It Wouldn't Get Made Nowadays...

You often hear people say of an older film or TV series, 'It wouldn't get made nowadays, as if there is some sinister organisation or official edict out there actively preventing films and TV shows that aren't 'woke' (or 'politically correct' or whatever the current right-wing buzz words are for dismissing such things as sensitivity and/or plain good taste) enough being made.  Which is to completely ignore the fact, (as those pushing the concept of the 'woke agenda' which is supposedly restricting our freedoms always do),  that such things as tastes, social mores, opinions and concepts of morality, change over time.  This, in turn, shapes popular culture, which constantly shape shifts over time.  What was considered acceptable by society at large ten, even five, years ago might not be now - and in another five years it will probably have changed again.  In truth, of course, as most films and TV series are commercial enterprises, money is the main determinant of what does and doesn't get made at any particular point in time: there's no point in investing financially in a project unlikely to find favour with a current audience.  It's the same way when TV shows are cancelled or cast members dropped for 'woke' reasons - research has shown that they have, in some way, offended a key demographic that sponsors and/or networks can't risk alienating.  Ultimately, it all comes down to the almighty dollar, rather than so called 'wokery'.

Conversely, there are some old movies and TV shows that I watch now, that I can't believe were actually made then.  A case in point was 1982's Dolly Parton- Burt Reynolds vehicle The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  The use of the term 'Whorehouse' in the title of a major studio picture, alone, is remarkable in the early eighties, when there were still restrictions on language and an increasingly moralistic atmosphere in the US.  (Indeed, in some US states the film was promoted with 'Cat House' replacing 'Whorehouse' in the title in an attempt to avoid offending moral majorities and religious lobbies in those markets).  But the subject matter - a comedy set in a brothel with its madame as the main female character, which shows prostitution as a beneficial public service - is also quite startling for a major release of the era.  Clearly, the studios (RKO and Universal) were encouraged to produce it as it was based on a hugely successful Broadway musical of the same title, so thought that there was an audience out there for it.  The presences of Reynolds and Parton comes down to the fact that both were desperate for a hit film, with the former's career as a top line star beginning to falter and the latter wanting follow up the success of her film debut, Nine to Five.

Watching the film, which I did for the first time in its entirety last weekend, it quickly became clear that the studios hoped to ameliorate the potential offensiveness of the title and subject matter by making the film itself as bland and harmless as possible.  'There's nothing dirty going on', Dolly sings early on and she's right - we don't even get any nudity until two thirds through and even then its just some mild topless shots.  Which is the film's main problem - it sits somewhere between a 'Carry On' film and a British sex comedy, but with considerably less vulgarity or 'sauciness' than either, instead giving us a mild satire of media hypocrisy with regard to sex.  When you sit down to watch a film with 'Whorehouse' in the title, you expect lashings of both, (not to mention plenty of nudity).  Which is possibly why, although reasonably successful at the box office, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas wasn't a mega success - it just failed to deliver on the title's promise that it was going to offend the 'moral majority' lobby, (arguably the true 'woke warriors' of the era, in that they really were out to spoil everyone's fun).  The most shocking thing about the film is the presence of Jim Nabors in a film that even hints at sex and depravity.  This is one film where I think that we can safely say that 'they couldn't make that now', as nowadays audiences would demand (and get), far more raunch and offensive humour in a movie with that title.