Hays Code
Film morality guidelines
The Hays Code was a set of moral guidelines governing American film content from 1934 to 1968.
Named after Will Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, it prohibited depictions of nudity, profanity, interracial romance, and "sexual perversion," and required that crime never pay.
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the racier films made before strict enforcement began.
- Hollywood blacklistFilm industry political exclusion
- moral standardsPrinciples guiding right conduct
- morality clauseContract term governing conduct
- banned filmsMovies prohibited from screening
- self-censorshipRestraining one's own expression
content regulation · twin beds · kiss scene · fade to black · movie ratings · adultery · public decency · innuendo · gangster · self-regulation · community standards · studio system · decency standards · morality · taboo · prohibition · film censorship · bedroom
- entertainment historyvaudeville, silent films, talkies, Hollywood, movie palaces
- censorshipbanned books, censored, banned, book banning, book bans
- Pre-Code HollywoodNight Nurse, 42nd Street, Scarface, Little Caesar, The Public Enemy
- cinemafilm, films, film studios, movies, movie
- 60s CinemaDr. Strangelove, The Graduate, Easy Rider, Bonnie and Clyde, Lawrence of Arabia
- eroticaerotic, erotic literature, eroticism, erotica, sensuality
Hays Codeartistic freedom
Right to create unrestrained
creative freedom · freedom of expression · free expression · First Amendment · free speech