We had a class today on cinema censorship in the USA during the classical Hollywood Era (1934-1968) and the Hays Code, and I thought it would be depressing af, but it strangely gave me hope.
It explains. SO MUCH on how (usamerican) media is coded TO THIS DAY, and how queer people are NOT crazy for reading into things SPECIFICALLY coded to be read as such.
Anyway, the reason it gave me hope was; puritanical critics were the exact same then as today, outraged about the same exact nonsensical things (Alfred Hitchcock shot a batshit insane crazy disturbing sex scene which was SURE to be flagged just so he could keep ANOTHER scene in the movie which was .....*drumroll*.... someone throwing something away in the toilet, which was a crucial point in the plot but according to the Hays Code... You couldn't show toilet seats. For some reason.)
And people STILL made stories with queer characters INTENTIONALLY. Not even stories about queerness! Just stories, with queer people in them.
In the movie Ben Hur (William Wyler, 1959), about, roughly, two childhood friends ending up on opposite sides of the political spectrum, the actor playing Messala (the friend) was told explicitly: "your character is gay and in love with Ben Hur, act accordingly." In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope", the two characters discuss how they killed their classmate and it's the gayest fucking thing I've ever witnessed and nothing is being said outright.
People still made movies about drugs, violence, queerness, despite it being prohibited by the Hays Code, which was starting to be seriously enforced from 1934 onwards, thanks to the fanatic in charge of the censorship board.
People STILL made THE MOVIES, found ways around the censorship for some, fought it outright for others. And eventually, the censorship was lifted.
Censorship makes expressing ourselves harder, but in turn it just makes us cleverer. Times being as they are, I'll try to remember that, going forward.
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