Is our society becoming less moral over time? There is alot of evidence that it is, but one piece of evidence became glaringly obvious to me the other day as my wife and I watched a movie. The movie was "Mad Max" which is a futuristic movie from 1979. As I was putting the DVD into the player I realized it was rated "R" which is a rating my wife and I try to avoid. I wondered outloud about why it might be rated that way and thought we might end up turning it off half way through if it was not acceptable. As I paused my wife said, "It's an old movie, ratings were different then." How true that is.
As we watched the movie I kept waiting for the flurry of curse words to justify the rating. They did not come. I think one or 2 curse words were said throughout the entire movie. I also waited for the nudity. Not there either. There was a scene of a couple together but the scene was purposely set up so that nothing could be seen. When that was not present I kept waiting for the blood and gore. That never came either. People died in the movie, but there were not the graphic scenes that dominate movies today.
When comparing an "R" rated movie from 1979 with one today the differences are stark. If this version of "Mad Max" came out in theaters today it would probably get a PG-13 rating at worst. Thinking about this fact made me realize that our society is indeed becoming less moral. We have been desensitized to foul language, nudity and violence. What was once wrong to show a normal viewing audience is now OK. There are tons of other examples to support the fact that we are going the wrong way as a society but this movie gave me a very clear example in about an hour and a half.
