Impact of Hollywood Production Code on Films

This essay discusses in detail, how the film maker Alfred Hitchcock violated the conservative tenets of the Hollywood Production Code when making controversial yet widely popular films like Psycho (1960) and Rope (1948). The essay argues that the Hollywood Production Code had greatly limited the freedom or scope of artists to adequately represent society in its actual form, that is, with its flaws, limitations and many different dimensions.

Running Head: IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILMS
Impact of Hollywood Production Code on Films
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
The Hollywood Production Code, known also as the Production Code for Motion
Pictures, was a set of moral guidelines that were adhered to by the movie industry in
America, for most of the films that were released by major production houses in the country
in the years between the 1930’s and the 1960’s. The Hollywood Production Code is referred
to often as the Hay’s Code, largely because of the fact that it was created and implemented by
a man by the name of William Hays who presided over the Motion Picture Producers and
Distributors unit in the years between 1922 and 1945. It was under the leadership of Hays
that the Production Code of Hollywood came to be officially adopted in the 1930’s and which
was executed quite rigidly in the making of films from the middle of 1934. What the
Hollywood Production Code essentially spelled out for film makers and distributors, was
what was unacceptable and acceptable when it came to making movies that were produced
for the US public. This essay discusses in detail, how the film maker Alfred Hitchcock
violated the conservative tenets of the Hollywood Production Code when making
controversial yet widely popular films like Psycho (1960) and Rope (1948). The essay argues
that the Hollywood Production Code had greatly limited the freedom or scope of artists to
adequately represent society in its actual form, that is, with its flaws, limitations and many
different dimensions. The essay concludes that it was only because of the boldness and
creativity shown by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock that the Production Code ultimately came
to be defied by the whole of Hollywood.
In the years between 1930 and 1934, the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors
of America introduced the conservative and much disliked production code for film makers
and film producers to adhere to, which greatly stifled the artistic freedom of film script
writers, movie makers and actors and which resulted in the limited representation of movie
characters on screen.1 The production code was specifically formulated and set in motion by
1 Pollard, Tom. Sex and violence: the Hollywood censorship wars. Routledge, 2015.

2IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
William Hays, who was in charge of American film making and production in these years
and who introduced the strict moral guidelines and ethical codes of conduct that were to be
followed when making a movie that was to be viewed by the American public. What resulted
in the Hollywood production code being followed and adhered to so widely, was the fact that
it was endorsed and supported by all the studio executives in Hollywood. There were many
dos and dont’s that had to be borne in mind at the time of making films and scenes of passion
for instance were to be strictly restricted in movies. No movie maker had the license or the
freedom that was needed to have film artists openly demonstrate a love making scene as part
of a film plot or story. This is something that was entirely forbidden be the Production Code.
What was also prohibited was the type of characters that could be represented on the screen.
Film makers and producers only had the right to include characters in movies who were
conventional and orthodox and who did not go against the norms and traditions of society.
Gay and lesbian characters could not be shown in films and even when women were
represented in films, they could not be portrayed in a bold and orthodox manner. Women
when shown in films had to be shown as fulfilling conventional roles, as mother’s, daughters
and sisters. There was absolutely no room for the representation of feminism for instance, in
Hollywood movies at a time when the Production Code was introduced and being
implemented. 2
Alfred Hitchcock, who is one of the most renowned movie makers that the world has
seen and who was making films in Hollywood in the decade of the 1950’s and 1960’s, at a
time when the Production Code was very much in execution, clearly went against the rules
and tenets of moral behavior and acceptability as outlined in the code.3 He did not care to
adhere to the moral standards of the Hollywood Production Code, and this was evident in two
2 Cook, David A. A history of narrative film. WW Norton & Company, 2016.
3 Abramson, Leslie H. "Psycho." In Hitchcock and the Anxiety of Authorship, pp. 83-93. Palgrave Macmillan,
New York, 2015.

3IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
of his films, Psycho and Rope. In the movie Psycho (1960) for example, there were a number
of controversial statements and dialogues given by characters in the movie, that were not
entirely moral in nature. A risqué dialogue was given by the Texas oilman in Psycho, where
he refers to a bed as the only playground that beats the city of Las Vegas, implying thusly,
that sexual activity was at an all time high in the city. The lunchtime hotel room scene in the
movie shows a tryst between Sam and Marion in the opening scenes. The most vivid
violation of the Hollywood Production Code as seen in the movie Psycho by Alfred
Hitchcock, is the very pointed and graphic description that is given of the relationship that is
shared between Norman, the chief protagonist of the movie and his mother. Indeed it was his
obsessive love for his mother that caused him to keep her with him in his room even after her
death, and the film did not hesitate to show this obsessive love in vivid details. He was shown
as sleeping next to the corpse, hugging it, feeding it, and doing the same things that a man
would do with a normal living person, be it his mother or his wife. The use of the word
transvestite in the movie, Psycho, is something that appeared to have upset the implementers
of the Hollywood Production Code very deeply. The script-writer Josef Stefano was informed
very explicitly, that such words could not be used in the movie as the these have dirty
connotations that are unacceptable for being expressed in the public domain. Many of the
Hollywood Production Code enforcers were also quite embarrassed by the use of the word
transvestite in the movie, Psycho.
The shower scene in the movie Psycho, was also another major scene that went
against the moral guidelines of the Hollywood Production Code. In the scene, the character
Marion is seen to be undressing quite explicitly before getting into the shower and the movie
shows Norman watching her as she does so.4 Apart from issues of nudity, the shower scene
was considered to be far too passionate and intimate for the likes of those enforcing the
4 Burdock, Erick. "Villains, victims, and virgins: Asexuality in the films of Alfred Hitchcock." (2018).

4IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
Production Code in Hollywood. Hitchcock was clearly informed by the Production Code unit
that he was to censor the scene if he wanted the movie to be released, and while Hitchcock
had agreed to edit many of the controversial scenes in the movie, he ultimately sent them
back for production and distribution. without making even the slightest change to give such
scenes more moral value. The Hollywood Production Unit had objected to the length of time
for which the character Norman was seen to be watching Marion get undressed before
entering the shower. Hitchcock had expressed his willingness to shorten the length of the
scene and had also agreed to go ahead and end the scene right before the time when Marion is
seen to be taking her bra off. However, this entire scene remained completely uncut for the
European and UK print of the film, with the scene continuing to be shown at times on
European television as well. Another specific way by which the movie Psycho went fully
against the moral tenets of the Hollywood Production Code was the fact that apart from
showing nudity in general, Marion’s breasts were shown up close. Viewers in the American
public audience could clearly see her breasts and her nipples in particular stand out while she
took a shower, something that led to an outrage among the enforcers of the Hollywood
Production Unit.5 The National Catholic Legion of Decency supported the Hollywood
Production Unit implementers by giving this wonderful film a B rating, primarily because of
the sex and all the violence that it showed in order to convey the plot to the audience. A few
of the other scenes in the movie that were considered too violent and graphic by the
Hollywood Production Unit and which were included in the movie, regardless, by Hitchcock
included the part where Norman stabs the detective repeatedly while dressed as his dead
mother, with blood oozing and flowing all over the place.
The film Rope that was made by Alfred Hitchcock, was one that was based on the
Loeb and Leopold murder case. Loeb and Leopold were a gay couple in America in the
5 Jung, Stefan. "The Visual Peak: Saul Bass as Hitchcock’s ‘Pictorial Consultant’." In Reassessing the Hitchcock
Touch, pp. 153-169. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017.

5IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
1920’s, who had been assassinated because of their open expression of love and affection for
one another. While there were plays and other works of art conceived at this point of time to
highlight the injustice of the situation, it was Hitchcock who decided to cash in on the sexual
nature of the incident and showcase this in his movie.6 Hitchcock was never a director who
was willing to shy away from things such as gay sub-text or explicit content. He was inspired
by the play, Rope’s End by Hamilton, which also focused on this gay relationship and its
unfortunate end, and was more than eager to play up all the homosexual undertones of the
plot. He included actual gay and bisexual characters in the making of the film and even the
person who composed the music for the film was said to have been openly gay at the time.
Many prominent actors in Hollywood at the time, had turned down the leading roles to be
played in the movie, for fear that they would be violating the Hollywood Production Code. In
the end it was Jimmy Stewart who had to play the role of the protagonist in the movie, a role
that he especially felt he had not been well-suited for in the first place.
The movie Rope (1948) is one that is steeped very much in gay innuendo’s with a
character by the name of David Kentley being murdered in the initial scenes of the movie by
the gay characters Philip and Brandon. Even the instrument of murder, which is strangulation,
has sexual undertones to it.7 The film also interestingly shows, how the gay couple Philip and
Brandon justify their homosexuality by considering themselves to be far better than the others
in their society, by virtue of their culture and breeding. Both intellect as well as cultural
breeding were used by Hitchcock as metaphors for the intellectual movement in America at
the time, which was largely dominated by gay writers, poets, artists and musicians. It is based
on their inherent notions of supremacy or superiority, that Brandon and Philip assume that
societal rules do not apply to them at all and that standing out in society is a good thing.8
6 Greven, David. Intimate Violence: Hitchcock, Sex, and Queer Theory. Oxford University Press, 2017.
7 Gaunson, Stephen. "Queer strangers: alfred hitchcock’s fidelity to patricia highsmith." Journal of Adaptation
in Film & Performance 11, no. 1 (2018): 5-16.
8 Polchin, James. "The Killer with Something Extra." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 22, no. 5 (2015):
40.

6IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
Such content was of course unacceptable for the Hollywood Production Code Unit which had
until then restricted the portrayal of gay and lesbian characters by a considerable extent.
Repeated efforts and attempts were made to get Hitchcock to modify all the sexual elements
of the movie, Rope, and there was even the fear generated by those who dominated the
Hollywood Production Code Unit, that the film would not be watched by the majority of the
American public once it was released. Hitchcock was entirely unfazed by the alarm and the
concern that was shown by the members of the Hollywood Production Code Unit and did not
make any attempt whatsoever to edit the content of the movie in any way. Everything was
shown quite explicitly, right from the love that Brandon and Philip felt for each other, to their
disdain and hatred for societal rules and regulations right up to the sexual and violent manner
in which they carried out their crimes. Most, if not all the scenes in the movie were those that
violated the Hay’s Code, but which ultimately turned out to be such an eye opener about
homosexuality and homosexual lives once it was formally released.
Thus, both the films Psycho and Rope by Alfred Hitchcock were in clear violation of
the Hollywood Production Code, which had been restricting the freedom of artists and film
makers in Hollywood on moral grounds. The do’s and the don’ts as outlined in the
Hollywood Production Code were completely defied by Alfred Hitchcock, who not only
chose to show violence, nudity and gender based crimes in his movie, but who also decided
to touch upon the subject of homosexuality, which was a taboo subject for film makers at the
time. Hitchcock really went against the film making norms that were established by the
Hollywood Production Code by making a movie on gay characters and even including gay
and bi-sexual characters in the movie. The movie Psycho had sexually explicit content in it
from the very beginning to the very end and there was no desire on the part of the film maker
to bring about alterations in the content of the movie, just because of the fact that it was not
approved of by the Hollywood Production Code. He continued to release the movie in its

7IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
exact form and content, without paying any heed to censorship. What Hitchcock ended up
doing therefore was to not allow himself to be restricted by the moral and didactic conditions
of the Hollywood Production Code. The code had not given movie makers and actors in
Hollywood the freedom to portray characters and elements of society that were
unconventional and real, or pressing societal issues such as homosexuality to be addressed. It
took the bold efforts made by Alfred Hitchcock to stand up to the moral oppression of the
Hollywood Production Code and make the kind of movies that America and the whole world
deserved to see at the time, and continue to see.

8IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILM REPRESENTATION
References
Abramson, Leslie H. "Psycho." In Hitchcock and the Anxiety of Authorship, pp. 83-93.
Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2015.
Burdock, Erick. "Villains, victims, and virgins: Asexuality in the films of Alfred Hitchcock."
(2018)
Cook, David A. A history of narrative film. WW Norton & Company, 2016.
Diehl, Heath A. "Reading Hitchcock/Reading Queer." Hitchcock and Adaptation: On the
Page and Screen (2014): 113.
Gaunson, Stephen. "Queer strangers: alfred hitchcock’s fidelity to patricia
highsmith." Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance 11, no. 1 (2018): 5-16.
Greven, David. Intimate Violence: Hitchcock, Sex, and Queer Theory. Oxford University
Press, 2017.
Jung, Stefan. "The Visual Peak: Saul Bass as Hitchcock’s ‘Pictorial Consultant’."
In Reassessing the Hitchcock Touch, pp. 153-169. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017
Polchin, James. "The Killer with Something Extra." The Gay & Lesbian Review
Worldwide 22, no. 5 (2015): 40.
Pollard, Tom. Sex and violence: the Hollywood censorship wars. Routledge, 2015