1933, when the national economy was at the lowest, only 25% fewer people went to the movies than during the high point in 1930 <\/span>(Human \u201cA Woman Rebels? Gender Roles in 1930s Motion Pictures.\u201d)<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: At a time when marriages were failing and becoming scarcer, <\/span>men began to face an identity crisis. Their defining role as breadwinner was challenged by mounting unemployment and many families turned to the women of the households for financial support. Yet, women who managed to find employment only faced resentment from men, as over 75% of Americans thought a woman\u2019s place was in the home (Human). Thus, people looked to movies to provide a sense of normalcy. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: In films, \u201cbad guys (and girls) were always punished, and a good woman ended up in her proper place, in the arms of a man who could protect and cherish her and let her quit the career that took time away from home and family\u201d (Human). In this way, Hollywood played an integral role in \u201cpreserving the basic moral, social, and economic tenets of traditional American culture\u201d (Human). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: However, despite the continued popularity of motion pictures, the film industry was also suffering from dire economic hardships. Likewise, due to lack of financial support, the MPPDA could not fully enforce the Hays code until after 1934. While filmmakers strove to satisfy the public\u2019s embrace of the status quo, they also turned to increasingly scandalous subjects to pander to the public\u2019s repressed desires. This gave rise to the sex film, exotic adventure film, gangster film, and horror film genres (Human).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Surprisingly, sex films appealed to a largely female audience. Many featured strong female characters, but also glorified sex work and adultery. For instance, <\/span>Baby Face<\/span><\/i>, released in 1933, was said to have caused the production code to become staunchly enforced. The film features an attractive <\/span>young woman that uses sex to advance her social and financial status. She begins prostituting herself at 14 and escapes to the city where she sleeps her way to the top (Kehr, \u201c<\/span>A Wanton Woman’s Ways Revealed, 71 Years Later\u201d<\/span><\/i>). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Audio from <\/span>Baby Face<\/span><\/i>]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Man]: Look, here. Nietzche says \u201call life, no matter how we idealize it, is nothing more nor less than exploitation.\u201d That\u2019s what I\u2019m telling you! Exploit yourself! Go to some big city, where you will find opportunities. Use men! Be strong, defiant! Use men to get the things you want!<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>[Woman]: Yeah\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

[End of audio]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: Not only were the female characters seductresses, some films portrayed them in typically male-gendered roles, such as in <\/span>Female<\/span><\/i> from 1933, the protagonist, Alison Drake, is the wealthy owner of a large automobile company (Hall, \u201c<\/span>Ruth Chatterton as a Business Woman Who Delights in Emulating Catherine the Great<\/span>\u201d). However, even in the most controversial and seemingly progressive films, a <\/span>heroine could only \u201cact on the same power and career drives as a man if, at the climax, they took a second place to the sacred love of a man\u201d by her realizing her true calling as a wife, mother, and homemaker (Human). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Moreover, some films showed the consequences of rejecting societal norms of becoming a \u201creformed\u201d woman. In <\/span>The Story of Temple Drake<\/span><\/i> from 1933, the film implies that a<\/span> young, promiscuous girl is kidnapped, raped, and forced into prostitution to recompense for her immorality (Doherty, <\/span>Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934)<\/span><\/i>. Therefore, movies and the censorship of their contents by the Hays Code were meant to reaffirm the importance of marriage, family, and morally sound behaviors in a time when male financial and social domination was weakening. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Audio from <\/span>The Story of Temple Drake<\/span><\/i>]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Woman]: No, I don\u2019t want to stay. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Man]: I\u2019m not keeping it. If you want to go back to that town and to your grandfather, go ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Woman]: No…leave me alone. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Man]: I ain\u2019t hurt you none. Spotted ya the minute I seen ya. Your horror and your fame but–<\/span><\/p>\n

[Woman]: No!<\/span><\/p>\n

[Man]: You\u2019re crazy about me. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Woman]: No.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Man]: You\u2019re gonna stay. You\u2019ll like it here.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201c1940\u2019s Newsreel Music\u201d and Emma]: The popularity of exoticized adventure films masked white America\u2019s fascination with miscegenation. Pre-Code historian, Thomas Doherty, writes that these movies exploited the allure of interracial sex, providing viewers with a \u201cthreat or promise of miscegenation\u201d (Doherty). Due to Jim Crow laws\u2019 restrictions on black actors, in <\/span>Africa Speaks<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>moviegoers received small packets labeled “Secrets” which contained pictures of naked black women (Doherty). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201c1940\u2019s Newsreel Music\u201d]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Adventure films also saw their share of external governmental censorship in addition to the Hays Code. Ruth Mayer writes, \u201c<\/span>oriental things and oriental sights take center stage in Hollywood depictions of China in the 1930s, as \u2018Hollywood\u2019s China\u2019 offers the depression-weary audience the possibility of escape into a distant, opulent, and beautiful world, which is also even more desperately poor and turbulent than the economically ruined United States\u201d (Mayer, \u201c3 Image Power: Seriality, Iconicity, and the Filmic Fu Manchus of the 1930s.\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: Images of oriental depravity and cunning, Asian antagonists through \u201cFu Manchu\u201d characters had the power of mind control, mirroring American fears of the \u201cYellow Peril,\u201d as the United States government was simultaneously implementing rigorous immigration bans on Asians. In this sense, Hollywood films served as white supremacist, sexist, and nationalistic tools relaying a conservative foreign policy agenda to a mainstream audience by perpetuating harmful stereotypes.<\/p>\n

[Dianna]: The Hays Code often relied on the rejection or vilification of non-white, Christian, or conservative figures on the silver screen, ironically all while claiming moral superiority by promoting these antiquated and exclusionary values. While the Code directly affected movies and set forth certain censorship standards for mainstream Hollywood films, supporters of the set of rules and regulations, such as reformer Jane Addams, praised the Code for quote \u201c[preaching] good citizenship\u201d and \u201cAnglo-Saxon ideals\u201d unquote (Black, <\/span>Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies<\/span><\/i>, 9). Additionally, inventors of the Code branded the standardized censorship as a way to \u201cimprove the race\u201d (Tratner, “Working the Crowd: Movies and Mass Politics,” 58). The Hays Code, then, always sought to extend far beyond the confines of mere entertainment and enter the public political realm. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: The on-screen presentation of a quote-unquote \u201cideal\u201d America and the othering of those that did not conform to these racist, misogynistic molds were intended to actually shape American society itself. Hays and the other creators of the Code hoped that audiences would absorb the conservative values demonstrated in these censored depictions of sexual, gendered, and racialized relationships between characters in Hollywood films. While the Hays Code enforcers saw scandalous or controversial movies as potential catalysts for widespread societal promiscuity or \u201cimmorality,\u201d they also viewed them as convenient avenues through which they could convey their own values to audiences. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: In his article \u201cWorking the Crowd: Movies and Mass Politics,\u201d Michael Tratner explains that the Motion Picture Industries of America thought of movies as \u00a0powerful propaganda tools that they sincerely believed that the \u201cwholesome\u201d far-right societal and political beliefs reflected in films would correlate with an increase in general societal conservatism, especially in regards to sexual and gender relations. (Tratner, “Working the Crowd: Movies and Mass Politics”). Censorship, then, served as a means for the traditional creators of the Code to regulate quote \u201cthe morality represented in movies…particularly sexual and criminal morality\u201d unquote (Tratner). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: Between 1934 to 1940, and after the popularity of such films like <\/span>Baby Face<\/span><\/i>, calls for government censorship became overwhelming. A more expanded list of \u201cdon\u2019t\u201ds and \u201cbe careful\u201ds was released, with bans on suggestive dancing, lustful kissing, the mocking of religion, revenge plots, and the showing of a crime method so that it could be imitated. Upon the unveiling of the new code, Hays himself said, <\/span>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, \u201cRemembering Hollywood\u2019s Hays Code 40 Years On\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201c<\/span>#18-A (Fifties Shopping Intro Extended)\u201d and<\/span> Dianna]: However, this outcry was short-lived as \u201cgood taste and community values\u201d began to change after World War II. Competition from TV and racier foreign films disincentivized production companies from enforcing the outdated rules. And, as movies that blatantly violated the code, such as <\/span>The Man with a Golden Arm<\/span><\/i> starring Frank Sinatra as a drug addict, continued to get theater bookings and great reviews, it became evident that the Hays Code would soon be an idea of the past (Mondello).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music fades.]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: \u00a0In 1955, the Code was rendered meaningless. Sinatra received an Oscar nomination from the very Hollywood establishment that banned the film he was in. Attempts to update the code only continued to undermine it: the MPA conceded that a Code-approved film could deal with almost any \u201cmoral conflict\u201d if provided a proper \u201cframe of reference\u201d, save for homosexuality (Mondello). In that same year, 1959, \u00a0<\/span>Some Like it Hot <\/span><\/i>was released. The film featured a man in drag fending off suitors and Marilyn Monroe\u2019s homoerotic dialogue about \u201cbedtime games\u201d with her sister (Mondello).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Audio from <\/span>Some Like it Hot<\/span><\/i>]<\/span><\/p>\n

[Man in drag]: I\u2019m gonna level with you–we can\u2019t get married at all!<\/span><\/p>\n

[Other man]: Why not?<\/p>\n

[Man in drag]: Well, in the first place, I\u2019m not a natural blonde. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Other man]: Doesn\u2019t matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Man in drag]: I can never have children. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Other man]: We can adopt some. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Man in drag]: Well, you don\u2019t understand, Osgood! I\u2019m a man!<\/span><\/p>\n

[Other man]: Well, nobody\u2019s perfect. <\/span><\/p>\n

[Audio fades and Emma]: It was clear, the Code was dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Finally, by the late \u201860s, the MPA shifted from censoring film contents to warning audiences, using the film rating system we have today. Yet, even with less stringent rules, we continue to find restrictions on \u201cmorally explicit\u201d content. For instance, <\/span>The King\u2019s Speech<\/span><\/i>, and Oscar-nominated film from 2010, was given an R-rating in America due to excessive swearing, but everywhere else in the world, it was PG or PG-13 (Whyte, \u201cFrom Hays Code to Modern Films\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Emma]: And although films like <\/span>12 Years a Slave<\/span><\/i> have become critically acclaimed, winning multiple Golden Globes and Academy Awards, modern-day Hollywood proves to still be cautious in depicting people of color and race relations. Actor Will Smith noted that Eva Mendes was cast in his 2005 movie, <\/span>Hitch<\/span><\/i>, to avoid pairing him with a black or white actor, saying quote \u201cThere\u2019s an accepted myth that if you have two black actors in a romantic comedy, people around the world don\u2019t want to see it\u2026So the idea of a black actor and a white actress comes up \u2014 that\u2019ll work around the world, but it\u2019s a problem in the U.S\u201d unquote. (Sun, \u201cFrom the Hays Code to <\/span>Loving<\/span><\/i>: Hollywood\u2019s History with Interracial Romance\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

[Dianna]: Even with the rise of more TV shows and films written, directed, and played by people of color, from <\/span>Moonlight<\/span><\/i> with an all black cast, and popular television hits such as \u201cEmpire\u201d and \u201cScandal\u201d, there has been an inevitable backlash from the movie production industry. A recent piece written by a television editor uses numerous anonymous complaints to state that diversity is only a hot fad that\u2019s costing white actors jobs (Rosenberg, \u201c<\/span>Hollywood Can\u2019t Move Toward Equality Until it Confronts its Ugly Racial History.\u201d <\/span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music from \u201cPre-Code Hollywood–The Unmentionables\u201d and Emma]: With the persistence of attitudes concerned with protecting whiteness and constructing \u201cproper\u201d societal behaviors, Hollywood\u2019s self-professed progressivism must be called into question. In the midst of controversies such as yellowface in <\/span>Ghost in the Shell<\/span><\/i>, its history of a production code that fought to preserve America\u2019s pristine, picket-fence image, (and all the accompanying sexism and racism to go along with that), should be acknowledged. The next time you hear someone rant about the \u201cliberal media,\u201d you might want to remind them of Hollywood\u2019s troubled–and politically conservative–past. Thank you for listening, this has been Emma and Dianna. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Music ends].<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract While modern-day Hollywood retains a reputation\u00a0of producing politically and sexually progressive content, at one point in time, strict censorship on “controversial” or “liberal” subject matter ensured its films conveyed\u00a0strictly conservative messages to moviegoers. The Hays Code, a set of Hollywood rules and regulations created by Will H. Hays, closely monitored the ideals portrayed in… Read more “Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls”: Sex, Politics, and Morality in the Pre-Code Era<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-97","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscar.sites.grinnell.edu\/SexInAmericanHistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}