Denby in Hollywood, Patricia

Denby makes the distinction that there are two different views on representing morals.  You could represent them as they are in life, complex, or you could represent them on how some believe they should be in life. Where everything ends up just and the hero always wins and there is always a moral lesson to be learned from the movie.

In my personal opinion I believe that movies should be presented as realistic as possible. I think that some movies should end up where the hero always wins and everything ends up good, but then I think some movies should be based on a more realistic level. Not everything is going to end up the way one would want it.  I don’t think that we should present things that would cause the audience to become naive about how life really is.  Like Denby said, life is complex therefore I believe the movie should be the same.

Hays Code-Group 4

Tammy:Summary

Filmmakers when using the element of sin should be cautious of how sins portrayed can be naturally repelling or attractive to people. Sins that are naturally repelling are those that people already know are bad and could have great consequences. On the other hand, sins that are attractive are more tempting because it is creative and possibility have smaller consequences. Filmmakers should consider this when using the element of sin because it should not stiffen or instigate the audience in any way.Filmmakers also need to make a distinction between films for the mature audience and those for the young audience. Images and actions that are explicit should not be shown to young audiences at any costs, therefore filmmakers should consider the plots and themes they use in order to protect children. Establishing separate theaters for adult films would screen young children from films that have mature discussions and problem themes.In addition, films should not show any teaching of crime methods, inspire the audience to be criminals, or glorify criminals. Showing revenge as being justified, presenting drug trafficking, and featuring excessive liquor on film is not appropriate for the audience as well because they can have evil consequences.

Shawn: Agreements

In our group we discussed and agreed upon many of Hays codes.  The first code Hays states is “Sin and evil enter into the story of human beings and hence in themselves are dramatic material”.  People like to watch sinful movies because it makes it interesting and entertaining.  Hays discusses the first and second class crimes.  The first class come murder, most theft, many legal crimes, lying, hypocrisy, cruelty, etc.  The second class come sex sins, sins, and crimes of apparent heroism, leadership in evil, organized crime, and revenge.  For the first class, the audience knows it is wrong and is unattractive.  While the second class, the audience knows it is wrong but it is attractive and tempting.  This glorifies the movie. We all agreed about the third code: A careful distinction can be made between films intended for general distribution, and films intended for use in theatres restricted to a limited audience.  Not all films should be shown to every one.  Since the movie producers want to make it interesting, they expose scenes, such as gangsters and sins.  These types of films should not be shown to children who do not fully understand right from wrong and the fact that it is not real.  Films should be censored until the children have grown up and matured.  This goes to the next code we agreed upon which is, “inspire potential criminals with a desire for imitation”.  Many criminals look “cool” and their fans want to be them.  This may cause people to imitate them which is not a good thing.The last code under “Crimes Against The Law” is the use of liquor.  We agreed that the amount of liquor should shown in moderation and not excessively.  Especially since during that time, liquor was prohibited.  The actors do not present themselves as good role models if they are drinking a lot in the movie and acts drunk.  It is not a good message to the audience.   All of these codes we agree upon and think it was a good idea by Hays.  This was conducted to help keep the people safe and maintain good morals.

Patricia:Disagreements

When we were discussing the code as a group we generally agreed with a lot of the points that Hays made but there were a few that we either disagreed with the code or disagreed with each other on our views. The first disagreement that we had when we were going down the list was having to make a completely different theater to accommodate the appropriate age level for viewing the film. Hays stated that there needed to be an individual theater for each movie type, whether it be for an adult or youth audience. Some individuals of the group disagreed with this code saying that it was to strict and it wasn’t necessary to have specifically one theater that was allowed to show adult films such as gangster films or movies that had difficult discussions. Other individuals agreed with the code saying that for the time period they really didn’t have another way of enforcing the viewing age. We agreed however that there could have been a different method of enforcing the age limits. They could have had different viewing times for the types of movies instead of completely different buildings. They could have monitored the viewers as they were buying their tickets to the film.The next code that we disagreed with as a whole was the one about films not being able to contain crimes such as being a gangster because it will teach methods of crime. all of us agreed that just by viewing a movie with crime in it is not going to step by step teach an individual how to commit it. Gangster movies to not teach the view how to load and or shoot a semi-automatic gun, nor do they teach a person how to plan out their horrific plots and get away with them. This also brings us to the last code that we disagreed with which was sheltering the public so intensely from realistic events that were going on around them. Drug trafficking was something realistic that was going on around them with the whole prohibition act. We thought that by not allowing these types of things in movies it would make the public naive to what was actually going on around them. We agreed that another way they could have done this was to have those things in movies but to really depict how awful and horrific these crimes are.

Chris: How it relates to Scarface

This section of the code is very applicable to the movie Scarface.  Specifically the third element of the “Crimes Against the Law” section.  The code reads “The treatment of crimes against the law must not: . . . make criminals seem heroic or justified.”  The Hays office was very worried that the original ending of Scarface would glorify, or “hero-ify,” Tony.  This would have been a direct contradiction of the code.  Even after the first filmed ending of the movie, the Hays office felt it still glorified Tony.  This is why they forced a third ending, one that showed a much more unheroic version of Camonte.Scarface still shows a myriad of “sins which often attract,” but the released version shows enough weakness and cowardice in Tony that the Hays office lets it pass.  The Hays office probably still could have refused to let Scarface pass, based on its presentation of “sins which often attract.”  However, the fact that it was allowed to be released, shows that the Hays office didn’t think that the film was THAT controversial in its final version.  The fact that the Hays office finally passed the film, shows a great amount of underhanded approval of it.  Whether they meant it or not, the Hays office made it clear that they didn’t think Scarface was that bad.

Joshua: MPPDA MPAA

I find it difficult to discuss early film code without comparing it to my notion of the current and modern rating system. The modern rating system, conducted by the Motion Picture Association of America, is based on the age and maturity level appropriate for an audience. In the early 1930’s when motion picture or film was in its infancy a rating system had not yet been thought of. Instead all films were required to be scrutinized by a censorship board, and be given approval or rejected. In the Particular Applications of the Lord-Quigley Code Proposal there are suggestions of such a rating system. However, since the technology was not available at the time Quigley’s solution was more brash.He suggested that morally disputed films be only distributed to certain theaters and only be presented to adult viewers. Those types of films were limited to adults because they are more emotionally developed; mature. This could be called a precursor for the modern ratings system. The idea being that obscene films are limited to adult audience; the modern equvilant rating known as Restricted(R). The code implies that all audiences could see acceptable films. Today a rating of lesser degree is given for such films; General audiences(G). However, today specific theaters are created for particular forms of film, so Quigley’s code does still live with us in modern day film industry. We know it as the Rating system. 

Individual Response to Hays Code – Patricia

while reading the Hays office Code i was almost taken aback by how much was NOT allowed in any films and how particular hays was in what was allowed in films. In this particular part of the code, the regulations on sin and evil and crimes against the law are clearly outlined. I feel like they were sheltering the public way too much from seeing realistic events that were taking place at the time. I feel like the whole idea about having specific age related audiences was a very good “rule” that the film makers needed to abide by.

I definitely agree with the fact that Villon’s shouldn’t necessarily be glorified, but i do believe that the character needs to be consistent throughout the entire film. For instance in Scarface the end was altered from him going out in a “blazing glory” to him giving into the law. This alteration was completely out of Camonte’s character which through the viewer for a loop.

When reading the acceptions or prohibitions on crimes against the law i had to constantly remember what time period this was written in. During the 1930’s film making was still relitively new to the public. It was believed that it could strongly influence it’s audience in whatever they were viewing. i believe that a film almost needs to have some of these components in order for people to get the full affect of the movie. whether it be trying to get across to the audience how horrific drug trafficking is or how sometimes getting revenge when you have been wronged can be justified. I just think that now this code is definitely out of date.

1st Am. and Va. Declaration – Patricia

When Scarface was being produced, it was a pretty conservative era. Many things were taboo, much less made into movies to be seen on the big screen. This movie was by far the first of its kind so like with any new thing, it’s going to have to be the one that creates the boundaries. Being that there hadn’t been a movie as socially shocking and brutal in nature as this one, there had never been a need for the Hays office to have already created these boundaries. I believe the movie was so upsetting to critics and citizen groups because it was very realistic about what was going on during the time of the gangster, and many people didn’t want to see that or have that presented to the public or the youth. In general gangster movies were upsetting because of their violent nature and many people believed that if the public was able to view this type of lifestyle they may get ideas that it was being glorified and try to pursue on similar.

I think in a way the editing that was done on scarface was against the 1st amendment. the first amendment states that congress isn’t allowed to take away the freedom of speech and that people are able to assemble peacfully. If coungress isn’t able to take away some one else’s freedom of speech than i see the editing that the Hays office did on Hawks and Hughes own personal work against the amendment. even though the Hays office is not tied into congress, they are below congress and i feel that if someone above the Hays office doesn’t have the right to “restrict” ones words than the office itself does not have the right to do so.

I feel as if the editing that we see in the history of the making of the film scarface is not consistent with democratic principles at all. In the 12th section of the bill of rights it says that freedom of press is one of the biggest strongholds of our freedoms and liberties as Americans. the script to a movie is, in my opinion someones own writing, opinions, and “press.” i feel that the Hays office is in no position to change the script around so dramatically like they did.

Tony Camonte- Scarface

The first 45 minutes of the movie “scarface” was the first time I had been exposed to the classic gangster movie. It was very interesting for me to watch the 1932 film directed by Howard Hawks and compare it to our modern day movies where special effects and computer animation dominate the screen. The facial expressions were so much more important to pay attention to in “Scarface” in order for you to get the mood of the moment, or to get a sense of the characters personality.

 

By just watching the first 45 minutes of this movie I was able to see that Tony Camonte was going to the most memorable character form the movie. He has a very defiant personality and he also comes across as someone who thinks of themselves as invincible. However, at the same time he also has of self- control. I was able to get a better sense of Tony’s character due to the fact that there wasn’t too much going on in each scene. You were able to see his disregard to authority in the Barber shop when he was slow and nonchalant in regards to the police. His sense of invincibility when he went about barking orders to saloon owners, and when he was whistling while he shot Louise he seemed to be stating that he had no care in the world because he knew he was above the law and nothing would come of it.

 

When I was comparing the classic 1932 film with the movies of today there were a lot of things that I noticed. Even though I am not someone that I would really consider a movie critique, I still picked up on a few things. In the older movies the actors had to be very talented in portraying their characters personalities through their facial expressions and the viewer could almost get a lot more from them because they weren’t distracted by a lot of other things going on. I almost felt like a “fly on the wall” during parts of the movie because of the filming technique, for instance in the news paper office. “Scarface” was also very believable because there weren’t all these special effects or people doing all these crazy stunts, it was just real people using the real talent of acting. I’m actually looking forward to finishing off this classic.

Intorduction- Patricia

Hey Eng. 302 my name is Patricia and I’m a junior. I used to go by Pattie, but I would prefer to go by Tricia or Trish either one is fine. I got a little tired of the Pattie- Mayo or hamburger Pattie for obvious reasons. I’m from a little town called Gloucester, Va., which is about 3 hours south of here, so I’m not a huge fan of this cold weather. I transferred from Radford University to GMU the spring semester of my freshman year, and for the most part I’m glad I did. I was a rower here at mason and also all through high school. After switching my major about 3 times I have finally decided on Physical Education, and I love it. I work at LIFETIME fitness right now, so I like to stay busy and I love being in that kind of an environment. I like to think I’m out going and approachable so feel free to say HI!