The Hays Code Hollywood's Guide to Morality

The purpose of the 1930 Hays Code was to establish a voluntary self-censoring system for the production of movies and to improve the image of Hollywood. During the Hays Code, all cinematic portrayals of sexuality were censored, and sexual activity by both male and female characters was controlled ... They also instituted a set of editorial “don'ts” and “be carefuls” for film producers in 1927. However, the MPPDA and Hays are best remembered ... The Motion Picture Production Code was released in 1930. This was also called the Hays Code, named after its creator William H. Hays. Hays was the former ... The Hays Production Code would be the dominate standard for Hollywood for the next couple of decades, leading to the creation of many classics between 1934 & ... The Hays Code was part of a censorship program meant to appease religious groups who denounced indecent movies. Hollywood didn't enforce it too strictly at ... The Hays Code was a blueprint for self-censorship, ensuring films didn't cross lines that would provoke government intervention. Filmmakers had to comply with a set of principles known as the Hays Code. Learn more about what the Hays Code banned and why the code was eventually phased out. "Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing." Adultery and illicit sex, although recognized as ... The Code was a set of rules governing American filmmaking that shaped—and in many ways stifled—American cinema for over three decades before it was revised in ...