Hollywood these days seem to be allowing more leeway for films to tackle 'taboo' subjects. Just in the last few years there's been Nymphomaniac and its take on sex addiction, the portrayal of slavery and racism in 12 Years A Slave, and the tasteful way lesbians and the LGBT community were handled in Blue is the Warmest Colour. With such controversial subject matter being tackled head-on these days, it can be said that Hollywood is finally growing less prudish and more open to touchy subject matter. But was Hollywood really prudish? Proving that time really is a flat circle, you would be surprised to know that during the classical period of Hollywood during the 1910s to the 1950s, filmmakers didn't shy away from anything. Some even tackled topics and themes that would probably cause a bit of an uproar today. Before the Hays Code (Hollywood's own morals regarding what can and can't be shown on film) was brought in during the 1930's, Hollywood films basically had free reign over the creative content without any issue of censorship. Even when the code was brought in, some filmmakers shrugged off the Hays Code as a poor effort attempt at stifling portrayals of sensitive topics and released their films anyway to considerable controversy. With that in mind, here are 10 films from the classical Hollywood era that caused a bit of an uproar back in their day due to their portrayal of sensitive and controversial topics.
My life story is nothing special. I haven't cured ebola, I'm nowhere near stopping terrorism, and I'm still working on that climate change problem.
Instead, all I've done so far is put a few hundred words together in an attempt to make people laugh.
You can follow me at @Fry_ying_pan but don't be offended if I don't tweet back. It's usually because I've spent too long trying to think up a witty response that the reply window has closed.
