Tutorials Video

A History of Film Ratings and Censorship

History · ~16 min

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.

What You Need

No equipment required. This is a reference and context guide, not a hands-on tutorial

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

This guide covers one specific part of the history of media technology. The wider picture — how each link in the chain from capture through transmission to display was actually built, who built it, and why the credit so often landed somewhere else — is in A History of Broadcast Technology: The Chain From Capture to Screen, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

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.