The hell! The horror! The Hays Code!
Hey, horror hottie.
Have you ever wondered why ‘final girls’ used to be virginal? Or why queer characters are usually villains? Your answer, my gorgeous gore whore, is the Hays Code.
Many have argued that the rampant gender bias and homophobia baked into the Hays Code left a lasting legacy on cinema and, as a result, society as a whole.
So, let’s dissect!
What’s the Hays Code?
The Motion Picture Production Code (nicknamed the ‘Hays Code’ for its creator Will H. Hays) was published in March 1930 to restore ‘morality’ to Hollywood after a series of huge scandals.
The code had three core principles:
1) No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.
2) Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.
3) Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.
According to the babes at the BFI, the code was founded under the idea that "if motion pictures present stories that will affect lives for the better, they can become the most powerful force for the improvement of mankind.”
It was, in a word, censorship. In an attempt to better humankind through exemplary stories, the code ended up perpetuating some of its most harmful ideologies.
When censorship attacks!
The first thing to address is the fundamental shift the code caused in Hollywood behind the camera. The American Film Institute’s Women They Talk About gender parity initiative revealed that pre-code Hollywood was “an era in which more women held positions of power than at any other time in the U.S. motion picture industry.”
The Hays Code implied that ambitious, working women defied gender norms, which potentially encouraged studios to bypass female talent. Filmmaking became a male-dominated industry, and it has never recovered.
The lack of female writers and directors, as well as the strict rules of the code, were reflected in the character archetypes seen on screen.
In horror, we see this most strongly in the First Girl and Final Girl.
As the name suggests, the First Girl is the first girl to be killed by the film’s antagonist. In many cases, she’s portrayed as sexually liberated, confident, and daring. Her death is often pornographic in nature, underlining her ‘well-earned’ punishment.
Examples of the First Girl include Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in Psycho, Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson) in Halloween, and Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) in Scream.
The Final Girl is the lone survivor of the horror film’s carnage. And as our pal Randy Meeks points out, she’s pure — no sex, no smoking or drinking, no immorality. She lives because she exemplifies everything a ‘good’ woman should be, and there’s only room for one.
Examples of Final Girls include Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in Halloween, Lila Crane (Vera Miles) in Psycho, and—to an extent—Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in Scream.
Queerness and gender non-conformism were also heavily shaped by the code, becoming a cautionary tale at best and indicative of mental illness at worst. Like the Final Girl and First Girl, gender non-conforming or queer characters also get their comeuppance and are usually killed by the film’s protagonist or locked away for their crimes.
We see this reflected in characters like Angela Baker (Felissa Rose) in Sleepaway Camp, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho, and Jame ‘Buffalo Bill’ Gumb (Ted Levine) in The Silence of the Lambs.
Hays Code: an attack from beyond the grave
Under the rules of the Hays Code, any character seen to promote or embody ‘perverse’ behaviours had to be punished by the end of the film. They could not be shown favourably or garner any sympathy from the viewer, lest the filmmakers be accused of condoning the lifestyle.
According to PBS, “the Production Code's days were numbered in 1952 when movies were finally granted free speech protection under the First Amendment.” It was eventually replaced by the age rating system we have today.
Despite the code being out of action before many of the films in this newsletter were even made, you can clearly see its lasting impact. Decades of promoting loaded stereotypes and bigoted ideologies through cinema have strengthened their staying power.
There are, unfortunately, still many people who believe homosexuality and gender non-conformism are mental illnesses, unnatural, or sinister ploys to enact evil (cough J.K.R. cough).
There are still many people who feel entitled to judge, demean, or physically harm women for daring to be confident, sexually free, or unconventionally feminine.
And here we come to the bitter irony of it all. The people behind the Hays Code understood the power of stories. How, in telling and retelling them, you can craft everlasting beliefs and social values. The logic was undoubtedly sound on that count, but I think we can all agree that humankind didn’t emerge ‘improved.' If anything, the Hays Code left us more close-minded, self-righteous, and bigoted. Moreover, it embedded toxic ideologies into cinema’s DNA that—72 years on—we’re only just starting to challenge.
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