Dear Portrait,
You’re welcome, dear brother. As I lived through the obviously planned social upheaval starting in the late 1960s, all the evidence points toward a planned attack against Christianity by dissidents inside and outside the Church. For movies, it began slowly in the legitimate cinema. In the 1970s, graphic pornographic movies and magazines became legal amidst the already subversive “underground” culture, which created a far worse danger, and the planned addiction to it. Today, we are seeing those same pornographic elements from the 1970s in movies and on TV. That was the goal all along.
For those of us who realized what was going on and rightly opposed it, the movies being sold in fakely labeled “Adult Bookstores” in the 1970s were opposed by many Christians. However, they had well-paid lawyers on their side ready to defend their immoral products. Meanwhile, starting in the late 1960s, one has to realize that we who were there had grown to expect and practice “common sense,” “common decency” and “good and morally clean behavior.” The media had been our friend through the 1950s and most of the 1960s. The 5 year plan that ran from 1968 to 1973 was to topple all that, including efforts from certain elements within the Church. Believe me, I felt personal pain as I watched it all unfold - all the time not knowing who was behind this and why.
The internet added to the already permissive movies and created an outlet for far worse.
But let us return to the late 1960s and the starting point for the downward slide into the Desensitization of the West to sin in movies, and on TV. It had to be gradual. Self-proclaimed elite “movie critics” praised the changes in eloquent reviews. Certain creative people in Hollywood demanded more creative freedom. They wanted, as the phrase went, to “push the envelope.” The full phrase being “push the envelope of what people find acceptable.” Which people? Certainly not themselves. They wanted Christians and other men of good will to be exposed to the kind of world they lived in and/or wanted. It was easy at first, to avoid legitimate movies that contained immoral and objectionable elements. Then, more sexual elements, profanity and other offensive elements began to appear. We were led by the hand gently. I even naively thought that some great intellectual purpose or goal was the driving force for some of it. It turned out I was very wrong. Selling one offense, followed by selling one more, showing some skin led to showing more up to full nudity. Suggestive sex scenes in the dark became far less suggestive and well lit. This fake “freedom,” just like all the other “artistic” freedoms of the late 1960s led to today. Now let’s add graphic blood and gore, severed zombie heads and even a sympathetic serial killer (Dexter) to the mix. I am not waiting for the story of the lovable family of cannibals next door who still don’t have the “right” to openly purchase what they want.
To sum up, this is called film propaganda. An effective way to train soldiers and to change the hearts and minds of the masses. The method is simple: some of it is good and worthwhile, while other parts are vile. While other parts are presented as “this is just the way things are.” For those who did not live to see cohabitation and other immoral activities become open and actively promoted, over the advice of Church, family and relatives, they have, as each generation grows up, come to accept, at the very least, the ‘old stuff’ from the late 1960s and 1970s since it wasn’t as bad as what we have today – but that was the whole point of the counter-culture of the late 1960s, wasn’t it? Mom, dad, priests, nuns, the teachings of the Church? All tossed in the dustbin and even reviled.
We have parental advisories and a rating system for movies today, but honestly, is what was rated R 10 years ago still going to be rated R today? Generally, no. And the young are the targets and are worse off emotionally and spiritually.
The poison was dripped into our veins slowly. Do we share some blame? Yes. But literally billions of dollars have been spent by Hollywood to further what is obviously an agenda which, unless we act, both as individuals and as groups to oppose, will continue on its perverse way.
Take heart, dear Portrait. It seems whatever the Israelites did, God always left a remnant and Revelation tells us a remnant will remain till the end. In the meantime, let’s not hide our light under a bushel. See Matthew 5:15
biblehub.com/matthew/5-15.htm
And let us be aware of our habitual behavior and know what the movies were like in the past, in all genres. A lack of knowledge, both sound Christian teaching and historical, is harmful to moviegoers today.
biblehub.com/hosea/4-6.htm
Finally, we have to know that the Catholic Legion of Decency, existed from 1933 to 1970. Coincidence? Definitely not. I can watch most movies from the period and feel joy, wonderment and, looking back, a profound appreciation for their positive influence on me and my generation.
amazon.com/The-Cross-Cinema-National-1933-1970/dp/0275941930
We must be honest and never succumb to peer pressure or vague appeals. When the apple is rotten, should we consume it?
God bless and my best wishes,
Ed
