I've noticed that American movies from the 1940s or 50s have their content "toned down" when it comes to depictions of sex or violence, even in romance where the lead characters kiss (they pause every 3 seconds) with zero nudity except maybe a bra & crime or noir flicks always involving the protagonist/s winning (like the narrative shows police must be victorious rather than admitting defeat towards criminals) to list a few.
schipelblorp 16 points 2 days ago
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.
RoidingOldMan 10 points 2 days ago
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.
schipelblorp 4 points 2 days 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.
Secret_Music 6 points 2 days ago
Famously, married couples were shown to sleep in separate beds.
First thing I thought of was Bert and Ernie.
schipelblorp 5 points 2 days ago
schipelblorp 1 point 19 hours 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.
HubertManne 3 points 2 days ago
faulty towers had that and it was british.
schipelblorp 3 points 2 days ago
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:
HubertManne 2 points 2 days ago
no idea. just know when they filmed the scenes it was two seperate beds.
animemann80 2 points 2 days ago
Even then, did they still enforce that towards non US made films (Godzilla: 1954, Japan or Cronaca di un amore: 1950, Italy) when shown in theaters?
DarrinBrunner 4 points 2 days ago
The answer is in the linked Wikipedia. Read it.
DagwoodIII 22 points 2 days 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.
one_old_coder 5 points 2 days 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.
schipelblorp 3 points 2 days 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.
kboos1 2 points 2 days 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.
givesomefucks 0 points 2 days ago
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.
DarrinBrunner 3 points 2 days ago
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?
givesomefucks 0 points 2 days 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
Zwuzelmaus -1 points 2 days ago
History gets damaged. Seriously. Why aren't millions of wooden shoes thrown into Hollywood already?
Zwuzelmaus 1 point 17 hours ago
Bummer. Can you use old TV sets instead?
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Because of the Hays Code, a precursor to the US’s MPAA rating system (G to R ratings)
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