Hays Production Code's Impact on Vertigo Essay

Hitchcock makes use of a number of techniques in Vertigo and brings them together to make a film that is considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces. Through the use of colour, lighting, camera movement, dialogue and characterisation, Hitchcock produces a film that fascinates and intrigues us.

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

The code prescribed punishment for various crimes to include lying, stealing, kidnapping, murder, fraud and bribery with the highest punishment of death being recommended for many actions considered to be criminal. Such crimes included

The film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shots, costumes, music and dialogue to effectively tell the story.

Making a Murderer did more than entertain viewers, but it also convinced some viewers that Avery and Dassey were innocent

The Motion Picture Production Code, commonly known as the Hays Code, was adopted in March 1930, though it was not truly enforced until four years later in 1934. This set of rules had tremendously influenced the way Hollywood movies were made for a number of years. This code was based on the ethics and norms if that time. There were three main principals of the Hays Code. The first was no picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standard of those who see it. What was meant by this was that sympathy should not be portrayed towards crimes, wrongdoings, evil or sins. The second stated that only a correct standard of living could be presented that are only subject to the requirements of drama and

To understand why the fall of the production code was so prolific to the film industry one must first understand the production code and how it worked. This was a code that regulated what filmmakers could say, what kind of content their films could contain, and introduced an early version of the rating system that we know today. This kind of censorship was as detrimental to this art form as censorship can be. With a media as widespread as film, so many people see it on average that it can largely change a perception of a population or keep

H.H. Holmes personifies the stereotypical murder. Throughout his killing spree, Holmes pretended to be a gentleman, even marrying some of his victims. When Holmes was interrogated later, he described himself as Satan.(6) Using a friendly outward appearance, Holmes was able to escape suspicion when the victims’ family questioned disappearances. Holmes gave those families false hope that the victims would be found, or had just run away and had not died. When in reality Holmes had brutally murdered each one and hid all of evidence.

Hitchcock explained the reason for filming a woman wearing only her under garments in the opening sequence of Psycho: "Audiences are changing....The straightforward kissing scene would be looked down at by the younger viewers....Nowadays you have to show them as they themselves behave" (Hitchcock 1). The director was keenly aware of how audiences responded to his films (Rebello 163) and sought to maintain their interest. He was among a handful of Hollywood filmmakers who deliberately sought out innovative composers (Nowell-Smith 258); for Psycho, Hitchcock hired Bernard Hermann who wrote a modern score which challenged the norm. The title itself, fifties and sixties slang for the violently psychotic, suggested the imminence of a new generation (Brill 200).

During the early years of Hollywood, films had very few regulations on how they can be made. From 1922 till 1930, people were outraged at Hollywood that they have no rules on how they should make films. In response, religious groups were editing movies for their local communities to make them save for their standards. Eventually the government started to talk about enforcing rules that would censor Hollywood movies for the public. To stop that from happening, Hollywood enforced their own rules called the Motion Picture Production Code or the Hays Code.

On May 21, 1924, two highly intelligent university scholars from Chicago, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, executed their highly-calculated plan for the cold-blooded murder of a distant relative of Loebπs, 14-year old Bobby Franks. As students of Nietzscheπs philosophy, Loeb and Leopold had set out to commit the ≥perfect murder≤ in order to actualize the belief that they were of an elite group, superior to the common man, to whom the standard moral code did not apply. So infamous is the story of their murder and eventual detainment that it has become entrenched in American popular culture, with numerous books and films aspiring to recreate it in vivid detail. Amongst these, Alfred Hitchcockπs Rope

Though he is tricked, he believes that due to his vertigo he lets her die which could represent how he was hesitant to commit to her. Moreover, it is Scottie’s fear of heights that makes him lose the women that he loves. Through this theory, along with Freud’s, Hitchcock better shows the fear of commitment in men. This shows a deeper understanding than that of many, during this era as when the movie was filmed (1958) and the nuclear family was evident. Men and women were supposed to be married and not have any feelings for anyone outside their marriage.

Despite being well educated and portraying an All-American image, serial killers have a psychotic side to them. Hannibal Lecter showed this side of him when he killed two prison guards. Not only did he murder them but he ate some of their body parts and even carved out the face of one of them to use as a way of disguising himself when he escaped from prison. Earl Brooks murdered in such a cold hearted way. Evidence of this is

Dr Crowe. A year passes and he is signed on to a boy called Cole Sear

Hitchcock, the director points it out to the audience as he concentrates on Jeff focusing on what’s happening inside his neighborhood. Allowing the audience to stay focused, as we become voyeurs watching the various dramas unfolding. Moreover, Alfred Hitchcock has unlimited technical brilliance with a boundless ability to portray a story in a very distinctive manner. Using the techniques of dramatic variation of size to achieve other desired emotions from the audience, by cutting from long shots to extreme close ups. The story line in the film revolves around voyeurism, guilt, friendship, and sexuality. Moreover, the editing techniques in the film raise attention to the events that unfold in front of us. The shots in the movie are edited in a relatively subjective style. According to Hitchcock “Editing shouldn’t be in terms of "cutting" but rather in terms of "assembly" or "Mosaic’’ (Hitchcok, 1963, p.4). Therefor, Montage is the process or technique of selecting and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous sequence. When two shots juxtapose in such a way it gives the third shot another meaning. This is one classic examples of Alfred Hitchcock’s way of thinking. The voyeurism practiced in the film makes the audience conscious of why the protagonist is behaving in a certain