Working Draft of the Lord Quigley Code Proposal

Ashley Dyson

Part 1 Assumptions about film and entertainment

In this section, it tells how theatrical motion pictures are regarded as entertainment only. And as entertainment, it can either be harmful or helpful to people. Entertainment can be helpful to people when it intends to improve the human race. It can be harmful when degrading humans. There is a huge moral importance when this form of entertainment can enter immediately into the lives of men and women. The code then compares theatrical motion pictures to art, books, newspapers, and plays. In regards to art is seen as important when lifting humans to higher levels. This is portrayed by good music, great paintings, and poetry. It is seen as morally evil through the portrayal of unclean art, indecent books, and suggestive drama. In relation to books, books describe and film vividly presents to the public. Film reaches eyes and ears and presents a reproduction of actual events. The same goes for newspapers. In regards to plays, films have a much larger audience than a play. In conclusion because of films popularity, vividness, appeal, and presentation, there are larger moral responsibilities for motion pictures.

I feel that the code is looking out for the best interest of the people, but it is not upholding the rights for the first amendment. I think that if someone has a problem with the content of the movie, they shouldn’t watch it. If they do, then it’s their problem.

Part 2 General Principals

 

In this section, it tells how no motion picture should be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Evil should not be made to look attractive and alluring. Sympathy from the audience should not be towards that of the evil. Motion pictures should make the audience feel that evil is wrong and good is right. Movies should show the correct standards of life. Through this it builds character and develops high ideals in the audience. The law in motion pictures should not be ridiculed and the court system should not be presented as unjust.

I think how people view movie has to do with their upbringing. If they were not taught what is right and what is wrong then they are highly likely to be confused by what they see in the movies. Children for example are highly likely to imitate things they see in movie or television because they are still in their learning process. Again, when a parent sees what a movie is about they should make the choice whether or not it is acceptable for their children’s eyes.

An example in Scarface are the scenes of corruption of law officials which were cut. The code states that there should be no scenes which reflect poorly on the government and the court system. Mrs.Camonte’s feelings towards her sons gang activity is also a part of this code. This is because she disapproves of his lifestyle. Even if he has fancy cars, money, and clothes, it is considered evil and wrong to his mother.

 

Part 3 Reasons Underlying Particular Applications Preliminary

In this preliminary to the section it talks about sin and evil. Sin and evil are part of life so they can be used in film as dramatic material. But if used, it must be distinguished between sin which repels by its nature, and sins which often attract. It also says there is a careful distinction between film for the general public and film for a limited audience. This is in regards to adult only material and other film. Adult only material could be handled by the minds that are more mature can understand the subject matter without it causing harm to them. There was no such film separation back then though.

I don’t know what to say about this part. They want the sin and evil in movies to appear to be unattractive again. They also say that “adult only” movies can only be handled by those of a mature mind. This seems like a sort of rating system. But they didn’t even have different movie theaters for limited audience and general public.

 

Reasons Underlying Particular Applications

In this section it just lists a bunch of things you cannot do in films because it is morally wrong. Teaching crime and making criminals seems heroic is not justified. Revenge is not justified. Drug trafficking shall not be presented in any form. Liquor should never be excessively presented. In regards to sex, a love triangle should not be represented in regard for the sanctity of marriage. Impure love is wrong and should not be presented as attractive, or as a subject of comedy. Must not be presented in a way to arouse the audience or make them curious. Vulgarity, obscenity, and profanity are not permitted. Nudity or semi-nudity is not moral. Even thought the nude body is seen as beauty, it is not appropriate for film. Nudity cannot be permitted as necessary for a plot. Dancing is recognized as an art form. Except when the dances suggest sexual actions. In regards to religion, ministers will not be made villains or comical characters in order to keep respect for the minister. Certain locations shall not be seen because they are directly connected to sexual life and sexual sin. The nation is entitled to consideration and respectful treatment in regards to film content. Titles presented must comply with ethical practices. And lastly, repellent subjects should never offend good taste.

 

This section is pretty much just listing more no no’s in regards to film making. It highlights on costumes, dancing, sexuality, and profanity. Again I think that it is going against the First Amendment. If someone thinks they will be offended by the material in a movie, they should stay at home.

 

In Scarface, this code comes into play again with the original scripted incest plot between brother and sister. Because of this code, it had to be cut out. But the movie is still open to interpretation of the audience. He could be an overprotective brother or a filthy gangster having incestual relations with his younger sister.

 

 

Group 4 Report-Ashlee C, Dee, Michelle P, Neil, and Teresa

Reasons Underlying Particular Applications

 Sin and Evil: Teresa S

In the section of Reasons Underlying Particular Applications of the Working Draft of the Lord Quigley Code Proposal, Quigley writes “Sins enter into the story of human beings, which is known as dramatic material. However, sins which repel need to be distinguished from sins that attract.” For example, sins which repel include murder, most theft, lying, hypocrisy, and cruelty. Sins which attract include sex, sins of apparent heroism, daring thefts, and organized crime. “Avoid the hardening of the audience;” Black is saying do not let the audience get used to sins such as murder and brutality. Sins that attract need “real care in handling.” They need more care in handling because people/children that are attracted to the sin might be tempted to mimic their behavior.

There were a couple of agreements in our group on the subject of this section of the Lord-Quigley code, but there were no disagreements. I agree with the girl in my group that said the Lord’s Code makes it seem like the audience does not know how to separate real life from the movies. Just because the audience watches a gangster movie does not mean that everybody in the audience is going to become a gangster. Furthermore, the group agreed with my statement that we have a completely different mindset of the people in the 1920’s, and this is what makes it difficult to understand such censorship decisions as this code.

 General versus Limited Audiences:   Dee N

Under the third numeral of this section Quigley discusses the general versus limited audiences. I feel strongly that when the filmmakers of the 1930s started making distinctions between general distribution and limited audience films, it was that distinction that was the starting point for the idea of a rating system. Our present rating system could have been the end result of this early classification system. During the draft of this code, it was normal for the practice of “the showing of a certain film to “Adults Only” (Black 306). Although many felt it was “only partially effective”, it was definitely a step in the right direction. The fact that Scarface had numerous endings could be viewed as an act to please numerous audiences and to comply with this code.

Crimes against the Law Part I:  Michelle P

Within the Application section of the code we also learn about Crimes against the Law stating that the treatment of crimes must not: teach methods of crime, inspire potential criminals with a desire for imitation, or make criminals seem heroic and justified. This section isn’t saying that sin can’t be part of a film because we know that it is a part of life and in a film termed dramatic material. However, Quigley is quick to note what cannot arise from this material. For example, banks get robbed every year-people get desperate for money and it happens. This section is merely saying don’t teach the audience how to rob a bank and don’t make it seem appealing. Furthermore, don’t make the character that’s robbing the bank seem heroic or justified no matter how dire the situation is. I agree with Quigley that sins occur, and that they shouldn’t exactly seem appealing. I think most people would agree that if someone’s going to rob a bank, their doing it for a pretty desperate reason and that person probably knows the consequences of their actions before hand. However, while these crimes shouldn’t seem appealing, tons of characters rob banks in countless movies and not everyone that watched that film went out and robbed their local bank. A filmmaker shouldn’t encourage crimes unless it’s a reflection of a true story, but at the same time filmmakers, censors, the Catholic Church and everyone in between should respect the intelligence of the audience, with the exception of children, to know that these crimes are wrong and shouldn’t be imitated in reality.

Crimes against the Law Part 2:  Ashlee C

To continue this idea of Crimes against the Law, Black explains that drug trafficking and liquor should not be brought to the attention of the audience. Black feels that any type of drug use should not be presented in any form. He also feels that Liquor should “never be excessively presented even in picturing countries where its use is illegal”, only in moderation. I do not agree with this because if movies didn’t show what liquor and drugs could do to people, then the viewers could be more tempted to try new things. I am not saying that all people will try drugs and alcohol, but if we didn’t have movies on real life events, then the society might not have a good idea of what goes on in the world.

In Scarface, Camonte sells alcohol to people as a job. The movie shows what happens during trafficking and how it is an extremely dangerous thing to be involved in. Scarface promotes alcohol in the movie, as well as drug trafficking. I feel that it was a good example in a way because if proved that if a person did not pay the right amount of money, or snitched somebody out then their life would be in jeopardy. I feel that if you want to be involved with something as dangerous as that, then go ahead and do it. I do not feel like movies that show real life choices will have a bad affect on the audience.

Relationship to Scarface:  Neil B

With this being said, the 1932 production of the motion picture Scarface had numerous instances where the Lord-Quigley code proposal seemed to overlap in concept. In Part I of Crimes Against the Law specifically, there can be seen a close connection with the production history of Scarface and the Lord-Quigley Code. This part of the code explains how teaching the methods of crime should not occur in a motion picture ever, yet the entire plot of Scarface is a depiction of Tony Camonte’s life in organized crime, which vary from depicting how he went about shaking down club owners to Camonte murdering people such as his own boss before he takes over control of the gang.

When the film was produced, there were a large number of issues that producer Howard Hughes ran into when trying to release the film, mainly that the censors demanded that the film be edited to depict the life of a gangster in a more negative light. They felt that it was necessary to remove the heroic spin from the life a gangster like Camonte in order to decrease the desire for others to imitate such a negative lifestyle.

A specific instance where the censors forced change in the film’s production is the different potential endings that the film almost had. The ending that most people saw at times in theaters is actually the second one that they filmed, and it depicts Tony Camonte as being much more afraid and less enthusiastic in his final gun battle with the police before he is apprehended, sentenced and hung by a proper court. This is very different from what has become known as the alternate ending, which is in fact the originally filmed ending. In this ending, Camonte psychotically shoots at the police with Cesca enthusiastically helping him load guns before he goes out in a blaze of bullets.

The differences in these two endings demonstrate many of the areas that the Lord-Quigley Code discusses, namely Cesca not being enthusiastic and Tony not being so proud and crazy, the removal of Tony’s nearly heroic exit in a blaze of glory and lastly the court system promoting proper justice through a trial. These differences demonstrate how censors then had already begun to implement the ideas that are put forth in the Lord-Quigley Code Proposal.

Group 5’s Group Report- Lindsay,Thomas, Monica, and Jon

Group 5 Report-Response to Reasons Underlying Particular Applications, Sections 2- 12 

Lindsay. C
Monica. M
Thomas. A
Jon. M 

 Amazingly, our group did not have any disagreements on the key issues of our portion of the Lord-Quigley Proposal.  As a group we agreed that the overall message of our section of the code was that films containing explicit sexual behavior or offensive material are not to be tolerated.

(Section by Lindsay. C)  

In the Lord-Quigley Proposal, under the “Reasons Underlying Particular Applications,” in the second section labeled “SEX,” the code feared that the “sanctity of marriage and the home” would suffer, if the role of “passion” and “pure love” was misused (Black. 306, 307). It also states that many people, especially criminals and children should not view overly sexual material because it will have a negative and “dangerous” impact on their “emotions” (Black. 307). The film Scarface, illustrates how the rules of the code were broken with its numerous implications of incest between the movie’s main character Tony and his sister Cesca. According to Professor Thompson from George Mason University, the idea of incest was supposedly even more explicit in the original script. Overall, I felt the main points of this particular section in the code that were trying to be conveyed were that; marriage is sacred, incest is morally wrong, and movies that are overly sexual or show marriage in a negative light are bad and dangerous for society.

(Section by. Thomas. A) 

In the third section of “Reasons Underlying Particular Applications” the sub-sections on vulgarity, obscenity and profanity are pretty self explanatory. There is to be no vulgar or obscene material such as excessive violence and sexual content and there is to be no use of profanity, no cursing. This section in regards to Scarface has little effect from my point of view but I’m sure in the 1930’s the way the gangsters acted and talked seemed vulgar. I believe this may be one of the reasons why they didn’t show the original ending of the movie because it was seen as too vulgar.

(Section by. Monica.  M)

The next section (“Costume”) stresses the effect of nudity or semi-nudity and how it should not be portrayed in any film. It recognizes the human form as “beautiful,” but is firm with its decision that it “does not make its use in films moral.” The code even went as far as eliminating “translucent material and silhouette” because it was felt that it could be “more suggestive than actual exposure.” In regards to Scarface, there was no nudity, but some questionable scenes that walk a fine line of immorality according to the Lord-Quigley code. Poppy’s costume in the film is an example. When her character is first introduced, we see her dressed in a silk night gown with a large slit up the thigh, as she applies her makeup. Although she is not nude, the gown left little to the imagination, and showed off her sex appeal. The scene where Tony rips Cesca’s dress is another risqué scene. I can understand why the film Scarface received negative criticism by viewers. It’s portrayal of crime, violence, and sex was “immoral” even though it illustrated the world’s reality.

(Section by. Thomas. A) 

In regards to section VII, Dances, there are to be no dances that represent sexual actions that intend to “excite the emotional reaction of an audience.” There are to be no dances that involve groping or sexual motions. In Scarface dancing is used in a sexual manner when Cesca dances with a man at the party, although by today’s standards that dance was very toned down. In regards to section VIII Religion ministers and religious figures cannot be made fun of or showed as villains because that could change the attitude taken toward religion. Changing the way people view religious officials could have problematic outcomes.

(Section by. Jon. M) 

In sections IX-XII of particular applications the section locations mentions that there are some places that too closely associated with sexual life to e shown it never mentions directly what these places are, but the bedroom could very well be one them. This has a direct connection to Scarface since when Tony bring Poppy into his bedroom he shows her and invites her to sit on his bed and she excited with Tony. Later after Tony kills Lovo he runs into Poppy’s bedroom in the middle of the night and her to come with him. In section X it mentions that not specific country or people should ever be insulted in any film. On the subject of titles for movies it mentions that any title must conform to ethical practices in regards to Scarface, the title was one of the ways the director used to make it clear to the Hays Office that the movie did not glorify gangsters by changing the title from simply Scarface and adding The Shame of the Nation to it. Section XII is perhaps one of the vaguest sections of the code even compared to the other sections it mentions that while repellant subjects may be necessary they should never offend good taste.

 

 

Hays Code – Group 1 Response

Group 1
Bashir Ahmad
Elaine Brown
Priya Kumarraj
Andrea Retamoso

1.  A summarization of the first part of the Lord-Quigley Code Proposal, the section entitled Reasons Supporting Preamble Of Code.  Our group split this section into four parts for summary.

Section I. (by Andrea R.)
Theatrical motion pictures are primarily to be regarded as ENTERTAINMENT.

a. Entertainment which tends to improve the race, or at least to recreate and rebuild human beings exhausted with the realities of life.

b. Entertainment which tends to degrade human beings, or the lower their standards of life and living .

The moral importance of entertainment affects men and women closely, therefore correct entertainment standard of a nation.

Wrong entertainment lowers the whole living conditions and moral ideals of a race.

Section II. (by Elaine B.)

Section Two of the Lord-Quigley Code Proposal takes the following positions:

•  Motion pictures are an art form, because they represent the thoughts, emotions, morals and experiences of the artist.
•  Art has an intimate effect on the viewer, because it has the potential to influence its audience to do good or evil.
•  Motion pictures have the ability to reach a mass audience far more quickly than other art forms.

Whether the creators of motion pictures intend it or not, motion pictures have a moral influence over a wide audience, and so the creators have a moral obligation to present their ideas with care.

Section III. (by Bashir A.)
A-D
Section A states that film appeals to all strata of society and that there is no heirarchy of low film and high film as opposed to music which many could categorize in this way, for example classical vs. pop music. I believe this assumption is not a valid one anymore as films are targeted towards specific audiences.

Section B states that films can be showed to large groups of people anywhere at anytime. I believe this to be a valid point that has significance. it is important to note that around the same time mass media in the form of advertising, flyer’s, billboards came about. Along with film this form of media was used for propaganda during wartime for the reason of its quick dissemination.

Section C states that these two reasons make making films for different classes of people difficult.  As stated earlier I don’t think this to be relevant anymore.

Section D is about how film differs from books. Books require using your own imagination which would then depend on the intellect and state of mind of the individual. With film the work is already done for you. I can see the reasoning in this statement but I cannot form a concrete opinion regarding whether or not I agree.

Section III, part 2 (by Priya K)
E-H

Newspaper vs. Film

–        Newspaper describes events with facts as they are taking place, whereas film shows how the events took place, and brings those events back to life.

Play vs. Film

–        There are some things that are possible in a play that are not possible in a film.

§         Movies are far reaching than plays.

§         Plays are shown to smaller audience whereas films to larger audience.

§         Films bring the character and the story closer to the audience than plays because of size and “movie magic”.

§         When people watch movies, they become involved with the actors and actresses that they get them confused with the characters the actors play. Movies make it hard for people to determine what is real and what is fake.   

Small communities

–        Movies easily reach people in small communities, who live far from ethical and moral standards of people from the cities.

–        Movies tap into people’s emotions more intensely because of the way it is presented.

–        In summary, movies attract mass audience by the way they are presented, so films have a larger moral responsibility than any form of entertainment.

 

2.  While discussing the code, Group 1 came to several conclusions regarding the code’s meaning and value.

Our group agrees on the following:

–        The code has relevance today

–        Why the code was established and was needed

–        The code can be a good and/or bad influence

–        Films are different from other forms of entertainment( books, art, etc) at that time

–        We agree to disagree that the intentions of the artist do not necessarily have the same effect on the mass audience

3.  Commentary from Group 1 on how changes made to the movie Scarface are relevant to the first section of the Code Proposal

(Andrea R.)
Moral is what is relevant to the changes made in Scarface. The incest plot was changed in the effort to prevent viewers from taking such event as literal and not with the sole purpose of entertainment intended by producers.
(Priya K.)

Although people would have read about gangsters in the newspapers, watching gangsters in movies has a different effect on people. Incidents in Scarface had to be tweaked because movies have the larger moral responsibility to teach the audience the outcomes of the chosen lifestyle. Because it was hard for people to make a clear distinction between real and unreal, the additions in the movie were a way to send a warning to the people: “Do not try this at home.”

(Elaine B.) As an art form, the movie Scarface is very eloquent; as entertainment, it’s thrilling; but from a moral standpoint, it comes up short.  In order to satisfy all three components of a ‘good’ motion picture, changes had to be made to the script to satisfy the moral obligation of the studios to the public.

Hays Code- Group 2

Group 2: assumptions about film and entertainment, pp. 302-4

Ahmed Chebaane

Denis Baya

Joe Smith

Cumulitive contribution
In section I of Lord Quigley’s code proposal, entertainment is emphasized as a vital part of society. The portrayal of Good vs. Evil and the moral values of the society are expressed in an artistic fashion through motion pictures. Finding the clear and defined boundaries of what can be exhibited as constructive entertainment work is discussed in Lord Quigley’s code proposal. This directly ties with the changes made to the production history of the 1932 edition of Scarface by the Hays office.

The development of picture motions has allowed for a greater outreach therefore a wider range audience that would be influenced by the piece of art. Scarface is a controversial movie according to the Lord Quigley’s code because of the glorification of the life of an outlaw and criminal Tony. Even with the editing efforts made by the Hays office to show that the life of a gangster and thug results in nothing but complete misery and death, one can clearly connect with Tony’s emotional side and perhaps even feel for him while he goes through his endeavors. This emotional attachment is apparent due to the fact that Tony is portrayed as the main character in contrast to many of the side roles that may be viewed as the antagonists in this theatrical piece. The emphasis on clearly spending more time in the film to show the character of Tony minimizes the significance of the other characters even if they were acting on a justifiable moral basis. The shrinking of theses characters indirectly effects their noble commitment to society to stand for what is right against wrong doers like Tony.

Lord Quigley’s code clearly states that there is nothing wrong with having sympathy towards the character that is committing sin, but it is absolutely immoral to allure the viewer to have sympathy towards the sinful act. The Hay’s office acted based on this rubric especially in their move to edit the ending of the movie Scarface. Through out the movie the viewer is not firmly lead to believe that Tony commits immoral acts that are not justifiable by the society. His fascination in his sister is perhaps the strongest indication of the Hay’s office in its role to demoralize Tony and strip him from any kind of decency, yet his actions are glorified indirectly in the movie leading the viewer to sympathize with the gangster life. It almost gave the feeling that it was acceptable to become a gangster if that was the only way to succeed.

Once again referring to Lord Quigley’s code motion pictures has raised the question of morality in art. The real question is the code refers to product-effect phenomena, which in return has a great moral influence on its audience; so what was the real motive behind a movie like Scarface? This can only really be known through the producers of this movie because even with the editing made by the Hay’s office the underlying message that gangsters are stars and almost hero like is still prevalent in the movie. This portrayal of evil morals directly contradicts Lord Quigley’s code that states that the sympathy of the viewer should never lean towards the side of crime, wrong doers and evil acts. This could be a big reason why the end of the 1932 edition of Scarface was changed three times to somewhat accommodate this code of morality. If Tony were portrayed as a “RAMBO” before he was killed or arrested, it would send an extremely negative message to the viewer. The Hay’s office made sure to show him as a coward in the end where he runs away from the police and is shoot down by them almost like a helpless deer being hunted by the professional and rightful hunter.

Theatrical motion pictures were meant for schools, churches, social reform movements, educational purposes, as a primary regard of entertainment. Apparently, there are two types of characters in entertainment, one is a helpful character and the other is a harmful character to the human race. The moral importance of entertainment is universally recognized.Motion Picture entertainment is like art, in the sense that through new art, it has the same objects as the other arts, like the presentation of human thoughts, emotion, and experience. Like characters, art can be morally good and morally evil. Morally good by lifting men to higher levels. Morally evil, with unclean art, indecent books, and suggestive drama, etc…Motion Picture, reproduce the morality who use the picture as a way of expressing their ideas.

Movies are art that are intended to be purely entertainment. These types of images used for entertainment define a character. These images influence good and bad values. The values are meant to transcend or raise a person’s soul. This happens when a person continuously reflects and thinks about what they have seen. This becomes the by-product of what the viewer has seen and has interpreted. According to Hay’s Code, the by-product can be good or evil. The negativity of the movie is when the person obtains the wrong by-product and when he or she thinks that’s what defines them.

The third part starts with what the code thinks of the type of audience that views this type of art. The audiences of films think they are nonfiction or as truth. The first part describes the art reaches all types of classes, youth, and criminals. That these types of lower class individuals are easily manipulated through viewing film. The second part films are widespread can be easily seen. The third part fitting to the other two parts, some films are inappropriate for certain audiences because of their social class or intelligence. In the other part of Hay’s Code it is split up into three separate parts. Books are described and films are vivid. Books use words, and films reaches eyes and ears. And finally, Readers interpretation depends on the reader’s imagination. Whereas with film nothing is left for the imagination everything is in plan sight.

The code, for the most part says, that it is wrong for any film to portray in any way, shape, or form that evildoing is ok and tolerated. All bad guys have to die. If they don’t, Americans will see and automatically think that it’s okay, and finally fulfill their inner desires to kill, rape, and steal. Motion pictures must then show that “evil is wrong and good is right”.

The code is relevant to Scarface on a more obvious level because changes were made to the film at the behest of the Hays office and this is the Hays Code. So it is relevant being that Scarface is a film where you can see the underlying guidelines being expressed in the film and the changes made to it as you can also see ultimately expressed in the code. Our group focused on the first section of the code in which the justification for the need of guidelines is laid out. The same reasons given to make changes in Scarface are laid out in this section of the code. The effects of graphic violence, sexual content and who the audience would be are all things which exist in the code and influenced changes made in Scarface.

Free speech and the character of film as a medium of entertainment and art were both issues which existed at the beginning of this industry. A distinction was drawn between film and for example literature. Film was said to be potentially much more influential because it presented concrete images and later sounds where the imagination had solely provided for before. Also, there was the general idea that less educated or poorer people were far less likely to read literature and would also be very easily influenced by film because of both the method and ease of how it told the story. Advocates for censorship were particularly concerned with what messages young people and less educated people were getting from film. This is generally laid out in the code and led to modifications of Scarface, for instance how criminals in relation to the government are portrayed.

*Hays Code-Group 3 Report*

The key points that were covered in Group 3 (Black, page 305) were: how evil and sin shouldn’t be portrayed as “alluring” and how the law should not be “ridiculed”. They did not want evil to appear appealing to the audience or create feelings of sympathy for the wrong that the person has committed. They also did not want the law to be scorned by the audience when a criminal was punished for their sins. They wanted to protect the audience, and they did not want them to do evil or commit sin, like what they saw on film.

–By Laura Milchak

Many members in our group believed that the Code had reason to enforce these rules; however, the public also has the right to differentiate between what is wrong and right. Specifically toward our section, some of us believed a story should be portrayed just as the creators intended, regardless of whether or not it represents the law or crime appropriately, because there is a difference between media (news) and film. Film is a form of expression that exists to tell a story, not relay facts. The public understands this and can make moral decisions based on their own personal moral guidelines. Two priests should not be able to dictate what everyone should watch and believe. The main disagreement between our members was whether the Code was needed at the time; our mindsets are far too modern to understand the impact the films may have had on the public in the 1930s. After reading the Code many times, we noticed that everything during the 1930s seemed to be offensive; however, one thing we all agreed on was that the Code is simply too harsh to be continually enforced.

–By Natasha Barbosa

In terms of Scarface, the code seems to be loosely applied. The alternate endings are mainly a distinction of the code that is applied to the movie. Had no code been established, the original script ending would have shown Camonte’s lifestyle to be far more appealing. However, the alternate endings ruined any appeal the lifestyle of a gangster may have. The scenes of corruption of law officials which were cut are also addressed in the code. The code states that there should be no scenes which reflect poorly on the government and the court system. Furthermore, Mrs. Camonte’s feelings toward Tony are also addressed in the code. Her feelings about her son leave a strong impression on the viewer and help to assure us that if his mother cannot even seen the good in him, then there must be no good present. The incest plot also comes into play in regards to the code. Incest is considered a taboo and is seen as immoral, which would be a clear violation of the code. However, there are parts of the code that don’t seem to have been applied to the production of Scarface. For instance, everyone in Group 3 agreed that they felt bad for Tony Camonte at the end of the film. The code states that the audience’s sympathy should not lie with the criminal or anti-hero. However, the audience will commonly side with Tony Camonte because they are rarely exposed to his character flaws. We never really see him murder people or commit other crimes, with the exception of Guino. Due to a lack of so called “immoral” scenes, Tony Camonte is portrayed as a nice guy with a sense of humor. Had we been exposed to his criminal ways, our sympathies would have lied elsewhere. The humor that is used throughout the film is also key to our opinion of the gangsters. It serves to humanize them, thus making them more appealing. The code seems to be loosely applied to Scarface, but there are certain instances where Scarface seems to have slipped by the censors.–By Katie Posey

The ratings system we use today is incredibly different from the Lord-Quigley proposal, mostly in that it is a lot less detailed – it just names a specific audience that should or should not see the movie. This leads me to believe that it is harder to enforce specific behaviors or actions in today’s age because the ratings system is pretty vague and so guarantees free speech. If a film is rated G, then it can be seen by anyone (General Audiences) and usually movies with this rating are children’s films, like Disney productions. If it is rated M, it means that only mature audiences should view the film content, but this rating is not defined by a specific age, like the ratings PG-13 and R (which means you have to be 17 to view the content). There is also the PG rating, which means that some of the portrayed material might be unsuitable for children, but again no more information is enumerated here. What’s more, sometimes there is no stopping a child from seeing sexually or violently perverse subjects and situations on television shows. There is a brief warning before the production is shown, but if there is no authoritative figure around to stop the viewing of the show, many children can be free to see scenes that may be too mature for their own immature levels. Basically, the ratings system today is a lot more relaxed and open to interpretation, giving parents the authority to determine what is right for their children to see and what is inappropriate for their age range. But there are still irresponsible parental figures in existence, so there are still limitations within our movie rating system.

–By Michelle Sargent

07-Hays Code Group and Individual Responses

In class on Feb 14th, re-read, discuss, and write collaboratively on the Lord-Quigley proposal.  I will divide the class into four or five groups.  Each group will read one section of the Lord-Quigley code and summarize its larger and subsidiary points.  There will be an individual and group component of this assignment: 

• After meeting in groups to discuss the section of the code you have chosen (see the list below) as well as how to divide up your coverage, each individual in the group should post their component of the group report on the blog–as well as their individual response to the code as a whole.  For these individual responses, use your own account on WordPress when posting and check Hays Code-Individual Responses (under assignments) and your name (under people).   
• Then your group should meet again to plan how you will pull these posts together in a group report and one or more members of the group should post a coherent group report on the blog.   In putting together the group report, the best option is to use one of your group members’ existing accounts but make sure to check group 1-5 (under people) as well as Hays Code-Group Report (under assignments).  (Note:  you can create and sign in with a new account–with a shared password–for your group reports but this option adds an additional level of complexity (registering on WordPress with a new group user name and non-GMU email address) and is therefore not the best option.  Also note, if you do choose this option, remember to tell me so I can give the new user name write privledges on the blog.)   

In your group, discuss your response to the proposal including any disagreements you had on the value of the code and any thoughts you had on its application to Scarface.  This exercise requires you to place Lord and Quigley’s individual points in larger structure or set of assumptions you distill from the details of the code.  You can use bullets or an outline for the subsidiary points.  I will divide up the class as follows:     

• Group I, assumptions about film and entertainment, pp. 302-4
• Group II, general principles, p. 305
• Group III, general principles, p. 305
• Group IV, particular applications, pp. 306-8
• Group V, particular applications, pp. 306-8