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In a protest against censorship in film, photographer Whitey Schafer staged this iconic photograph in 1934 violating as many rules of the Hayes Code as possible in one shot. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [M] to c/visualarts@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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[–] 34 points 6 months ago (1 child)

I think cinema is better off for having had the hays code for a while.

Thats a blazing hot take, but I can see the logic. You have to be a lot more creative when working with a limited palette.

I think I disagree though. I find pre-code movies to be far more entertaining. Cinema should reflect the society that made those movies, and overbearing censorship undercuts that and presents that society as far cleaner and more upstanding than it actually was.

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  • [–] [S] 9 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    But are those very rules not a reflection of the society they emerge from. And isnt the pushing of those limits not the revolutionary act we see within art then. And that to me is a good reflection of society.

    I dislike hyperrealism. Hell, I despise it.

    People critiquing, 'oh but that gunshot was so unrealistic' etc piss me right tf off.

    Fhe message underneath the text can be parsed through art no matter the restrictions. And these formal restrictions allow creativity. Just as the limitations of the medium itself does.

    When we look back at cinema of that era, we analyse it knowing the hays code existed, not in a vacuum.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    But are those very rules not a reflection of the society they emerge?

    they're what informs the reflection that a specific segment of society wants to emerge, yes. they aren't what society actually is like. saved by they bell and fresh prince are not what high school was like in the 80s and 90s in california, but they are a reflection of what society wanted to imagine going to high school in the wealthier parts of california was like.

    it's like running everything past the fox censors first. you'll get a perspective, but it won't b the director's. it'll be fox's

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