ABOLISHING THE PRODUCTION CODE WAS THE RIGHT DECISION
The
Production code in Hollywood put into effect in the 1930’s set forth film
censorship rules for viewers, to keep the government out of Hollywood’s
business affairs. It’s hard to say whether the government would have ever intervened
with Hollywood’s production if the code wasn’t put into action. However to say
the Production Code benefited Hollywood, would set the speakers pants on fire
as it would be a giant lie!
If it was such a grand design that benefited the film
industry, it would still be in existence today. Film makers grew tired of the
restraints and demands placed on their scripts. So much in fact, they started
to fight by ignoring the boundaries set in place by the code. The film, “Some like
it Hot” is a result and perfect example of the start of the rebellion. The film
was a remarkable hit in the box offices, without the MPAA certification. This
proved to many producers and viewers alike, the code wasn’t a necessity to be adhered
to, to bring in a good crowd. In the 1960’s due to the mutual defiant uprising
against the Production code, dismal of the code was seen altogether. This
allowed the new rating system we still have today to be set into place.
The box offices have always attracted different crowds of
people among different genres of movies. Enacting the code only put a
restriction on the wide variety of content in genres available for showing. This
then diminishes a certain group of viewers. I do believe the code enabled a lot
of producers to become innovatively creative in their scripts which in turn
brought them some more success. However, it also set back a lot of producers
with the challenge of portraying their story to their viewers in guidance to
the Production Code.
This
is why abandonment of the code was eventually seen. It’s simple, sex and
violence sells. Keeping it out only hinders profit. Many modern examples of
films today that have succeeded in the box offices with their main story line
revolving around sex and violence are; Fatal Attraction (Lifetime Gross-
156,645,693), 8 Mile (Lifetime Gross- 116,750, 901), Gladiator (Lifetime Gross-
187,705, 427), Hannibal (Lifetime Gross- 165,092,268), and Saving Private Ryan
(Lifetime Gross- 216,540,909)(Boxofficemojo.com). This list accounts for less
than 5% of the successful films with violence or sex content within the film,
meaning there has been an unimaginable amount of profit obtained by the
productions of these types of films (See Intensity of Violence graph below). In
conclusion, Hollywood does not benefit from the production code.
** Graph shown
from www.rc.vt.edu
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Your post is well thought out with good facts/references to back up your point. It's hard to argue that the Hollywood code did anything but drag down the film industry. I'm sure both movie goers and movie creators are both very relieved that the code has been done away with.
ReplyDeleteI too agree that the Hollywood Production Code was not beneficial. Although the Code did in some cases cause writers to become more creative (think Film Noir), overall I think it was more detrimental. As you point out, without the code, Hollywood has the ability to gain more revenue. In this sense, I'm sure Hollywood film companies favor the current rating system over the Production Code. In my opinion, what's even more important is the freedom of filmmakers from such major restrictions.
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