The Hays Code Research

Our next FTV task is to create a Film Noir Short film, and because Film Noir movies were to follow the Hays Code, we, as students, must know the guidelines of the code to follow in our tasks.

(all research from Wikipedia)

The Hays Code, AKA Motion Picture Production Code, was the set of industry moral guidelines that was applied to most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968.

Things that weren't allowed:

1. Pointed profanity – by either title or lip – this includes the words "God," "Lord," "Jesus," "Christ" (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), "hell," "damn," "Gawd," and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled;
2. Any licentious or suggestive nudity – in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture;
3. The illegal traffic in drugs
4. Any inference of sex perversion
5. White slavery
6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races)
7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases
8. Scenes of actual childbirth – in fact or in silhouette
9. Children's sex organs
10. Ridicule of the clergy
11. Willful offense to any nation, race or creed

Production Code abandoned:

By the late 1960s, enforcement had become impossible and the Production Code was abandoned entirely. The MPAA began working on a rating system, under which film restrictions would lessen. The MPAA film rating system went into effect on November 1, 1968, with four ratings: G for general audiences, M for mature content, R for restricted (under 17 not admitted without an adult), and X for sexually explicit content. By the end of 1968, Geoffrey Shurlock stepped down from his post.

Gender Stereotypes Task

This term, we focused a lot on gender roles and stereotypes created and reinforced in media and especially in fairytale and animated Disney films. We were given our task just last week and I made notes just to clarify the task to help me attack the assignment better and with ease. These are those notes:

Task:

Analyse the role that these films have played in creating and reinforcing gender stereotypes

“How disney stereotypes have influenced culture”

Paragraphs

1. Intro
2. Women’s Physical Appearance
3. Women in kitchen/housekeepers
4. Men in general (point out stereotypes)
5. Conclusion

Attributes:

• Personality
• Actions
• Qualities

Roles

• “it is a woman role to do this and a mans role to do this.”

Focus on mainly 2 Disney movies

1. Beauty and The Beast
2. The Little Mermaid

Music Compare and Contrast the movies

Use Text and Quotes from the film

Can quote other sources

Allowed to film yourself

Or record voice in GarageBand & Record a powerpoint

Can hand in Powerpoint, or Keynote, or Video File w/ audio attached 

Start with strongest point and link the paragraphs

The essay must flow

Friday Week 8

Make sure:

• Finish and totally complete a full draft to full extent
• Have linking sentences - Open paragraphs with topic sentence, entire point of statement in para “Disney films a=have a very specific way of portraying women and defining whether they are good or evil”
• You have a bibliography
• Mention the Quote in the task sheet

Beauty and The Beast Notes

WOMEN

Belle:

• Beautiful (Her name french for)
• Small waist
• In cleaning clothes
• Prancing around the fields
• Exposed
• Sings, nice voice
• Didn’t care if a man ignored her or didn’t take part in their conversation “men will be men, they do what they like”
• Very exposed 
• Showing curves
• Loves to read
• Always polite
• Attracts men
• Oblivious
• Not submissive to Gaston, refuses to marry him
• Passionate loves her father
• Willing to give up her freedom for her father
• Seen crying twice
• Adventurous - seeks the west wing even though forbidden
• Eats elegantly with a spoon, not slurping
• Gracefully dances
• Takes care of her Papa
• Small waist
• large eyes
• light skinned

Triplet Blondes:

• In uniform with each other
• Attractive
• Blonde hair
• Girl actions
• Small waist
• Big breasts

MEN

Gaston:

• Buff
• Strong
• Muscles
• Big jaw
• Shoots birds as a sport
• Handsome
• Strong stance and walk
• Conceited
• Gets distracted by his own reflection
• Can pick up 3 women
• “Every last inch of me is covered in hair”
• Thinks he knows everything

Prince/Beast:

Used to be 

• Spoiled
• Selfish
• Unkind
• Handsome
• Strong stance
• Controlling figure 
• Demanding
• Possessive
• Eats very messy, not using cutlery and shoving his face into the bowl
• Has to look nice to impress the princess

Belle’s Papa:

• Inventor
• Creative
• Enthusiastic
• Successful

Animated House Objects

• The necessity objects (Clock, Candles) are men
• The cooking cleaning objects (Teapot, Dust-brush, Wardrobe) are women
• This is a very subtle reinforcement to men women’s jobs around the house
• Teapot: “Oh listen to me, chapping on when theres supper to get on the table”
• Wardrobe: “Well now, what should we dress you in for dinner?”
• The clock and candles are smart so they are the ones to show Belle around the castle
• The dust brush becomes a “sexy’ maid when turned into a human

Overall Notes:

There were so many stereotypes just within the first 5 minutes of the actual movie

• Gaston immediately chooses Belle without having known her personally just by judging on her physical appearance. No matter how much LeFou tries to tell Gaston that she is a little bit weird in personality he still says “She’s the most beautiful girl in town, making her the best.” This indicates that only physicality matters, personality aside.
• When Gaston rudely snatched Belle’s book from her attention, Belle had to kindly and politely ask for it back. This is a representation about how men can be demanding and controlling, and no matter what they do women still have to do what they were taught to do and be polite.
• Gaston: “It’s not right for a woman to read! Soon she’ll start getting ideas and thinking!”
• Gaston intrudes into Belle’s home without her opening the door for him or wanting him to be there. Belle: “Gaston, what a pleasantly surprise” It was obvious that Belle didn’t think it was a pleasant surprise (politeness)

Rest of Movie:

• It seems to be that in every princess movie, the princess is always shown at some point of the movie crying, in this, we saw Belle crying at least 2 times.
• The Prince/Beast sprints to Belle’s room, bashes the door and shouts “Why aren’t you coming to dinner? I told you to come to dinner.” He has a very bad temper “If she doesn’t eat with me, she doesn’t eat at all”
• Beast saves Belle from the wolves, the man is strong and brave enough to save the woman
• Belle looks after and takes care of the Beast when he was hurt from saving her
• Beast provides for Belle - gives her a whole library of books
• Gaston is not strong and buff and neither is Belle’s dad, and they are shown as social outcasts and subdominant characters
• Only the men were set off to kill the beast and the women were to stay home.
• Gaston: “What’s wrong Beast? Too kind and gentle to fight back?” This is a big gender stereotype statement as Gaston is bullying the Beast with words that are very gender representative. He says that men shouldn’t be kind and gentle and must have the ability to fight.
• Gaston and the Beast are fighting for Belle’s love. This says a lot about their values and how much they would go through just to get the girl.
• The main objective for the Beast/Prince at first was to get Belle to fall in love with him so as they can break the spell for him to become human, a very selfish objective. But throughout the movie when the Beast becomes human, he is glad that he had fallen in love with her

The Bachelor

S3 Ep3

Today, in class we watched a bit of The Bachelor S3 Ep3. The media manipulates the reality of the series to show the viewers only the interesting side. Things that I've noticed about the show:

• The Bachelor (the person who the show is all about) is probably the person who is shown the least in the episode. 
• Whereas, the women are the ones fighting for him and their bitchiness towards each other is what makes the show entertaining
• The man is in control (over who he wants to date)
• The women are always in suspense, all wanting to have him
• Only the interesting comments (bitchy, rude, accusations, stirring-the-pot) were shown - In reality, there could have been much more positivity between the women but to make the show interesting, the media only choses to air the "interesting" comments
• (Mostly female) audience could be hypocritical for saying that the show is stupid but watches it for entertainment anyway
• We, as an audience, are positioned not to like any of the ladies but to really like the Bachelor

S3 Ep4

Ladies as a group:

• Intelligent women are portrayed as bimbo's
• They're always for themselves and selfish
• Most of them are really beautiful
• They have a bitchy side
• They 'fake' they're niceness to the other girls just for the game of winning the Bachelor
• The women are always in suspense, all wanting to have him
• Only the interesting comments (bitchy, rude, accusations, stirring-the-pot) were shown - In reality, there could have been much more positivity between the women but to make the show interesting, the media only choses to air the "interesting" comments
• Desperation to date Sam
• Backstabbing/gossip
• It's always the woman fault (being bad, bitchy, running relationships)

Focus on some females in particular:

Heather:

• Heather is the girl that was given the white rose.
• She is funny, down-to-earth, smart, very fun, and quick witted.
• When The Bachelor tells her that she could be going into the friend zone, all of the girls start to get bitchy behind her back, and her personality didn't shine through any more.
• When she is around other girls she isn't as smart and quick-witted like she is around Sam.

Ebru:

• When Heather came back with a rose, Ebru criticised her by saying something along the lines of "I though he'd only see her as a friend".
• Ebro states that a girl like Heather (fun, quick-witted, smart) cannot get an attractive man like Sam
• Thinks heather is a threat
• Puts Heather down to make herself look better

Audience judging:

• Becomes okay to compete for a guy
• It's fine to take away a guy from another girl
• May be saying this is what not to do
• Let's the guys go around and take out heaps of girls (reinforces this "ladies man" stereotype)

Sam:

• Is positioned to seem like a nice guy
• If this was in real life, he shouldn't make the girls suffer 
• Sam is great because he is the prize and everyone wants a great prize
• Only the guy in the good moments
• He may have moments when he questions the show
• He only looks good because the girls place so much emphasis on the girls (being bad) not him (being bad)

Gender Stereotypes in Toys

Lots of supermarkets and toy stores categorise toy sections into:

• Infants
• Boys
• Girls
• Building

Everyone in our class disagrees with this construction because it puts upon stereotypes to people at a very young age.

In my opinion, slowly, the gender stereotypes are fading away because yesterday, I saw an episode with my young sister about an average-looking princess and an average-looking price, and they were singing a song about how the princess is as strong and can do whatever the prince can do.

Challenging Representation

Snow White

White might a female character do that is different from the original?

• Snow White would plot and scheme and plan to kill the evil Queen before she kills Snow White. 
• Instead of running away into a random house, she would build her own house with her knowledge of how to make a treehouse out of things in the forest.
• When Snow White wakes up in the glass coffin, she punches the Prince in the face for being so creepy and runs away.
• Snow White wouldn't let strangers into the house.
• She declines the marriage offer from the Prince and marries whoever she likes. (even if she eventually falls in love with the Prince)

Identify a situation in which she speaks. What might she say?

• When the Dwarfs ask Snow White to look after them and the house, Snow White speaks up and says "You've survived without my help already. You're going to cook and clean for me, I'm the guest. I am royalty."

What might she be rewarded for?

• Saving the day
• Being so heroic 
• Killing the Queen that everybody hated

What qualities would be valued in women?

• Intelligence
• Bravery
• Strength
• Courage
• Independence
• Being opinionated
• Taking care of herself in a challenging situation
• Being assertive
• Having a voice

What might she be punished for?

• For running away all the time and being mysterious

Disney Princess Gender Representation

Since the 1930's, The Disney Corporation has been entertaining families with animated films. This website which I am referring to, http://www.kon.org/urc/v13/ewert.html , studies the movies:

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
2. Cinderella (1950)
3. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
4. The Little Mermaid (1989)
5. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
6. Aladdin (1992)
7. Mulan (1998)
8. Enchanted (2007)
9. The Princess and the Frog (2009)
10. Tangled (2010).

These movies were analysed for its content regarding gender, race, and social class, and the princesses were studied for characteristics and attributes indicating how a "normal" girl looks and behaves.

I found this Pie Chart quite interesting in terms of the fact that Princesses spend most of their time singing and interacting with animals.

What was also interesting was how little character development is put into the male characters. Here is a graph from the same website that demonstrates  how much traits are exemplified in female characters as opposed to male characters.

Although women rates are much higher than mens, 50% is still very little character development.

Selfies - What are they?

I must admit, I am one to take a lot of selfies. I make sure that I look good, I make sure the lighting is right and that I find the perfect angle, but what for? When we see photo's on Tumblr, Instagram or FaceBook of all of these beautiful people (male or female) we have an immediate rush of admiration and an urge to look as good as that.

With all of this technology nowadays, it is easy to hide flaws, and things that you don't want the world to see. This can be a positive, yet negative thing.

Have you ever met someone who looks amazing in their profile pictures and everything they post, but in real life, they look nothing like that? Or maybe it's the other way around; they look even more amazing in real life than you could have ever imagined from just looking at digital pixels put together to make out their face.

Technology and social media can give a very false interpretation and it can be very unhealthy to modern-day relationships between people. Like Tinder, for example. Of course there would have been AT LEAST 1 instance where someone thought that their "perfect match" looked as handsome as Zac Efron, but turned up to the date looking nothing like that.

In my opinion, there are two types of people who take selfies (and these two types can be broken down into little other categories but I'll just stick with the two for now). I totally made these up, and aren't always correct, you may be someone to fit into both of these categories. I know that some days I'm person 1, other days, person 2.

1. Unstable selfie-taker

• The person who takes 1000 selfies in a row, deletes 999, stares at the last one until it gets ugly, tries to use different apps to hide the blemishes 
• Uses 10 different adjustments and filters to make it look better
• This person may even take the brightness down to hide their face a little
• They hardly post selfies, and when they do, it's a really big deal for them and they want to take it down
• Usually oblivious to how beautiful they really are

2. Confident selfie-taker

• The person who likes how they feel, likes how they look and think its a great time to take a selfie, it's a perfect occasion so why not?
• They don't even need that many tries because they don't even care what they look like to every one else
• No filter or adjustments needed "no makeup, no filter xx"
• They post as many selfies as they want and whenever they want because they are confident in how they look
• Usually oblivious to how beautiful they really are

Now there could be other "types" of people who take selfies but I am pretty sure any of them could fit into either one of these two. 

In conclusion, taking selfies is a way that people like to give good impressions of themselves to the social media world. No one likes to be depicted badly, so we try so hard to maintain a certain standard of ourselves that sometimes is unrealistic. (I say "we" because I know I do it, and most likely you do too)