Are today's movies really more violent and crude than movies in past decades?

Cafe Society
1

I’ve seen movies from the 60s, 70s and 80s that are far gorier and disturbing than modern movies from the past 25 years. It seems like they could actually get away with more things if anything.

What do you think? Television does seem like it can get with more, but that’s really only because of cable and things like Netflix. Prior to the 90s most people didn’t have cable so obviously what they could show was more limited.

2

Moderator Action

It moves this movie thread from General Questions to Cafe Society or else it gets the hose again.

3

There were some movies in the past that were much more disturbing than anything you see these days (IMHO). It seems like it is very difficult to get a movie made in Hollywood these days unless it is guaranteed to make money, so it is almost impossible to get anything that is creative or different made. Movies are much more formulaic. Action movies crank up the violence and horror movies crank up the gore, but no one pushes boundaries or takes chances so overall you don’t see things that are as shocking or disturbing, I think.

4

I think they’re more graphic and grotesque than they used to be, showing more explicit detail, but the acts of violence themselves are probably the same kinds as always. It’s all so gratuitous, though. Most of the time we don’t need to see it, it could be implied or cut away from and would still have the same impact on the story. For me, it makes TV increasingly unpleasant.

5

It stuns me that people still continue to say this after a year which saw the release of Boyhood, Birdman, Nightcrawler, Under the Skin, Whiplash, Inherent Vice, Snowpiercer, The Babadook, Foxcatcher, Interstellar, The Raid 2, Dear White People, Into the Woods, Mr Turner, Edge of Tomorrow and Frank.

6

I would say there’s less diversity, insofar as everything seems to be tailored to meet a PG-13 rating. Big budget R-rated action movies are all but dead, while PG fantasy is disappearing as well. So in one sense films are more violent or intense, but in another sense they’re less violent and intense.

7

Sometimes what you don’t show makes it more disturbing, like the chainsaw scene in Scarface or the leg amputation scene in Gone With The Wind. Shudders. :o