The birth of production code as an American movie censor code and it's effect on film noir until 1948

Hollywood, from the first day of its existence resorts to censor the films by interfering in the content of the movies. Film production companies of Hollywood, as commercial structures, turn to violence and sexuality in the movies in order to survive during the harsh economic conditions of Great Depression. MPPDA, which is constituted of those companies, and PCA, which is formed in 1934, issued codes in order to prevent a federal censorship which is caused by the trend of violence and sexuality. All of the mentioned institutions represent incompatible faces of Hollywood and they are an inseparable whole.In 1934, in order to prevent the conservative groups to call for federal censorship Hollywood felt obliged to conclude an agreement with them. According to this truce self-regulation / censorship will put into practice with a sanction power (which is never given to the former Codes), and in return the conservative groups and communities will give up their efforts for federal censorship and movie boycotts.Production Code (Hays Code), practiced effectively only after four years from its release, had regulated all Hollywood productions until 1948?s Paramount Decision (Supreme Court had decided on for the Hollywood production companies to renounce their screening practices and movie theatres).Films Noir (the first noir film dates to 1941) had never been code-free productions. Even though frequently called `subversive?, `overthrowing?, `critical? and `pessimist? all film noir productions had been overseen by Production Code. Therefore, it?s a necessity to analyse the moral guidance of films noir and for whom and in what aspects those films are considered to be subversive and critical.In the context of this study, it had been concluded that films noir are compatible with traditional Hollywood narration (in which `evil? is always punished and `goodness? is promoted) and are motivated by `good moral? that is dictated by Production Code. Approaching films noir as the code had never been existed, causes to misjudgments and misreadings of traditional Hollywood productions. In fact, a Hollywood production (doesn?t matter if it is a film noir movie or not), particularly until the end of 1940?s, had to convey the conservative moral discourse and reassure the dominant ideology which is determined by Hollywood itself.İngilizce Anahtar Kelimeler:1- Film Noir 2- Censor 3- Production Code 4- Conservative Discourse 5- Punishment