Hollywood's Risque Years: Female Body Exposure in Pre-Code Films

Abstract

<p>Hollywood’s allure has fascinated American audiences since the industry’s inception. To some dismay, the silver screen’s molding influence surpassed that of traditional centers of influence such as home, church, and school (Griffith & Mayer, 1970, p. 191). Hollywood’s power to directly transmit messages to an impressionable population unsettled many over the fear of Hollywood’s ability to perpetuate “immoral behavior.” The classification “Pre-Code” describes movies produced prior to the 1934 implementation of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors’ Code. In this research, we analyzed female body exposure in fifteen Pre-Code films spanning from 1925 to 1934 including: Hula (1925), Glorifying the American Girl (1929), and The Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933).</p>