Movie theater production code, started in 1930, placed strict limits on the topics films could cover. It banned positive depictions of crime, evil or wrong acts, and sin, scenes including “the use of illegal drugs, or their effects, in detail” (Hayes, 2009). No detailed violence was permitted, and sexually suggestive scenes were limited. Inter-racial relationships, nudity, profanity, and “sexual perversion” were banned (Hayes, 2009). After the end of World War II in 1945 and an armistice in Korea in 1953, patriotism was high in America. As a result, anti-communist and war films were very popular (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). The one thing most people wanted after so long in war was stability, and most thought the best way to …show more content…
Film companies fumbled to create new ways to lure audiences away from their television sets. Bwana Devil (1952) was the first full-length color, sound, and 3-D film (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). It set off the Gold Age of 3D, which lasted from 1952-1955 (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). However, 3D glasses were clunky (see image 1) and produced a blurry image (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). Many other gimmicks were also developed, including “Aroma-Rama” (see image 2) and “Smell-O-Vision”, in which theaters pumped appropriate scents into the theater through the air conditioning system (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). The Robe (1953), a high-budget biblical epic and the #13 domestic grossing film of the 50s, was the first to use CinemaScope, a widescreen technology (see image 3) that is still used today (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). Television did not use widescreen formats, and using wide, anamorphic lenses to create a wider aspect ratio was highly beneficial to the success of the film industry (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). The Robe advertised its CinemaScope format as better than 3-D (see image 4). Another new technology was Cinerama, which used 3 screens with 3 projectors (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). The screens curved around the audience to make audience feel in the movie (see image 5). This is Cinerama (1952) was the first film to use Cinerama, and was a film tour of popular vacation destinations (American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2017). Cinerama films stopped being released in the 60s because they were expensive to produce and their novelty began to wear off (American Movie Classics Company LLC,
The story of the drive-in movie theater begins with one man. That man was Richard Milton Hollingshead, Jr., born on February 25, 1900, the "father" of the drive-in.
The code, which was written by a Catholic priest, was approved by Hays, and then handed over to a ‘staunch lay Catholic’ Joseph Breen, who acted as head interpreter of/for the PCA. Why the PCA is relative to this class: The Production Code Administration marks a huge point in the film industry timeline – for the first time, it was a law that all (or, should I say most) movies had to comply with, or else a hefty $25,000 fine could be enforced. These guidelines that ultimately made up the PCA reigns over our modern films in today’s world, only now we have them rated G, PG, PG-13 etc., thus, movies can be made with content that the Catholic religion may or may not be ok with, and there aren’t any $25,000 fines being handed out – why? They comply with “PG-13” rating guidelines, etc.
Houchin, John H. Censorship of the American Theatre in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2003.
Themes in the Novel and Movie Adaptation of James Cain’s Mildred Pierce. In contemporary film making, “Hollywood-ization” generally refers to the re-creation of a classic work in a form more vulgar and sexually explicit than the original in an effort to boost movie attendance. After all, sexuality and violence sell. However, from the mid-1930’s to the 1950’s, “Hollywood-ization” referred to the opposite case where controversial books had to be purified to abide by the Production Code of 1934.
In 1929, America experienced a stock market crash that led the country into what is historically known as the Great Depression. Many industries across America experienced alterations in order to fit the social and economic changes that America was undergoing as a nation. Specific industries included Hollywood and the film industry. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the movies that Americans enjoyed viewing were considered immoral at the time. This was f...
The legacy of fear did not stop when the Trumbo’s name appeared in the credits for Spartacus and Exodus. Five years later the black list ended, Kenneth McGowan’s influential Behind the Screen: The History and Techniques of the Motion Picture was published. There is not a word in the book that offers her slightest hint that there ever had been a HUAC, a blacklist, or the Hollywood Ten. The two chapters on censorship deal exclusively with the control of sexual imagery and language in...
...netti, Louis, and Scott Eyman. “The Talkie Era.” Flashback: A Brief History of Film. Ed. Leah Jewell. 4th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. 140-145. Print.
The decade was largely dominated by silent films, but the creation of movies with sound followed afterwards. These innovations greatly improved the movies and made them more immersive and exciting for the viewer. Soon after the invention of sound in movies, the silent era movies...
One of the very first electrified streets in the United States was Broadway. This gave it many opportunities to become a large icon for our nation. As we know now it is one of the most well-known places for great entertainment. However Broadway was not always the iconic entertainment center it is today; it was stolen, had New York City emerge around it, and persevered through many difficult economic and cultural times.
...creased monitoring of censorship throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Hollywood experienced a major shift in the way pictures were made. Going from depictions of a carefree lifestyle, characteristic of the California dream, to a more monitored approach to filmmaking, Hollywood make the necessary transition in order to abide by the mass request of censorship to the filmmaking process. In this, the California dream was lost, as Americans were brought back to reality, but the action offered a stepping stone to enter a new age where films were praised for decades to come. Today, censorship is still a major issue in Hollywood, and has moved not only to include movies, but all forms of mass media. This shows that the ideals of morality in media will continue to encompass a majority of issues in society, and is one that should continually be addressed in order to find harmony.
“You know some guys just can’t hold their arsenic” (Chicago). Theater in the 1920’s was greatly influenced by prohibition, mobsters and large murder cases as shown in the musical Chicago. Prohibition fueled many of the social issues of the day and also influenced theater. 1920’s theater was in turmoil as American society struggled to establish a new moral code. The musical Chicago gives examples of corruption in the legal system and the changing roles of women in society.
When Karl Marx wrote “the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” he interpreted the historical stage and his writing of history as parts of a theatre: he writes;
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
The ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ era came about from around the 1960’s when cinema and film making began to change. Big film studios were going out of their comfort zone to produce different, creative and artistic movies. At the time, it was all the public wanted to see. People were astonished at the way these films were put together, the narration, the editing, the shots, and everything in between. No more were the films in similar arrangement and structure. The ‘New Hollywood era’ took the classic Hollywood period and turned it around so that rules were broken and people left stunned.
Wyatt, Justin. “The Stigma of X: Adult Cinema and the Institution of the MPAA Ratings System.” Controlling Hollywood: Censorship and Regulation in the Studio Era. Ed. Matthew Bernstein. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1999. (238-264).