Danielle Gonzalez's List: Censorship in Pop Culture

• there was public debate about the question of whether the motion picture industry was morally fit to control the content of its own products.
• As early as 1909 the People's Institute in New York City created "The New York Board of Motion Picture Censorship". This board quickly acquired a great deal of influence beyond New York City, and most of the major motion picture producers eventually agreed to submit all of their films to the board and to not release any films unless approved by it.
• in 1914 three Congressional bills were introduced seeking to establish a Federal Motion Picture Censorship Commission. Each bill sought to establish that, "no copyright shall be issued for any film which has not previously received the certificate and seal of the commission." Although none of these bills became law, they were a clear reflection of public concerns over the quality, propriety, decency and taste of the movies being produced by Hollywood.
• Powerful religious groups and other concerned authorities in many states were ready to respond when no federal laws were enacted to control the content of motion pictures. After state censorship of motion pictures was declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1915 (Mutual Film Corporation v. Ohio Industrial Commission), seven states and numerous cities and towns across the country established and administered movie censorship boards that decreed what could and couldn't be shown in their communities.
• To fight the exhibition chaos that ensued from having multiple authorities chop up movies in multiple ways, or ban them altogether, the major Hollywood studios and distributors formed a trade association in 1922 called The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). They hired Will H. Hays to be the MPPDA's first president
• The MPPDA pursued policies of self–regulation with regard to film content, arbitration, intra–industry relations, and negotiations with government entities. They agreed to voluntarily regulate film content by establishing a branch to oversee and control the moral values of the stories they filmed. Initially called The Studio Relations Committee (SRC), but eventually known as the "Hays Office", this branch of the MPPDA consolidated and synthesized the restrictions and eliminations that had been deemed necessary by state and foreign censors and, in 1927, produced a list of "Don'ts and Be Carefuls" to govern production. Members agreed to specifically avoid 11 objectionable topics and to treat 26 others with care and good taste. Studio compliance, however, was often weak and inconsistent because there were no penalties for not following this "code". For instance, of the 572 films submitted to the various censorship boards in 1928, only 42 passed review unscathed.
• the MPPDA produced a corporate statement of policy about the appropriate content of entertainment cinema and acknowledged the possible influence of movies on the morals and conduct of those who saw them. This statement, called The Motion Picture Production Code (and known informally as "The Hays Code"), was published on March 31, 1930. This new code provided for an appointed "jury" (composed of three heads of production chosen from studios who were MPPDA members) that would be the final arbiters of whether a film conformed "to the spirit and letter of the Code". Determining exactly what the "spirit and letter of the Code" was, however, generated a tremendous amount of debate for the next four years and proved to be an enormous loophole for producers wishing to challenge the guidelines.
• • NOTE! differences in wardrobe of Jane in different Tarzans after code was enforced
• On the 13th of June, 1934, the SRC was renamed The Production Code Administration (PCA), and a Catholic reformer named Joseph Breen was made its director.
• The members of the MPPDA agreed that each film passed by the PCA would receive a certificate number. This number would be displayed with the MPPDA seal on every print released by their studios, including short subjects and cartoons. Without this certificate the movie would not be shown in any theater owned by a major studio, or distributed by any MPPDA member. (The theater chains owned by the major Hollywood studios accounted for more than 70% of America's first–run movie houses in cities with a population greater than 100,000.)
• The PCA was given the authority to review and delete what it felt was morally objectionable material from both the final script before a movie was shot, and the finished movie before it was released. The producers "jury" was eliminated, and the PCA was authorized to impose a $25,000 fine on any studio that made changes to a film after it received the PCA certificate. The only way a ruling by the PCA could be overturned was through a direct appeal to the MPPDA's Board of Directors, something that was rarely allowed.
• The Motion Picture Production Code began by stating that, "No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it." While acknowledging that, "Motion pictures are very important as Art", the Code made it clear that, " . . . the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin." The Code went on to provide specific moral obligations, working principles, and production guidelines for the treatment of various plots and plot elements.
• Although by 1940 Code enforcement had become standard operating procedure in America's motion picture industry, there was a gradual weakening of compliance during and after World War II. Open resistance to the Code started with a few major independent producers and, at first, focused on pictures geared to more sophisticated urban audiences.

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