Honors Projects

Author(s)

Emma HobackFollow

Abstract

Through the analysis of twelve films, I looked to see how the creation and dissolving of the Motion Picture Production Code impacted women’s representation on screen. I looked at six films from the pre-Code era of film (1930-1934) and six films from the newly defined post-Code period (1968-1972). In this paper, I break down the Production Code itself and conduct genre research. The romantic comedy sub-genre was selected for this project. The romantic comedy creates a space for women to have leading roles and have comedy make fun of or reinforce gendered stereotypes. This paper looks at how women went from being the center of a film in the pre-Code era, to simply an object of interest in the post-Code era in the romantic comedy sub-genre.

Department

Honors Program

Major

Communication

First Advisor

Dr. Cortland Rankin

First Advisor Department

Theatre and Film

Second Advisor

Dr. Tiffany Knoell

Second Advisor Department

Popular Culture

Publication Date

Spring 4-22-2024

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