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Movies against law (The Hays Code)
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General Principles
✦ No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.
2687
6.8
6.9
Public Enemies (2009)
Crime: An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law.
521
7.2
7.5
A Simple Plan (1998)
Sin: An immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
... greed...
✦ Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.
6734
7.8
8.3
American Beauty (1999)
Standards of life: Principles of conduct informed by notions of honor and decency.
✦ Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.
3438
5.8
6.3
Legally Blonde (2001)
Law: …the system of rules that a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and may enforce by the imposition of penalties…
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Particular Applications: 1. Crimes Against the Law
► Murder
4967
8.2
8.2
Taxi Driver (1976)
▷ The technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation.
John Hinckley, Jr. claimed that it was his obsession with Foster's role that made him attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Taxi Driver formed part of the delusional fantasy of John Hinckley, Jr. which triggered his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Hinckley stated that his actions were an attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster, on whom Hinckley was fixated, by mimicking Travis's mohawked appearance at the Palantine rally. His attorney concluded his defense by playing the movie for the jury.
► Methods of Crime should not be explicitly presented.
795
6.3
6.8
The Score (2001)
▷ Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc., should not be detailed in method.
► Illegal drug traffic must never be presented.
► The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown.
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2. Sex
► Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated, or justified, or presented attractively.
► Scenes of passion should not be introduced when not essential to the plot.
► Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.
► In general passion should so be treated that these scenes do not stimulate the lower and baser element.
► Seduction or Rape should never be more than suggested, and only when essential for the plot, and even then never shown by explicit method.
► White slavery shall not be treated.
► Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races) is forbidden.
► Scenes of actual child birth, in fact or in silhouette, are never to be presented.
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4. Obscenity
► Obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, joke, or by suggestion (even when likely to be understood only by part of the audience) is forbidden,
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5. Profanity
► Pointed profanity (this includes the words, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ - unless used reverently - Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd), or every other profane or vulgar expression however used, is forbidden.
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6. Costume
► Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette...
► Undressing scenes should be avoided, and never used save where essential to the plot.
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7. Dances
► Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passions are forbidden.
► Dances which emphasize indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene.
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8. Religion
► No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.
► Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains.
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9. Locations
► The treatment of bedrooms must be governed by good taste and delicacy.
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10. National Feelings
► The use of the Flag shall be consistently respectful.
► The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly.
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11. Titles
► Salacious, indecent, or obscene titles shall not be used.
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12. Repellent Subjects
Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishments for crime
Third degree methods.
Apparent cruelty to children or animals.
The sale of women, or a woman selling her virtue.
Branding of people or animals.
"If motion pictures present stories that will affect lives for the better, they can become the most powerful force for the improvement of mankind."
The Motion Picture Production Code or The Hays Code (due to Hollywood's chief censor of the time, Will H. Hays) was created to censor the films released by the cinema studios from 1930 to 1968.
With over the years, the code was changed... but here are some of its first General Principles...curious indeed.
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