How the Hays Code Altered Films

Shraddha Bhadouriya

The Hays Code was the informal term for The Motion Picture

Production Code which was introduced in 1930 but was not strictly

implemented until 1934. The Code was a set of rules regulating

American filmmaking that for more than three decades shaped  — and

in many respects stifled  — American cinema. The Hays code highly

overlapped the Golden Age of Hollywood. In this essay, I will discuss

the role of the Hays Code in the 1930s and 1940s  film and

how filmmakers  had to comprise or reform creative aspects in the

films during these years.

The Code suppressed the portrayal of powerful and independent

female characters. Unlike movies form the Precode era, which gave

quite a few films with strong female leads like Baby Face, The

Divorcee, The Gold-diggers of 1933, etc. movies produced under the

Hays Code had to comprise what female characters can do. The

Women 1939, with an all-female cast, stereotypically showed women.

The characters in the movie are either gossiping, backbiting, betraying

men or catfighting. This ordeal implies that women are driven by the

idea of wealth and power and can betray people to get what they want.
The Code gave priority to family values and commitment to marriage. Mary

Haines, in The Women, forgives her husband and reconciles with him even

though he committed adultery because the film expresses that a woman must

keep her husband and her family together. If a man deviates from family life

or gets trapped by adulteress woman like Crystal in the film, it's a wife's duty

to save him. The notion of divorce is completed seen against moral values. A

similar example has seen in The Awful Truth 1940, where the hero Jerry and

Heroine Lucy, reconcile just before their divorce is  finalised. Another

important theme in The Awful Truth is the idea of faith in

marriage.  “Marriage is based on faith and if you've lost that, you've lost

everything,”   says Jerry.

Adultery, explicit sexuality and sexual perversion were to be condemned

according to the production code. Alfred Hitchcock's   Rebecca   1940, which

was adapted from Daphne Du  Maurier 's novel had to be changed creatively to

get approved. Rebecca who is the dead ex-wife of Maxim  de Winter   was

portrayed as a fierce social figure was adored by everyone, even though we

don't get to see her in the film. Later we learn that Rebecca was having

multiple affairs, including one with her cousin. Although the book specifies

that there was some sort of sexual relationship between Rebecca and Mrs

Danvers, her maid, the film was not permitted to reveal it.  "The code enforcer

Joseph   Breen   explicitly threatened to call for them to cease all production on

Rebecca if Hitchcock implied a sexual relationship between Rebecca and Mrs

Danvers ", (Century, 2019). However, that didn't stop Hitchcock for providing

an innuendo about it in a scene where Danvers picks up Rebecca's lingerie.

According to the code, these actions cannot remain unpunished. Rebecca gets

cancer and then is later accidentally killed by Maxim. Mrs Danvers, on the

other hand, loses her mind and dies in the fire she set in  Manderley . The
ending of the   movie   we see that both Rebecca and Mrs Danvers get death as a

sort of punishment for their acts.

Crime against the law and violence must not be glorified or go unpunished.

During the late 1930s, film noir was on the rise in Hollywood. Filmmakers  had

to work within the boundaries of the code while showcasing dark themes of

crime in everyday society. Double Indemnity 1940, is an example of film noir.

We have the femme fatale Phyllis who collaborates with Walter, an insurance

salesman, to kill her husband and claim the insurance money. When the film

was made, the Hays Office had objected to the ending of the movie, which in

the novel was Phyllis and Walter committing suicide, which was seen as a

form of violence not allowed. The writers had found a different way to end the

film while still adhering to the code. In the end, Walter kills Phyllis for

trapping him in her plan, and then he gets arrested.

The portrayal of national values and patriotism during the Hays Code

is seen in movies like Casablanca. The movie is about Rick Blaine,

owner of Rick's American Cafe in the Moroccan town of Casablanca

during World War Two. Rick is a cynic who doesn't like to get

involved in political matters or favours. Everything changes when he

encounters his ex-lover Ilsa, who arrives in Casablanca with her

husband Victor Lazlo, a resistance leader. Ilsa and Victor need transit

visas which are in Rick's possession to leave Casablanca. Rick at first

refuses to help them but after Ilsa's persuasion decides to help them.

Rick here is a presentation of American sentiments about the war. At

Pearl Harbour, America decided to take action. The Cafe is a

personification of America and how it is a Utopia for refugees. The

ending of the movie is important. Rick advises Ilsa to leave with

Victor even though they still love each other. One of the reasons for

this ending is that the Hays Code wouldn't have allowed adultery

between Ilsa and Rick to be justified. Secondly, the movie gives the

message of personal sacrifice for the greater good (Hunt, 2018).

The Hays Code did alter movie production. Themes of feminism,

sexuality, violence, etc. which were prominent in pre-code movies,

were subdued. Films had to compromise or change the story to adhere

to the rules. The classics we know about today would have been

different without it.

References

Century, A. (2019, February 26). Book vs Flick: Rebecca. Syfywire.

Retrieved from https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/book-vs-flick-rebecca

Disguises an Affair with a Dissolve. Medium. Retrieved from

https://medium.com/@kristinhunt/hollywood-codebreakers-casablanca-disguises-an-

affair-with-a-dissolve-89225b3f36c0