Movie Picture Production Codes: Hollywood's Gone With The Wind

“Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn” (Howard). During the filming of one of the greatest films in cinematic history, the director and producers battled with the Movie Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) over whether or not an actor should be allowed to say the quote stated earlier. MPPDA finally agreed to allow this line in Gone with the Wind (Thompson and Bordwell 198). If Gone with the Wind had not been approved to include the inappropriate word and instead had been forced to change it, the statement the film made here would not have been filled with so much emotion and passion. It also would not make such an impact on the audience because the statement to an audience who does not normally hear vulgar language when attending
“In the 1920s, Hollywood faced a series of scandals: actor Fatty Arbuckle (1887–1933) faced rape and murder charges; Hollywood director Desmond Taylor (1872–1922) was found murdered; actor Wallace Reid (1891–1923) fell into a morphine induced coma and died shortly thereafter,” (Hedman). After the scandals, Catholics knew that something needed to change and believed that they needed to something about. The Catholics were a major reason for the passing of the Codes. They were disgusted at how disrespectful people were acting in movies and how they were disrespecting God and what He says in the Bible. They knew that they could not control what the actors did in their free time, they were able to control what they did on screen. So Catholics tried in thirty-seven states to censor the films being shown in the theaters, but they were unsuccessful. They then decided to persuade the national government to regulate the films. The compromise between Catholics and Hollywood led to the Motion Picture Production Codes being passed in 1930 (Evolution). Hollywood did not just have the morality of the Church to uphold, they also had societies morality to uphold as well. The codes had headings including Sex, Vulgarity, Profanity, Obscenity, Natural Feelings, Costume, Dances, Titles and “Repellent Subjects” (BFI Screenonline). The Motion Picture Production Code had rules about almost everything. They wanted to make sure nothing inappropriate existed within the movies. The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) was established in 1922 by major Hollywood production studios in response to increasing government censorship of films… This MPPDA is popularly called the Hays Office because William H. Hays was the first director (Britannica). “Hays served as a U.S. postmaster general and later gave up his political