Hollywood Has Come Full Circle.

Over 100 years ago, Hollywood began making movies, and because of the novelty of the black and white silent films, there were really no set standards for those films. They did not have censorship, or ratings to keep control over these motion pictures, so the film-makers quickly began to experiment more and more, in time becoming so radically immoral that the films could not even be shown in public theatres.

Nudity, sex, evil goings on, you name it, those films had it. It seems strange to me that although they did not have sound, they did have everything else, and I do mean everything. As recently as 1933 the motion picture industry was un-monitored, and able to film anything they wanted to. This was the first step in the process of Hollywood developing a reputation for evil.

Then came censorship, and suddenly movies were G rated. ALL movies were G rated, there was no other rating available at that time. If you did not film your movie to conform to that standard, there would be no movie at all. Now films had sound, but you had to watch what you said or it would be edited out. Men and women could show only so much skin on camera and for some reason, the navel was out.

Then, around the 1950’s, the envelope-pushing began again. This time it was more subtle, but definite. Actresses were dressed in skin-tight pants, and blouses that could barely be buttoned, they were so tight. Subtle sexual innuendos were also beginning to appear in the ‘50’s. But even this was still considered G for general audiences.

By the time the ‘60’s appeared on the scene, movies had gone the next step. Now, it was okay to swear a little bit, or even a lot, and more skin was shown. Now we had the PG rating, but back then they called it GP. Movies were becoming more risqué than ever, and rated R films were just around the corner. Porno movies were already in the black market by the 1960’s, and their supplies of these films were growing by leaps and bounds.

In the 70’s, movies became R rated, and PG-13 ratings were not unheard of either. There were still a few G rated films being made, usually by companies like Walt Disney Studios. The language allowed in the ‘70’s movies gradually became more harsh and graphic with sex being displayed more openly.

By the 1980’s, technology had begun to show itself in the movies, in the special FX arena, but this did not distract film makers from showing flesh, and full female nudity was not uncommon. In the ‘80’s, films depicted women as nothing more than sex objects, and actresses were usually forced to speak in sexy, breathy voices all the time. Usually, if a woman wanted a start as an actress during that era, she would be expected to audition completely naked.

In the ‘90’s, the breathy-voiced, air-head look was gone, thankfully, only now so were all the rest of the inhibitions. Sex scenes, once left at least partially to the imagination, were now shown in their graphic entirety. There were no swear words or profanities that were prohibited.

Welcome to the 21st Century! Now we shall see how far full circle the Hollywood movie industry has really come. I wonder if they will ever go around again?