21
Why are vintage movies sanitized? (feddit.online)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

all 24 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 56 points 2 months ago (14 children)

Because of the Hays Code, a precursor to the US’s MPAA rating system (G to R ratings)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 14 child comments
    •
  • [–] 16 points 2 months ago (11 children)

    It infected TV, too, though I don't know if there was an official code. Famously, married couples were shown to sleep in separate beds.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 11 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    That's broadcast TV. The major networks (ABC/NBC/CBS) had censors. Cable gets away with a lot more, and if it's streaming only there are basically no rules.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago*

    Broadcast TV is always more censored because it uses public airways, so the feds have jurisdiction... but for the purposes of this discussion of old-timey censorship, there is only the big three to worry about--cable and streaming were nary a glimmer in little Ricky's eye.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    faulty towers had that and it was british.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    Might that be more about Fawlty himself? From what I recall of British television, it would not be unusual to have breasts and bums bouncing around your TV screen after a certain hour.

    Here's a little analysis from the Guardian, for which I did have to brave the search term BBC:

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2016/feb/02/flashing-the-flesh-a-history-of-tv-nudity-penis-mr-darcy

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    I Love Lucy had the couple in the same bed, but the Dick Van Dyke show had separate twin beds.

    I suspect it's because Lucy and Desi were married

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    That's interesting. So the implication they were avoiding is that unmarried actors would never even be in the same bed under the covers under lights with a full cast and crew filming them? Wild. Or maybe it's just something Lucy was able to insist on, and that she was married gave the studio a way to forbid it for everyone else.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 23 points 2 months ago

    The Hays Code was adopted to make puritans happy.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code

    Go to YouTube and search 'preCode movies' for videos showing what was once acceptable.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 9 points 2 months ago

    That would be the Hays Code in action. It was the precurssor to the current system and was super restrictive as you've mentioned.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 5 points 2 months ago*

    Sanitized now, or at the time of the movie? Anyway, American producers have always been very prude, and it hasn't changed since the 50s.

    with zero nudity

    People on modern American TV or movies have sex with their clothes on.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Because the US is more prude now then ever before.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    !QuestionsFromCatholics@askaprotestant.it

    Just some background on this: America is prudish compared to Europe largely due to the influence of protestant morality, which takes quite a dim view of sexuality. Of course, Christianity in general has fucked up takes on sexuality and there isn´t anything in Protestant's sexphobia that can't be directly linked to a Catholic author, but it seems in the past few hundred years Catholics aren´t quite as drenched in shame and censorship.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    On your second question, it's a little bit of propaganda and a little bit idealism. America was still on a high from the victory over the Axis, Russia was the new big bad, and TV was still very new. So Hollywood and the government wanted to capitalize on that by portraying what the idealic American should be and instill trust in the government. Which eventually came to a screeching halt in the 60s.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 0 points 2 months ago* (2 children)

    Because societies usually progress...

    Like, there was (and still is) rules about acceptable behavior and a ratings system to reflect what something contains.

    A cartoon with a Y7 rating won't contain as much as PG13 and neither will have as much as R rated. If something is "unrated" it means it doesn't meet R guidelines, or that it was just not rated but would have gotten a rating.

    Like, it seems like you're just unaware of ratings systems, despite them existing in every country I'm aware of.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Like, you seem unaware that the ratings system you refer to didn't exist in the 50s.

    Or, are you answering what you imagined OP asked, instead of reading it?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago*

    ...

    If you don't know or want more info, you're more likely to get that help by asking questions...

    The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. The code spelled out unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States, such as drugs, profanity, and sex. Under Hays's leadership, the MPPDA, later the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began rigidly enforcing it in 1934.

    From 1934 to 1954, the code was closely associated with Joseph Breen, the administrator appointed by Hays to enforce the code in Hollywood. The film industry followed the guidelines set by the code well into the late 1950s, but it began to weaken, owing to the combined impact of television, influence from foreign films, controversial directors (such as Otto Preminger) pushing boundaries, and intervention from the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.[1][2] In 1968, after several years of minimal enforcement, the Production Code was replaced by the MPAA film rating system.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code

    The modern ratings system evolved from the Hays code, the fact that it was just the Hays code is why things were so uniform back then. The fact that there was no enforcement is why MPAA was standardized...

    If you're gonna keep acting like you were, you're going to quickly run out of patient people who are willing to help.

    You'd still be able to make your "slams" it's just you'll never actually learn anything.

    How you use social media is up to you buddy

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent