Morality in Film

Today is a typical Saturday afternoon and I walk into a movie theater and try to decide what to watch with my friends. Well, there is a slew of R-rated films for my viewing pleasure or I could watch the newest installment of Ice Age-who-knows-what-sequel. Neither of these choices seems very appealing and the odd chance there is an incredible film that bridges the gap between the insane and the inane is slim. I sigh, why is it that films without questionable morals seem to be relegated to the realm of animated cartoons and kids with cheap spy gear?
After looking through the films listed on the flashing NOW PLAYING board at least two times over, I finally relegate myself to the least glaringly distasteful film, buy a bucket of greasy popcorn and settle in for the show. Sitting in the dark of the theater, I wonder why this still happens. It’s not as if this question of morals and film is anything new. From the beginning of moves, filmmakers have been pushing the limits of what is considered appropriate for public viewing. Edison began the controversy with his short nickelodeon The Kiss. Though the film only portrayed a couple kissing was less than a minute – far shorter than the modern make-out scene that starts out my Saturday afternoon matinee – the Victorian age public with their high-class notions of propriety were grossly offended. Yet they flocked to the theaters in droves to see it. What irony.
Of course, who am I to judge these masses when here I am sitting in this theater feeding the very films that I claim to be so objected to. Somehow this immorality has a tug and a pull to which even I am not immune. There is something alluring about the violence and sensuality on the screen that draws something inside us. Call it an unhealthy curiosity if you want, but it makes money and so these films thrive.
Even during the age of the “pristine” films made during the Production Code, this curiosity abounded. Gone with the Wind, a favorite film during the era when the Bible Belt reigned supreme, was based wholly on an unscrupulous relationship to say the least. Even if there were no sex-scenes, the relationship between the infatuated Scarlet and her best friend’s weasely husband makes for quite the scandal. Oh sure, it was a beautifully written piece and the cinematography and the sets were exquisite, but I’m fairly positive the public didn’t go to see it for those reasons alone.
Besides, can good filmmaking really redeem a film? I mean, is our loyalty first to beauty or morality? Of course, that leaves me to ask, can anything that seems to spit in the face of God truly be beautiful? So anything that is beautiful must also be moral, right? It seems to make sense, but when I look at films I’ve watched…that seemingly simple answer just doesn’t hold. It does seem that something must have a glimmer of truth within it to be beautiful, so how do we find that beauty?
When Bonnie and Clyde came out after the fall of the Production Code, it shocked and awed audiences with it’s graphic portrayal of violence and sensuality. Though the film clearly didn’t follow the said appropriate moral guidelines, there was something about the film that drew me in – and it wasn’t the violence or the sex. I saw in Bonnie, something of my world…perhaps even of myself. She was trapped in a world of violence that she couldn’t escape because of her lust and desire for a man who refused to leave. She started out seeking only a thrill and excitement. Her life ended tragically without any hope or future. Is this not exactly what is happening in our world? We begin with this unhealthy curiosity that leads into a dangerous world that, no matter how we want to escape, we can’t because we are afraid of the gaping hole it might leave in our lives. Are not the films that we watch in droves simply reflections of this reality?
This was the truth that I saw in Bonnie and Clyde. This was it’s beauty. Through these questionable morals, the filmmaker was able to convey something true about that particular lifestyle, and no matter how the public may object, it is true. So do we then have the right to tell the truth by such seemingly immoral means? If film is the molder of our culture, perhaps there is a responsibility to shape the films by moral codes. But what if film is only a reflection of the culture that already exists and it’s purpose is to expose the problems that are already present? Those who don’t want to know can go and watch Ice Age.
I think this may be closer to the truth. Come to think of it, God didn’t even keep immorality out of His stories. There can be no man more tragically immoral that Lot, nor many battles more full of violence and deceit than the conquest of the Promised Land led by Joshua, and nobody making a realistic rendering of Revelation could even hope for a PG rating. So why am I still disgusted with myself for sitting here, stuffing popcorn in my mouth while watching these two perfectly-powdered movie-stars making out? If immorality isn’t the problem, then what is? It’s not as if David didn’t do worse with Bathsheba, and he never even repented until Nathan came and set things straight. Yet, Nathan did come and I don’t think these two lovers with licentious lips have any hope of a redeeming prophet. I’m not at the end yet…but hey, it’s a pretty typical storyline here.
So, maybe what films need then is a prophet – or at the very least a reason for their immorality. In exposing the problems of our society, film could be both a mirror and a guide. By showing us the miserable pit we have dug for ourselves, the films could at least toss us a line to help us out. Even Bonnie and Clyde did this. Not with any explicit moral, certainly. However, by showing how hopeless that life was, it serves a warning against those who would be like Bonnie and follow that curiosity into a dark, dangerous world. This message is much more subtle, but I think I like it better that way. I don’t want to be preached at, I want to discover truth for myself. Through films that tactfully utilize and expose immorality, I can do just that. There is a certain thrill that comes from suddenly discovering the deeper meaning to a film that I thought was at first just gratuitously violent.
Leaving the theater, I realize that some films are just garbage and should be thrown out with the empty popcorn bag. However, there are some films that truly do glorify God, even if they are laced with violence and sensuality. Clearly there is a line that must be walked between exploring and exploiting. There is a contrast between those films that use immorality as a tool to expose and solve problems and those films that use immorality as a cheap thrill to make a buck. This difference lies with Nathan. Though I may not ever make a movie as violent as Bonnie and Clyde, I can certainly see the voice of the prophet speaking through that film about hope in a world of hopelessness. It is my heartfelt prayer that I will always have Nathan by my side, helping me to find the reason for the sin and, never justifying it, show the world how it needs to be dealt with. It is precisely these types of films that will still draw in the curious, but leave them with a better sense of beauty than the next slasher sequel.


This was my History of Cinema paper that i wrote on spiritual themes in films. The "I" is fictional...so don't worry, I'm not really watching horrid films in the theaters down here ;)