My favorite description of the Hayes Code was "Catholic censors teaming with Jewish filmmakers to make movies for a Protestant audience."

One of the reasons big budget movies based on stories from the Bible were so popular under the Hayes Code was that the adherence to Biblical accuracy could be used as a way around the code, allowing way more sex and violence than normal.

“What made you censor basic human rights?” Blizzard: “Money.” Oh, how the censorship has turned...

Can't wait for J.J. to drop the hot new Prog Rock album that he's obviously making given that hair.

Only true fans remember a shaved JJ talking about censorship with the National Post

Censorship: If it's something you like, it's 1984. If it's something you hate, it's based and redpilled.

I love JJ’s countries/cultures content-that’s why I subscribed to the channel in the first place, but I must say that I’m really enjoying his more recent art/media centric videos. I think it’s cool how he manages to get me interested in stuff that never really interested me beforehand. Keep up the good work!

If you ever make a part 2, I'd suggest you talk about the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center), that is responsible for the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" that appears in many records. In the 1980's they began to target many rock and heavy metal bands for their "filthy music" and even had a senate hearing where Dee Snider, Frank Zappa and John Denver testified against it.

McCollugh with a moustache like that looks like he’s about to tie people to railroads

One of the quaint things during Catholic Ireland was that the Monty Python's "Life of Brian" was banned for a few years for being offensive to Christians.

As soon as JJ uploads my whole Saturday becomes a whole lot better.

lol I remember being a kid and calling in to the Nintendo hotline to complain about the often hypocritical standards they had. For instance we had a blood-free Mortal Kombat because Nintendo said "no blood." Meanwhile they also said "no religious symbols" but the background of Sagat's stage in Street Fighter 2 is a giant Buddha statue.

I remember buying a whole lot of Vertigo (a “mature audiences” imprint for DC) comics in the early 2000s and I think I maybe got questioned once--and the comic book store clerk went “eh, it’s probably fine” to a 13 year old buying a volume of The Sandman

Yes, there should be a "not safe for people over 60" rating on the interwebs

the president of motion picture assoication Jack Valenti cameoed on popular 90's cartoon Freakazoid

Breen is still the most powerful man in Hollywood in my heart. Just not the same Breen.

Good video JJ. Music also has an interesting history of censorship

I think the dungeons and dragons scare is also a relevant part of the story, and I know for a fact that music has consistently been an important part of the discussion, with everything from jazz to rock and roll to hip hop being feared and censored at some point or another.

I really want to be in that room that jj films in to look at all the little trinkets and culture references he has laying around. Seem like such an interesting room

I wonder if the Comic book code is the primary reason modern Western cartoons are almost exclusively aimed at children or comedies. Japan draws heavily from Manga to produce Anime with more adult themes, whereas in the West when cartoons originally drew from comics it tended to be mainly child/superhero focused. The Simpsons kind of broke this mold with a cartoon with more adult comedic themes, but most subsequent cartoons aimed at an older audience have stuck firmly in the comedy genre, rather than branching out into other genres. It's a sad to think that these codes, while initially good intentioned, stifled a lot of creative development.

This is very underrated. Ratings is definitely the way to go. We should be able to pick and choose what we want to see on platforms.

It has been said that the Hays Code effectively required predominantly Jewish movie producers to teach Roman Catholic morality to Protestant America.

I wonder if that restriction against protraying the other in a bad way was also for the Japanese.

I think it's worth mentioning that "Fatty" Arbuckle was acquitted. It's almost universally agreed nowadays that he didn't do it.

There was a big stir a couple of years ago about the fact that KZfaq actually had a secret rating system for channels and videos, not sure if that's still a thing, but advertisers were allowed to select which videos could play their ads by age rating (M, G, PG 13 etc). Not sure of that's still a thing or not though.

i heard a anecdote that in a movie screening one of the censors watching an scene said: If this is a ball gown ok but if this is a night gown you have to cut it out .

The amount of research that goes into your videos as well as your emotional and political neutrality when discussing controversial topics is really inspiring and quite a relief from all the other videos on KZfaq. It’s why I keep coming back and watching your videos, even if it *seems* like a topic that I wouldn’t find interesting.

I think a rating system that the creator can self-impose is a good way of going about it. Newgrounds does this and I haven't seen anyone make a fuss about that.

I'll never forget watching the scene from the Matrix where Neo murders like 12 security guards and police, and the only part that was censored was when one of guards before dying says “Sh$t.

I can always sense a JJ upload within a minute. 😂

Fun fact: "Publishing a Crime Comic" was prohibited under the Criminal Code of Canada up until 2017 (or thereabouts). I'm not sure if it was ever enforced, but it clearly was a law written to respond to the moral panics of several decades before.

I just found your channel and I have to say I absolutely LOVE your content! You're charismatic, passionate and the best thing overall is how educational you are without over sensationalizing or click-baiting like other content creators that do similar categories of videos =)

I'm honestly surprised they haven't put ratings on internet content.

As a German, censorship especially around videogames was very prevalent for a long time. Wolfenstein releases had the Nazis replaced by "The Regime", led by Hitler without a mustache. South Park Stick of Truth put black bars on top of the swastikas and Nazi salutes of the Nazi zombies. GTA SA removed headshots and the ability to gain money from killing pedestrians. HOI4 doesn't show an image of Hitler but just a shadow, while some Civilization releases replaced him with Franz von Papen. Some online multiplayer games even were incompatible to global releases. Games with Nazi symbolism or excessive violence landed on an "Index", which prohibited over-the-counter sales and advertisements. So for a long time, it used to be quite common here to get "uncut" releases from Austria or the UK. This changed a while ago though because it is now similarly treated like movies or art. The media used to use a term similar to "murder simulator" as well, called "Killerspiel" (killer game).

This might be my favorite video you've made, JJ. The way you compared censorship through the decades was interesting, but your comparison to current anxieties regarding social media really grabbed my attention. Great work!

Came across your channel in the last couple of weeks, I don't think I've seen a more engaging, well produced and informative channel on KZfaq.

This was a good analysis! Also with regard to the Hays Code, certain relationships were not allowed to be depicted on screen, including miscegenation (i.e. mixed couples) and non-heterosexuals. Boy, how times change.

"13:00 it's strange that the killing off of horror/crime comics isn't really mourned today..." Not sure about that- I'm not American, but I'm a comics fan, and in comics circles, tge Comics Code is pretty universally seen as a bad thing, and especially in the 'indy comics' (or, everything except Marvel/DC superheros) scene, it's common opinion that the Comics Code single-handedly killed a potential rennaissance in American comics, for adults- EC (the main company making horror/crime comics, essentially targetted and killed by the Code- the people who made 'Tales From The Crypt', 'Vault of Horror', etc) are still hugely respected, as producing much more innovative, mature content, and often better quality, than the superhero stuff. In fact, the whole genre of "Independent Comics" was basically a response to the Code, and the death of EC, with small, innovarive artists who made more mature work, starting underground comics like 'Zapped' or 'Skull Comics', and later whole brands like Fantagraphix or Dark Horse, outside of Code standards, with guys like Robert Crumb, Vaugn Bode, Dan Clowes, etc. American today woulf probably accept comics as a medium for adults, with a huge industry behind it, same way Japan thinks of manga, if the Comics Code hadn't (almost) reduced comics down to ONLY superhero books, and 'funny papers' for kids, thru the late 20th century. Tl-dr.It absolutely WAS a goddam tragedy, to be mourned... (but also resulted in some good stuff, in a round-about way)

Your commentaries are always so informative! Keep it up

I love your content! I love deep dives on unique topics, it’s very entertaining!

I just noticed one of my local theaters at 0:51! Neat!

Funny how we're now at a point where any corporation pretending they know what good morals are will be almost instantly met with mockery. Good video JJ.

Never heard of the book The Ten Cent Plague, but even from just you holding it I could tell that Charles Burns did the cover. Amazing

I love this channel. Its such a breath of fresh air that balanced even if I don't really agree with everything here.

I dont understand people who click on a video really early just to dislike it

Id love to watch a video on censorship in the name of defending the nationstate, like how Belgium banned pro-Dutch papers to defend its own national identity

JJ I love your content! You have a way of taking a topic that is not inherently interesting at first glance and proving otherwise!

food for thought JJ... always enjoy.. well done

J.J. Greetings from free Florida. Great content as per the norm.

"Your attention please. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the part of J J McCullough will tonight be played by … Doug Henning. thank you and enjoy the show."

Thanks J.J. for the super informative video!

Now that we in America have ceased the comics code. It nice to see Horror and Crime comics have come back and whilst not as popular like pre CC. The fact they’ve come back as an option of genre is still great.

Movies, comics and videogames have proven ratings do work. I remember a story where Saving Private Ryan was banned in India because of the violence, until the man in charge of censorship watched it and decided to unban it.

Sliced bread was 1st introduced in 1928. Bread sales soared because of the ease it could be used for sandwitches, etc. By 1933 Wonderbread was offering 'thick & thin' slicked bread in the same sliced loaf. Life couldn't be better. Between 28 Jan and 08 March 1943, sliced break was made illegal in NY as a 'War Woke' enconomy measure. Still can't get thich & thick slices in the same loaf.

Great articulation of this subject and informative. It's hard to find material that encapsulates this subject in a short amount of space.

I don't know why I love hearing this man talk, but I do.

You wonder if censorship is likely to come back. It never went away.

I'm more interested the restricting the algorithms than imposing ratings. People finding stuff on their own is one thing, force feeding people toxic content on a super human scale is madness.

JJ that book about the Hays code sounds amazing. It sounds like I need to pick it up.

I can't speak for non-comic fans, but when speaking to other comic book fans, the question of whether or not, or to what degree the comics code led to homogenization of the US comic book market gets brought up quite a lot. A number of comic fans think that the comics code killing horror and crime books decades ago is a big reason why non-superhero books are less common in the US market today as opposed to European and Asian comic markets.

Gotta add the moustache back to your logo!

I feel that movie ratings & television ratings would work best on KZfaq, than to impose a Hays Code.

I think an issue with applying a ratings system to internet platforms is that there is so much content being posted by so many people. The only way to enforce it on everything would be algorithmically, yet algorithms have no inherent ethics, as ethics are difficult to quantify analytically. Logically then, the way to properly enforce ethics would be by humans, which would grind content release to a halt.

Great work! Please keep it up.

JJ, ur going to have a new most viewed video in some hours, the Philippine flag is going to surpass the national anthem

I'd say I'm inclined to be quite anti-censorship, but the idea of a ratings system on social media generally sounds pretty amazing. Obviously there's an issue of content production, but creators could self-rate, and those ratings could be flagged for review if the audience thought they were wrong. The problem might then be that, in order to prevent most people from rating their gorey sex talk as "K: for All the Kids," youtube might have to punish creators for getting their rating wrong, which in turn could lead to bad situations for gray-line videos. Documentaries might also face issues - anything discussion the Holocaust in a purely factual manner already deals with this, and I wonder how a KZfaqbot might calibrate this. So I love the idea and think it could solve many problems, but I can imagine the implementation as a bit nightmarish for creators and the platform.

Another great topic JJ!

Another great video! I really appreciate the research and historical context you put into the topics you present, and the concise yet understandable way you present them. As a kid, I was very frustrated with Nintendo's censorship, coming to a head with Mortal Kombat for the SNES in 1993. The SNES version had superior graphics and sound to the Genesis version, but my friends and I always wanted to play the Genesis version instead because it wasn't censored. I now understand that Nintendo, as the industry leader, was just trying to get ahead of the censorship train for its industry before it left the station. I am still frustrated with their approach, but more understanding of how it happened. Well done!

I believe there’s some form of “ratings” on KZfaq videos in that you have to identify if your video is for a kids’ audience. Not necessarily suitable for kids, which is what a ratings system would do, but if it’s produced and meant for kids.

This video is rated “R” for “Really Good”.

Ratings on YT videos is a great idea, and you’re right, it hasn’t been tossed around much yet.

Incredible last question (youtube ratings) you raised there J.J. ! Love your content !!!

Did you know that the Comics Code came to Britain when children had a IT styled encounter with a tall vampire with iron teeth in Glasgow at the Southern Nercopolis with people believing the kids whom had weapons the vampire was a shared delusion birthed from the popular Gothic horror comics at the time.

Rated M for Mustache

Thanks jj for another great video

This is an issue very important to you JJ. I hadn't considered there might be a ratings system. I'd definitely be down for one but imagine it would be tricky to establish who is big enough to need a rating

Very interesting! The issue with vaguely worded guidelines is that it’s pretty easy for someone to censor you for political reasons. You might be Left wing or right wing-if your views are deemed inconvenient then an excuse will be found.

Dude, Having a KZfaq content rating system for more direct ages up would minimize the amount of unnecessary censorship needed for a creator's demographics. It isn't the end all to be all solution perhaps. But it would be a welcomed step forward for coppa, large broad sweeping age gating, shadow suppressing, and leave less room for biased strikes/demonization. Smaller and more precise rating measuring tools would easily be best for everyone. Also probably tags for more subjective topics people may be interested in or trying to avoid. Tags you can turn on or off in some easily accessible feed settings off to the side. Like for instance, some times I want to see what politics are happening around me and some times I just need a break for the unrelenting barrage of rage that can come from that subject. _(Though we should be careful to not strengthen ideologic bubbles people already find themselves sorted into by an algorithm, admittingly in my opinion.)_ *BUT I WOULD AVOID* audience ranking systems because people already use the like and dislike buttons for targeted trolling campaigns. We should not give trolls the power to suppress what they do not like. *ALSO* we should distinguish the difference between a tag relating to the main topic of the video and just a passive mentioning. We should not be too strick in that regard.

Here in the UK are rating system is U, PG ,12A 15 18. U is universal for all, PG stands for parent guardian so parents might need to sit with their kids. 12 or 12A is anyone under 12 needs an adult I think. When I was young it just used to be 12 which meant no one under 12 could watch and that's what 15 and 18 mean. In regards to KZfaq videos having a rating I don't think it could work unless KZfaq forced people to prove their age and I wouldn't enter my passport stuff on youtube just to watch a vid. I think it would kill off a lot of KZfaq so they probably won't do it... hopefully. Great vid btw JJ 😊

I love the new intro for yourself. Nice job.

The people who blanket argue against the early censorship of film/tv and video games are ignoring the fact that were it not for that censorship the politicians of the day would most certainly have had a much more strict solution given that the average voter, at least those who would write to their congressperson on the topic, wanted pretty severe restrictions on their content. tl;dr censorship might be a little dumb and archaic from our point of view but without it early on these industries likely would have stifled.

KZfaq used to have a warning for mature content before you clicked a video and if you did have an account, or wasn't logged in, you were denied access to a mature video. I don't understand why this went away. With that said, I guess it could be done to have some kind of ratings but the internet enforcement of regulations is still pretty complicated to truly enforce. For example you have enter a birthday to enter a beer brand's website. That doesn't stop an underage kid from changing their birth year to one that is of age.

I don't exactly know how a ratings system could be implemented on social media platforms, but it is definitely an interesting idea that should be looked into.

Very good video. I enjoyed it.

sometimes censorship is a good thing, but it's very hard to do right

R is not “adults only”, it’s no child 17 and under may see see it without accompaniment of someone over 21.

Oh, wow!! Never thought of or had it put this way to me before, great content I believe it could work I know implementing it would be more difficult but if we can figure that part out then yeah it could.

I recall an early comic I read which featured bugs in a junk filled open field. I didn't see it as exceptional at the time, but in retrospect I later realized that the dialogue was rhymed iambic pentameter. I don't remember much else about it. I also recall a comic which tried to compete with the 3D comics but didn't require colored glasses. Instead they used drawings which broke through the four walls and were on a black page background.

I always thought a content rating rather than an age rating was appropriate. Like: This content is rated Catholic. or This content may not be suitable for transgendered individuals. or This content contains graphic depictions of 20 year old baked goods. etc.

Using ratings for KZfaq videos is actually a really smart idea, we already have these super smart AI that can recognize certain things that may be unsuitable for children and such and instead of just demonetizing content that may have gore you just give it a mature rating

JJ I love your content!

Really appreciate your use of song of storms of all things to represent nintendo as a whole. It’s a banger and I feel represents them just as well as something like the Mario theme

Sounds like some of this was due to parents or government schools was too lazy to teach kids about what's real or not.

As humans we really enjoy pornography! Call it “art” and you can get away with it anywhere with or without censorship!😂

One of the most interesting round of rating systems being put in place was that trial where the supreme court or whatever had multiple music artists in the 80's and the lead singer of twisted sister came in wearing this really typical hair metal look and still made a mockery of the trial

I had come to the same conclusion about social media ratings systems. I think it's the best way forward.

JJ your opinion about Bernier being arrested?

Hello there

9:35 that guy sounds like a super villain, I mean, just a little, but still it’s there.

Hello from Texas, love your content! 🤠