Production Code

The Production Code (also known as the Hays Code) was a set of guidelines governing the production of motion pictures. The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA, later to become the Motion Picture Association of America or MPAA) adopted the code in 1930, began effectively enforcing it in 1934, and abandoned it in 1967. The Production Code spelled out what was and was not considered morally acceptable in the production of United States motion pictures.

The end of the Code

In the early 1960s British films A Taste of Honey, Leather Boys, and Victim offered a daring social commentary about gender roles and homophobia that violated the Hollywood Production Code, yet the films were still released in America. The American gay rights, civil rights, and youth movements prompted a reevaluation of the depiction of themes of race, class, gender, and sexuality that had been restricted by the Code.

Related Topics:
1960s - Victim - Homophobia - Gay rights - Civil rights

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When Jack Valenti became President of the MPAA in 1966, he was immediately faced with a problem regarding language in the film, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Valenti negotiated a compromise: The word "screw" was removed, but other language, including the phrase "hump the hostess" remained. The film received Production Code approval despite having language that was clearly prohibited.

Related Topics:
Jack Valenti - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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The film Blow-Up presented a different problem. After the film was denied Production Code approval, MGM released it anyway, the first instance of an MPAA member company distributing a film that didn't have an approval certificate. There was little the MPAA could do about it.

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Enforcement had become impossible, and the Production Code was abandoned entirely. The MPAA began working on a rating system, under which there would be virtually no restriction on what could be in a film. The MPAA film rating system went into effect in 1968 with four ratings: G, M, R, and X. The M rating was changed to GP in 1970 and to the current PG in 1972. In 1984 the PG-13 rating was created to place such films as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in a middle tier between PG and R. In 1990 the X rating was changed to NC-17, in part because the X rating was not trademarked by the MPAA and pornographic bookstores and theatres had used the X and XXX rating.

Related Topics:
MPAA film rating system - 1970 - 1972 - 1984 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 1990 - Pornographic

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