From 1934 onwards, official censorship entered the cinema. During this period, we have a term called the Hays Code and cinema was forced to undergo a kind of forced refinement that significantly affected the content of films.

In the midst of the Great Depression, people were trying to escape the bad state of society and certain films were released during this period that, in addition to being entertaining, acted like collective dreams, perhaps the most famous of which, and which is still seen in various adaptations, is The Wizard of Oz. Watching such films helped people escape poverty, fear and instability.
The 1930s coincided with the emergence of talkies, which refers to talkies. Silent films gave way to sound films and actors had to find a good voice, strong expression and dialogue skills. This change caused many silent stars to step aside and a new generation to emerge.This period saw the emergence of stars who had significant social influence, some of whom are discussed below. Key names from this period include Clark Gable and Greta Garbo.
The five major studios, including Warner Bros., Paramount, and Fox, had complete control over distribution, production, and screening, and actors were given long-term contracts and managed like studio assets. Films were made more like a fast-paced, streamlined production line, all done precisely to make more money.

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During this period, we have something called the Universal monster movies, which symbolized societal fears. Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy became so popular that society seemed to see itself in the faces of monsters and talk to them.
In the 1930s, the image of women was also censored and redefined in a new way.It didn't matter if you wanted to portray a seductive woman or an independent woman.

The most controversial figures of the 30s
Clark Gable is one of the few figures of this period who is still frequently talked about. Clark had a kind of charisma for the audience and experienced very tense relationships in his personal life. There were a lot of rumors behind him and he even managed to have a kind of political influence in society.
Jane Harlow, an actress with platinum blonde hair and seductive roles, died at the age of 26 and there are many rumors about her personal life and the pressures of the film industry.
During this period, a woman named Marlene Dietrich entered the cinema, who mostly wore men's clothes, had anti-fascist political positions and her free lifestyle was enough in itself to make the Hollywood atmosphere of the 30s pay attention to her.But apart from these actors, Hollywood itself was also involved in major issues, all of which came down to censorship and the Hays Code.

In the 1930s, authoritarian characters gained considerable popularity and many critics analyzed that this was a kind of cultural trend towards dictatorship, but to better understand it, one must consider the limitations of this period. It is natural that in a period of restrictions, strange interests awaken.

More about Clark Gable
Clark Gable was exactly one of the figures who fueled the culture of interest in authoritarian characters. He is known as one of the undisputed legends of Hollywood's Golden Age and was given the title of the King of Hollywood.
Gable was married 5 times, but at the same time he was known for his womanizing.He had a romantic relationship with Carole Lombard, one of his few real and deep emotional connections, but with Lombard's tragic death in a plane crash, it became one of the saddest chapters of his life. (Although this is the popular perception of his life story, as the author of this article, I do not believe in the myth of such a man's love.)
There are reports that Gable practically did not say no to anyone and had relationships with many of his female co-stars and has even been accused of abusive and controlling behavior. It is said that he had physical and degrading encounters with some of the female actors, but was never formally held accountable.

Hays Code
The Hays Code was a set of rules for moral and sexual issues, politics, and even the limits of violence that caused films to use symbols, metaphors, and subtext instead of directly depicting many events.Social and gender criticism was often presented in indirect forms; however, cinema continued to be popular. During the Great Depression, escapist genres became popular because people were looking for escape. Adventure films, musicals, and horror films became popular, and monsters, heroes, and fantasy worlds replaced harsh reality.
The main idea of ​​the Hays Code was that films should not lower the moral standards of society. Violence, crime, and moral corruption should not be shown to be attractive or sympathetic. Sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, and racism were strictly prohibited, and foul language, prolonged kissing scenes, and body displays were to be eliminated or limited. Heroizing criminals was prohibited, even if they were historical and real figures.
The Hays Code was also formed to draw attention to the moral scandals in Hollywood in the 1920s.During this period, not only rape, but also murder and addiction cases involving actors were also widely publicized, or at least talked about a lot, which was quite expected and natural, given the weakness of the media at the time

Churches, conservative groups, and politicians threatened to take action if the cinema did not reform, and to prevent government censorship, the studios decided to take action themselves, and Will Hayes, a Protestant minister, was responsible for enforcing this code.

After this incident, films were forced to use subtext and metaphor to express certain issues, and for example, instead of showing a romantic relationship, films would only show a long look or a shadow on a wall. Despite the unpleasantness of the situation, cinema moved towards a more poetic visual language.

The Great Depression
As mentioned, this decade coincided with a great economic depression that lasted from 1929 to the late 30s. Hollywood, like other industries, was hit, and thousands of theaters closed, studios went bankrupt, and salaries were halved.

In the meantime, certain films had the chance to attract a significant audience and their common genre was fantasy and imagination.Musicals, fantasy, and romances acted as a kind of mental asylum. Tickets became cheaper for better marketing, and double screenings and award nights were introduced.
Given the social situation, social genres also gained strength alongside escapist films. These types of films were usually made by studios like Warner Bros.
During the Depression, people didn't have much money for entertainment. In order to attract more audiences, theaters started showing two films back-to-back for the same ticket price, usually showing a big-budget, popular film, followed by a cheaper, lesser-known film before or after it. Audiences saw two films for the same price and felt it was worth it.
This led studios to produce more low-budget films and cast new or declining actors.Award nights were also held on special nights, where the audience was given a cash prize. Usually, there was no need to buy a ticket, they just had to register and show up at the theater. This allowed even people who did not have money to go to the cinema and perhaps see a movie.
This method became especially popular in small towns, as people looked for any opportunity to be entertained.

Cinema corruption in the 1930s
In 1943, a reporter from a Chicago newspaper published a report that had a story about the corruption of the 1930s. The report claimed that about 300 young girls who came to Hollywood to become stars every month were victims of abuse, addiction and human trafficking. It is said that the studios, with the help of charities and public relations, tried to downplay the incident.
But apart from the sex scandals, there was also significant structural corruption in this decade.Actors were under long-term contracts with studios and had no choice in their roles, appearance, or even personal lives. The studios decided when to marry, when to divorce, and when to have children, and if an actor disobeyed, he was removed from the industry.
This system led many stars to depression, addiction, and isolation, while their public image still shone and no one could see into their lives.

Clark Gable's Life
Clark Gable was married five times and was known for his womanizing. His romance with Carole Lombard was one of the few seemingly genuine and deep emotional connections he had, which ended with Lombard's tragic death in a plane crash, one of the tragedies of that era in cinema.
There are reports that Gable had affairs with many of his female co-stars and was even accused of abusive and controlling behavior.He is said to have had physical and degrading encounters with several actresses, without ever being formally charged.
One of the most serious scandals concerns his relationship with Loretta Young. According to published research, in 1935, Gable entered Loretta's train car without her consent and later became pregnant. Loretta remained silent about the incident for years, later indirectly referring to it as rape in her later years.
After Carole Lombard's death, Gable joined the army and served as a pilot in World War II. This move was both widely praised and an attempt to escape grief, and perhaps even himself.
Gable's legendary lover, Carole Lombard, was a star of the screwball comedies of the 1930s.Popular Genres of the 1930s
The screwball comedy mentioned above was a humorous response to the Great Depression, with its sharp dialogue and crazy situations. You may have seen examples of this type of comedy many times without even knowing the name. A prime example of a screwball comedy is the film It Happened One Night, which was not only funny but also criticized gender and class issues.
A screwball is a type of unusual throw that goes in the opposite direction from what you expect. This twisted and unpredictable movement became a metaphor for the strange relationships and successes in the screwball comedy genre. In the 1930s, film critics began using the word to describe films that subverted the traditional structures of love and marriage, with women taking the lead and men getting into trouble.Screwball comedy is likened to a wandering ghost in the history of cinema in that it was very popular at one time, but now appears only as a minor part of films and is no longer necessarily dominant.
Classic screwball comedy flourished in the 30s and 40s, but from the 60s onwards, it gradually disappeared and only its specific elements were introduced into other genres. You may have seen screwball comedy features in romantic comedies, but their popularity is not certain, which means that the film can even be overlooked.
Today, there are still films that have a more or less screwball atmosphere, but they are no longer known by that name.An article in Film Inquiry states that screwball comedy has somehow survived to be fragmented and injected into other genres, and you may see sharp dialogues, women who are in control of the story, or situations full of misunderstandings in a modern film, but it is no longer called screwball comedy.

During this decade, the musical genre also gained its own popularity. Musicals were more of a consolation for a society that was experiencing poverty and despair. Dance, song, and light allowed the viewer to temporarily detach from the harsh reality of life.
The gangster genre also gained popularity in this decade and was a kind of response to the fears and desires of people during the economic crisis, because gangsters were bad-tempered people who did not give up in the face of lack of money and were considered a symbol of power, rebellion, and the downfall of society.

Classic horror is a genre that, if a film in this format were still made, could experience good sales.In the 1930s, classic horror emerged with the films Frankenstein and Dracula, and some believe that the popularity of these films is a reflection of the social and psychological fears of the period, and these films do not just talk about fear, but also about the concept of isolation, death and identity.
The 1939 film Stagecoach was the most prominent Western film of this decade, and heroes like John Wayne brought the Western to the peak of its popularity. Masculinity, independence and order in a lawless world are still among the characteristics that define the Western genre, and given the social atmosphere of this decade, the Western also gained a special popularity.

The most famous films of the 1930s
The 1939 film The Lost Boys, a historical romantic drama starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, was a symbol of glory and tragedy in the situation of the American Civil War. But you may be more familiar with the 1933 film King Kong.The 1933 version of this film is a story of a monster lover who combines an atmosphere of fear, technology and racial and sexual metaphors.
Frankenstein (1931) is a classic horror film that symbolizes the fear of science and isolation, which is perhaps why it has been adapted again.
Dracula (1931) was made and in turn was the beginning of vampire films and erotic horrors that still have their own popularity.
This decade also saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Witch of the Town (1939) and Scarface (1932), whose basic story is still familiar and beloved.
In 1936, Charlie Chaplin's New Age was released, which you may have seen many times or at least caught parts of. This critical content was something that was expected at the time, and more than political criticism, it displayed a fear of technology moving away from fictional spaces like the film Frankenstein.The Blue Angel
The Blue Angel was made in 1930 and is a German film. This film symbolizes the power of seduction, decline and moral crisis, and it was able to talk more than ever about masculinity and criticize the social status of men.
Professor Roth is a respectable but strict man who goes to the Blue Angel nightclub to punish his students. There, he meets a seductive singer named Lola and falls in love with her so much that he marries her. Later, he gradually loses his social status and becomes a humiliated clown and performs in front of his former students.
This film shows the social decline of a man. Marlene Dietrich achieved world fame with this film and became a symbol of the seductive, independent and anti-structure woman, and this work shows the transition from silent to talk cinema with elegance and power.The story is a profound critique of the bourgeoisie, male morality, and the breakdown of traditional authority, and in the tense political climate of pre-Nazi Germany, the film acts as a dark prophecy.
The famous song "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)" sung by Lola later became Dietrich's signature, and scenes such as Lola sitting on a chair with her legs spread or her contemptuous gaze at men still have an iconic status in the film world.
The blue angel in popular culture is a symbol of purity, light, and guidance, but the angel in this film is in the cabaret. Blue is known as both a color of peace and sadness, and its attribution to the main character in this story is like a disturbing calm.

What is interesting after all these years is not the films themselves, but the visualization of the impact they had on society.

Conclusion
The films of the 1930s somehow redefined gender roles, and we see women who are seductive, independent, and victimized.Social fears were more explicitly and broadly expressed during this period. Frankenstein or Dracula were not just monsters but also symbols of exclusion, immoral science, and fear of the other.
With the advent of talking cinema, language stabilized the image, and even the way characters looked became the common language of fantasy in the 20th century