Module 6 - Big and small screen Unit 6.1 - History and impact: Pioneers of storytelling
1. Say whether the statements are true or false.
1. The first films were long and complex.
2. Griffith introduced ‘continuity editing’.
3. The objective of Griffith’s innovations was to create engaging narratives with more drama.
4. Griffith didn’t use close-ups.
5. The Jazz Singer is a silent film.
6. Gone with the Wind was one of the first films to introduce Technicolor.
7. Censorship was banned by the Hays Code.
8. Capra and Hitchcock shot films during the so-called Hollywood Golden Age.
2. Read the text and match the words in bold to their translation given below.
The Hays Code The Hays Code is a set of guidelines, self-imposed by Hollywood studios, regulating the moral content of films produced from 1934 to 1968. The Hays Code forbade the use of profanity, obscenity, and racial slurs, and included detailed instructions describing how certain topics should be shown on screen, especially condemning graphic violence, criminality, substance use, promiscuity, miscegenation, and homosexuality. It was replaced in 1968 by the motion-picture rating system still in use today. The Code was quite detailed and was revised many times over its lifespan, but it consistently followed three general principles intended to safeguard the “moral obligations” of the motion picture: 1. “No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience shall 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.” The Code included lists of words that could never be used in spoken dialogue and provided specific guidelines on how filmmakers could depict potentially controversial subjects. In some cases, the Code totally prohibited any depiction of a certain topic. For example, the original 1930 version of the Code completely excluded showing “illegal drug traffic”, “methods of smuggling”, “excessive and lustful kissing”, “white slavery” (sex trafficking and prostitution), and any “sex relationship between the white and black races”. In other cases, the Code allowed movies to include dishonourable behaviour but only if the film’s plot unequivocally condemned such actions. Over the years various rules were listed in the Code, including: • “abortion shall be discouraged, shall never be more than suggested, and when referred to shall be condemned”; • “the name of Jesus Christ should never be used except in reverence”; • “throughout the presentation, evil and good are never confused and evil is always recognised clearly as evil”; • “the triangle, that is, the love of a third party for one already married, needs careful handling. The treatment should not throw sympathy against marriage as an institution”; • “criminals should not be made heroes, even if they are historical criminals.” Adapted from: https://www.britannica.com/art/Hays-Code