Impact of Hollywood Production Code on Films

Running Head: IMPACT OF HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE ON FILMS
Impact of Hollywood Production Code on Films
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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.