Tutorials Video

A History of Film Ratings and Censorship

By Infinite Creation · History · ~16 min

A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing a video editor and a director reviewing the cut together, with an edit timeline on a large screen, a calibrated monitor, stacked storage drives visible in the frame.

Overview

Film content regulation in the United States moved through a specific arc: early scattered local censorship, then a strict industry-imposed content code that prohibited certain content outright, then a fundamentally different ratings-based system that labels content for audience decision-making rather than prohibiting it, a meaningful philosophical shift, not just a procedural change.

Steps

Early local censorship boards (1900s-1920s)

Before any national industry standard existed, individual cities and states operated their own film censorship boards with inconsistent local standards, creating a genuinely fragmented and unpredictable content landscape for film distributors trying to release a single film nationally.

The Hays Code / Production Code era (1930s-1950s)

The Motion Picture Production Code (commonly called the Hays Code after Will Hays, though formally adopted in 1930 and strictly enforced from 1934), was a self-imposed industry standard prohibiting or heavily restricting depictions of certain content outright. A fundamentally different approach from later ratings systems, since the Code didn't label content for varying audiences, it simply forbade producing certain content for any theatrical release at all.

The Code weakens and collapses (1950s-1968)

Postwar cultural changes, competition from foreign and independent films not bound by the Code, television's different content norms, and a series of legal rulings affirming film's First Amendment protections progressively weakened the Code's enforceability through the 1950s-60s, until the industry replaced it entirely with a new system in 1968.

The modern ratings system (1968-present)

The Motion Picture Association's ratings system, introduced in 1968 and revised several times since (including the introduction of the PG-13 rating in 1984 and NC-17 in 1990), represented a genuine philosophical shift: rather than prohibiting certain content from being produced, it labels a completed film's content and recommends an appropriate audience, leaving the actual viewing decision to audiences (or parents, for younger viewers) rather than to the industry or censors.

Pro Tips

The shift from the Hays Code to the modern ratings system wasn't merely a procedural update. It was a genuine philosophical change from prohibiting certain content outright to labeling content and informing audience choice instead.
PG-13 (introduced 1984) and NC-17 (introduced 1990) were both added well after the base 1968 ratings system launched, in direct response to specific controversies about content falling awkwardly between existing rating categories.
Local, inconsistent city/state censorship boards predating the Hays Code are a useful reminder that a unified national content standard was itself a later development, not a given from film's earliest days.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

Film content regulation moved from fragmented local censorship, to a strict industry-wide prohibition code, to a fundamentally different audience-labeling ratings system, understanding that arc clarifies why ratings boards today function so differently from earlier censorship models.

Quick Timeline

1900s-1920s: Fragmented local city/state censorship boards.
1930/1934-1968: The Hays/Production Code prohibits certain content outright.
1950s-60s: Legal and cultural pressure weakens the Code.
1968-present: Modern ratings system labels rather than prohibits content.

Why This Still Matters

Any creator producing content intended for theatrical or broad distribution today is operating under the audience-labeling ratings model established in 1968, a fundamentally different regulatory philosophy from the outright content prohibition the Hays Code enforced for over three decades before it.

Where This Fits

Ratings govern what reaches the screen, and A History of Broadcast Technology covers how the screen was reached at all.

FAQ

Q: Was the Hays Code a government censorship law?
A: No. It was a voluntary, self-imposed industry standard adopted by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, enforced through the industry's own internal review process rather than by government law, though it developed partly in response to the real threat of government or local regulation if the industry didn't self-regulate.

Q: What's the philosophical difference between the Hays Code and the modern ratings system?
A: The Hays Code prohibited certain content from being produced for theatrical release at all. The modern ratings system (from 1968 onward) doesn't prohibit content but instead labels a completed film so audiences (or parents) can make an informed viewing decision, a shift from content prohibition to content disclosure.

Sources

The text-hosting site and the ratings page below were read. Not checked: the 1984 PG-13 and 1990 NC-17 dates and the court rulings behind the Code's decline, and the original Production Code document was not reached in a library or archive. Checked 7 October 2026.

David P. Hayes, The Motion Picture Production Code, introduction. A private research site that hosts the Code's text. It says the Code was adopted on 31 March 1930, lacked teeth at first, and was enforced much more firmly after the Studio Relations Committee was reconstituted as the Production Code Administration in 1934. It offers the 13 June 1934 and 20 September 1966 versions.
Film Ratings, history of the rating system. The Motion Picture Association's own page. It says the rating system marked its 50th anniversary in 2018, which fits a 1968 start. The page's timeline is an image, so the PG-13 and NC-17 dates were not read from it.