Of course the Hays code wasn’t really self imposed. Cities and states were already imposing various layers of censorship on the motion picture industry and the fed was threatening to step in. The MPPDA created the code to keep the fed away and as a way to make sure they complied with most of the state and local regulations.
Even withthe Hays Code the motion picture industry was very good at working around it. The exploitation film genre was made to drive through one of the loopholes in the Hays Code, which allowed you to show “naughty” things so long as there was a “strong message” in the movie. The distributors for these movies (now often cult classics like Reefer Madness) knew the truth about their audience, they were looking for the sexy stuff. It’s pretty amazing to see what these guys were getting away with in the mighty Hays Era, full on nudity, sex, violence, but it was all OK with the Hays Office because there was a message.
The reality of the “clean” period of Hollywood is that it was all a lie. It really wasn’t self imposed, it really wasn’t clean, and it really caused a lot of idiotic censorship to movies that couldn’t find a way to sell the Hays people on their stories message. Nobody who really knows about it wants to go back to that era, and the people who chime about how wonderful it was really need to study up, the golden era you want to go back to never actually happened.
I don't understand why people who don't like the Sopranos find it necessary to come on a Sopranos thread and start harping on how they hate the show, have never watched it or never liked it, or how it should be banned. This happens a lot on message boards all over the internet; not just here on FR. You know, I don't particularly care for country music, but I don't go on country music threads and start posting about how much I hate country music, or whether certain songs should be banned. Let it go, people; we get it, you don't like the Sopranos; let the people who like the show and watch it regularly discuss the show without being berated by those who dislike it.
The beauty of an open forum like this is that you can freely post on any subject you like; you have that 'right' (not a constitutional right, FR is an independent, non-government board); but I also have the right to come out and criticize any petulant and redundant postings of people who really have nothing better to do than to go on discussion subjects and tell everybody how much they hate that discussion.