Complicated Women: Pro-Immorality, pro-feminist, and VERY exaggerated!

[cjrogan2003]

It's been about seven months since this aired, but I recently watched it again and I hate it. Most of all, I think "Complicated Women" was full of shear dishonesty, half-truths and exaggerations. But most of all, the real reason why I hated "Complicated Women" was because it never condemned the immorality that was presented in these pre-code movies, in fact, it celebrated them! Jane Fonda, ever an un-American, spoke in unbelievable terms about the ladies: "five fun and sexy-filled years...in Design for Living, Miriam Hopkins finds a new freedom...little to any of them, this freedom was about to end...for decades, the pre-code legacy was buried, a modern treasure...we are surprised how things are still the same", and so on. Mick LaSalle is also apparently a lover of immorality, as he frequently uses the word "fun" and "happy, liberated woman" in his book. He's not as ridiculous and obnonxious as in his book, but his most absurd is his outburst about the end of "The Flame Within", in which Ann Harding, a "modern, sophisticated woman" is subjected to this "twisted, demented ending." Come on! But the real crown to the obnonxious in this book has to go to that infantile Molly Haskell. She has the world's most annoying voice, and complains bitterly how the biggest legacy of the Code was that "all this freedom women were finding...with their bodies, happiness, it was a whole new dimension that was suddenly gone" and shakes her head in disbelief.

 

Come on! This documentary is absolutely ridiculous! The Production Code was NOT censorship at all, it was self-regulation. The segment about Joseph Breen and the Legion of Decency was played with upbeat, almost "Dragnet" style music. This stuff about women hating the Code and losing their jobs because of it has never been confirmed. LaSalle says, in his book, that the Code is "anti-art...anti-woman". There were no "30 years of tyranny", and it was not a terrible time. But to Fonda, Haskell and LaSalle, "fun, freedom and happiness" is sin, immorality and licentiousness, and that is a clear violation of the Production Code.

[cjrogan2003]

Sorry, I meant in the "documentary", not in the "book" about the Molly Haskell line.

[classicsfan1119]

At first, I wondered why you would choose a TV Documentary made in 2003 to discuss here, but once again it seems perfectly clear that it's only to foist your own viewpoints about "immorality" and "feminist perspectives" on us. In your "subject line", you once again announce this by your use of the words "Pro-", which is of course the exact opposite of "Anti-"....especially as used in "Anti-feminist".

 

Granted, this TV documentary was in fact "exaggerated", and unfortunately attempted to make it's point by looking at the best of the Pre-Code works, and the worst of the Post-Code works. By the way, Breen's code most certainly was about "censorship", so please don't lose track of that fact if you wish to discuss it without your personal bias.

[alix1929]

Absolutely the Code was about censorship! To the best of my memory, I recall that if the movie industry didn't watch itself and what it put out for public viewing, a very vocal group threatened to boycott the movies. Ah ha...the almighty dollar! The Code was written to placate the many people who objected to the material that was being brought to their local theatres. Yes, I know the Production Code was in effect before the stock market crash, but between 1929 and 1934 most producers/directors simply paid lip service to the "do's," "don'ts," and "be careful abouts." We also need to remember there was no rating system like the one we have today, so viewers were not always able to decide if a movie was too adult-orientated or offensive for them to see. So who decided if a story was too offensive--the Breen office, by enforcing the Production Code. This certainly sounds like censorship to me.