The Big Picture: Hollywood History 101 Supplemental: The Code

[Outright Villainy]

I quite enjoyed this run of episodes, I'd actually like to see more of them if anything. I find Bob strongest when he draws from his rather in depth knowledge of various industries. He sums it up succinctly, and entertainingly. I often disagree with Bob's opinions, or how he justifies them, but I still enjoy his presentation a lot, and this sort of stuff really is quite insightful. So I guess I'm just saying I dig the historical/trivia stuff a lot more.

 

[Mr_Jellyfish]

I really like The Big Picture, but all of this Hollywood stuff was covered really recently in Paul Merton's documentary The Rise of Hollywood on the BBC. Still this was a nice summery of the whole thing.

 

[bawkbawkboo1]

I find the hays code itself kind of interesting, and there are things prohibited in it that you wouldn't think of. I found the full text of it here: http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/blhayscode.htm

edit: here are a few pieces of it that I found interesting or amusing:

"The use of firearms should be restricted to the essentials." - this seems oddly vague and open to interpretation

"5. White slavery shall not be treated." - I know there was a lot of racism, but this seems oddly specific.

"2. The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly." - Again, I find it amusing how vaguely they worded this.

"Note, for example, the healthy reactions to healthful sports, like baseball, golf; the unhealthy reactions to sports like cockfighting, bullfighting, bear baiting, etc." - This seems like a remarkably enlightened example for the time, especially considering that it's in a decidedly regressive document.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Snip Snip

I honestly thought you were going to do a 5th part about the system we have now. I'm curious bob. Have you ever seen this movie? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated

 

[awesomeness0407]

Bob that was great. Very interesting and informative. you always do good work

Go Sox

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

Hooray for stupid people perpetuating the puritanical notion of denying everything that makes people human being able to appear in the media. No wonder we're all so messed up. Good episode Bob.

What is shown through the media isn't reality. The fact that we don't allow these types of things to appear in the media is merely a symptom of a much more fundamental problem that is driven by the way we live. Think about it: we aren't openly exposed to death or violence or sex in our society, which is why we have such an unhealthy relationship with these themes. This unhealthy relationship pours over into our media in which we either censor all of it out or sensationalize it to the point where it is completely unrealistic.

People used to see death, violence and sex on a regular basis. When we wanted meat we went out and killed an animal that we raised from birth. Before hospitals we watched our loved ones die in our homes instead of shipping them off somewhere. Before Christianity most civilizations are much more open about the human body. Hell, the ancient celts would just have sex in public if they decided that they liked each other. Repression is never healthy but in order to keep a productive workforce you have to keep people from behaving too naturally. Otherwise people would only work enough to subsist and would only worry about the simple things.

 

[crudus]

Wow, four episodes on this. That is a month to use mere mortals! Good on ya, Bob.

OT: I'm glad Bob talked about Fatty's trial and the HAYS code. In fact the HAYS code was the basis for the comics code.

Yeah, I noticed there were many overlaps in that respect. All I can say is it was way too restrictive (especially if you want to get the first amendment involved which I don't).

 

[Zechnophobe]

Hollywood History 101 Supplemental: The Code

The Hays Code made movies more "moral".

Watch Video

It's all good Bob. Nothing is more engaging than listening to a well spoken nerd on the topics of his obsession. Thanks for so much information on the movie industry!

 

[Twilight_guy]

Movies, comic books, video games. I wonder what will be next and more importantly a I wonder if people will ever see the similarities between these things and maybe use that as a reason to try and not be so harsh. Probably not.

 

[octafish]

While Weegee was undoubtedly a tabloid photojournalist (working for the New York Times he invented the idea of the photojournalist, thanks for my job Arthur) he never left New York so I don't know what he has to do with Hollywood gossip rags. Murders and fires, not starlets and scandal. Stop smearing the famous Weegee MovieBob!

 

[trooper6]

Movie Bob--Thanks for this episode...and special thanks for the Mae West reference!

I *love* Mae West. I especially love playing her song "I Like a Guy What Takes His Time" for my students when I teach Music History Classes...because my students always get soooo scandalized. Which is awesome.

 

[Swifteye]

Swing and a miss, and Bob Chipman strikes out. I guess when it came time, Chipman just couldn't deliver.

What are you talking about? Everything seemed in place.

 

[NaramSuen]

I knew that the Hays Code censored the content of films, but I never realized that a rating system was not a part of that period of Hollywood. So that means that all films had to deemed acceptable to all audiences? I cannot quite get my head around that concept.

Educational and entertaining as always Bob!

 

[MovieBob]

So that means that all films had to deemed acceptable to all audiences? I cannot quite get my head around that concept.

Pretty much, yeah.

It's worth remembering that our concept of the childhood/adulthood split is a pretty recent development. In the early part of the 20th Century, before widespread "suburbanization" of the American middle-class, the idea that young children would be going to ANY place of business unaccompanied by an adult would've been very unusual; and one considered "old enough" to be on their own was "old enough" to do... pretty-much anything else. The idea of the "teen years" as this nebulous not-quite-child/not-quite-adult place was generally unheard of - rural kids were expected to be pitching in heavy-duty at home as soon as possible, and urban ones often started working about as young.

It's also helpful to keep in mind that pre-1950s ideas of what was "acceptable" as visual-stimuli was radically different - remember, the only 'stuff to go see' other than movies were art galleries or statues; both mediums where violence and nude figures were pretty common. Straight-up "pornography" existed, but it was VERY underground and pretty-much illegal, so everything else was "go" for awhile there. This is probably the most frustrating thing to consistently "grasp" about any kind of history: That despite our instinct to think of things in a linear fashion, social-development ISN'T on a consistently-upward trajectory.

Ironically, film (and later TV) were victims of the very progress they helped push along - as technology and social-stabilization gave (especially city-dwelling) children less mandate to move directly from the nursery to the workforce, busybodies started to wring their hands about all the 'trouble' kids were going to get up to with all that free time.

 

[daxterx2005]

I find it interesting that Hollywood has essentially come full circle and it hasn't even been a hundred years.

Crazy, aint it?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

-snip-

Any chance you could edit all four of the mini-series together in to one movie available for download?