Family Beats Filth in Hollywood?

Movies With No Sex, Foul Language and Nudity Win At Box Office

The long held-assertion and standard rationale from Hollywood explaining the reason why we have so much filth on TV and film has always been green- not the environmental kind, but the economic kind- cash is what's king. We have garbage because the public demands it and conventional wisdom has generally held that the content of media merely reflects the culture.

However, once again, Movieguide Magazine’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry shows that moviegoers prefer movies with no explicit sex, nudity and foul language. This was especially clear in 2008. According to Dr. Ted Baehr, "Movies with no foul language, sex and nudity averaged significantly more money at the theatrical box office in America and Canada than movies with some or a lot of such vulgarity, sex or nudity."

Movieguide’s analysis of the top movies released lat year also showed that moviegoers rejected movies with extreme forms of substance abuse. Movieguide also measured miscellaneous amounts of immorality, such as lying, stealing, blackmail, extortion, greed, envy, jealousy. Movies with no miscellaneous immorality made nearly six times more money than movies with extensive or extreme amounts of miscellaneous immorality. So what's going on? If film executives are only interested in making money at the box-office, particularly in lean economic times, why not stick to a steady diet of "G" rated family-oriented films?

Maybe the late and great philosopher and cultural observer Marshall McLuhan was right when he said "the medium is the message." According to Movieguide, movies with no sexual content compared to average box office in 2008 grossed nearly $43,000,000 with no sexual content as opposed to about $15,000,000 for films containing graphic adultery, promiscuity, sexual perversion, or sexual immorality. The same ratios held true for films chock full of violence, foul-language and alcohol abuse, compared with those without.

The point? Don't let Hollywood fool you. As decadent and lost as America is today, she still prefers Chevys, mom and apple-pie in the theater over blood and guts and smut. However, don't think that reality will lead to a new flood of decent big screen product that will later appear on your DVD player or PC screen. The "prince of the power and of the air, has his own agenda and is quite influential among media elites. So while your wallets may make some minimal impact in Hollywood, your own discernment in movie choices will have greater influence on your hearts and minds and those of your children, than expectation of some great media revival. We need to be the ones setting examples and shedding much needed salt and light from the kingdom of heaven to the kingdom of darkness literally, for Christ's sake.