The Hays Code, so aptly named for its former Postmaster General and Head of the Hollywood Self Regulatory Committee William Hays, was a basis of rules laid down in order to enforce morality, integrity and decency to the degenerate and incredibly influential productions of the 1930's Hollywood Film Industry. The Code was an attempt to appease the Church, who's cries of indecency and immorality threatened to censor and ultimately destroy the creative element of Hollywood. Instead of allowing the Church to set their own censorship upon the productions, they devised the Hays Code.
"The Code sets up high standards of performance for motion pictures producers. It states the considerations which good taste and community value make necessary in this universal form of entertainment. Respect for the law, respect for every religion, respect for every race and respect for every Nation." William Hays.
The Code covered things impermissible on the Hollywood screens.
-Homosexuality
-Curse Words
-Interracial Relations
-Unpunished Crimes or Sympathy for Criminals
-Portrayal of Figures of Authority or Religion in a Bad Light
-Sex outside of marriage could not be made to be morally acceptable
-Scenes of Passion and Sexuality
The basic theme was "That throughout, the audience feels sure that evil is wrong and good is right."
However, the Committee found it very hard to actually enforce these codes, lacking the lawful ability to forcibly change films in the early stages of the Code. Some films were made specifically to mock and denounce the creation of the Code. Such as Cecil B. DeMille's "The Sign of the Cross"(1931), a very direct and purposefully invoking movie containing scenes of naked women, seduction and other things the code directly forbade, not to mention the direct plot behind the movie was intended to strike at the heart of the Catholic Church which the Code was made to appease.
My personal view on the affair is mostly undecided. I feel as though some moralities should be kept close to the heart, despite whether its depiction is merely a decidedly false idealism of what we wish society could be like. I also feel that freedom of expression should extend to include whatever the imagination can entail, and that no single thing is above ridicule. I definitely believe that the rating system in place today in order to separate films to their audiences is a much more effective method than the Hays Code was. If anything, I believe that the Hays Code created an early form of 'the allure of the taboo' into our society that exists even to this day. You want what you can't have, what's forbidden is the most tempting. The outbreak of immoral movies and their popularity as a response to the Hays Code's induction is a testament to this idea.
