What kind of movies does America Want

It certainly seems that over the past few decades the Hollywood folks have been pushing the envelope as it were.  Remember Lucy and Desi, Ward and June Cleaver, Rob and Laura Petri? Married with kids, but on TV they slept in separate beds and their pajamas were pretty much neck to toes. Now you see every imaginable combination in the same bed, and as far as PJs, well, there's really not much left to the imagination. What used to be rated R now barely rates a PG 13.

It seems like Hollywood is getting out of control. And the film/tv characters are the role models our children are trying to emulate.  No wonder the National Day of Prayer  Task Force lists the media (blanket term for the press, movies/tv/entertainment and sports figures) as one of the 7 focus points as people pray for the nation.

The Hollywood mentality for some time has been that religious/moral movies wouldn't have an audience because people wanted to be excited, and get a sneak peek at the forbidden pleasures. People wouldn't be interested in something that mirrored their own boring life style. But more and more people are realizing that what's presented on the silver screen is often fantasy: it has no connection to reality. People are tired of ruining their lives chasing after that which can never be obtained.

On another note, people who like the sex, gore, senseless violence, drug themes etc, etc,  don't necessarily want their children hearing/seeing/copying that type of language or behavior. We teach our kids that some words are naughty, and then get tired of responding to "Daddy, that man said a bad word" or correcting a behavior only to hear "but that’s what they do on "ABC show".

While people may think that they want to be free to experience and enjoy the forbidden pleasures, they quickly find that a hedonistic lifestyle is hard to maintain: it's financially,  physically and emotionally draining.  So the pendulum is swinging back, and once again people are interested in clean wholesome entertainment. Entertainment which truly aligns with the values that they maintain they hold.

Hollywood is quick to pick up on those trends, and since the viewing audience is requesting more religious and moral movies, that's what we'll get.  Hopefully as gangs, drugs, prostitution, suicide, and some of the other major problems in some communities  are no longer glorified on the silver screen, we'll see life imitate art, and our communities will become more family oriented. What if the film industry were   more intentional about showing healthy male role models?  If they taught that there's more to being a man than being the biological father of a child you have no intention of caring for. I'm guessing that we might see fewer runaways, fewer street children, fewer young people with no resources, left to their own devices to figure out how to survive.

As long as people will pay to see the religious and moral movies, there will be more and more of them (Law of demand and supply) not necessarily out of any sense of morality on the part of the film makers, but because it's what sells.

Get to the theater this weekend. See a movie that aligns with your life and your values rather than one that has nothing going for it other than lots of needless profanity and violence  along with some naked bodies.