Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a code:
No motion picture should lower the moral standards of those who see it. This is done:
(a) When evil is made to appear
attractive, and good is made to appear unattractive.
(b) When the sympathy of
the audience is thrown on the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil, sin. The same
thing is true of a film that would throw sympathy against goodness, honor,
innocence, purity, honesty.
The presentation of evil is
often essential for art, or fiction, or drama. This in itself is not
wrong, provided:
(a) That evil is not
presented alluringly. Even if later on the evil is condemned or punished,
it must not be allowed to appear so attractive that the emotions are drawn to
desire or approve so strongly that later they forget the condemnation and
remember only the apparent joy of the sin.
(b) That throughout the
presentation, evil and good are never confused and that evil is always
recognized clearly as evil.
(c) That in the end the
audience feels that evil is wrong and good is right.
What is this? The above is part of the motion picture code in America from 1930-1967. It was called the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, who was the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America from 1922-1945. If you made a movie and wanted to show it in American theaters, you toed the mark and lived up to the Hays Code.
What is this? The above is part of the motion picture code in America from 1930-1967. It was called the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, who was the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America from 1922-1945. If you made a movie and wanted to show it in American theaters, you toed the mark and lived up to the Hays Code.
Look at the words of the code: "moral standards," "evil," "sin," "goodness," "honor," "purity," "wrong," and "right." They sound quaint, absolute, and bye-gone. Yet that's the way it was back in the day in a land far, far away.
PERMISSION DENIED
PERMISSION DENIED
So back in the day it was, "No, you do not have OUR permission to say that;" "No, you do not have OUR permission to do that;" "No, you do not have OUR permission to approve of that;" No, you don't have OUR permission to wear that; "No, you don't have OUR permission to mock that."
The question is, who was "OUR," that is, whose permission was not granted back then, in that land far, far away? It was, perhaps, the strongest permission of them all, as far as earthly permission is concerned--it was the permission of the prevailing culture. That's why Hollywood and the arts did what they did back in the day; they didn't have the culture's permission to do otherwise.
The culture gave it's permission to the proper use of the English language and not the coarse; the culture gave its permission to the proper behavior and not to the perverted; the culture gave its permission to approve of the good and disapprove of the bad; the culture gave its permission to proper attire; the culture gave its permission to uphold the church and those in it. The culture supported truth, justice, and the American way in that land now far, far away.
But that was back in the day. Today, the arts are the power that gives cultural permission to the coarse, the common, and the degraded. The arts give the culture permission to teenagers to be angry, sullen, and rebellious. The arts give the culture permission to devalue language to a level below coarse; the arts give the culture permission to form mobs, to destroy property, to override the freedom of speech by making heroes of those who do. Whenever we hear the coarse or see the perverted in the arts, we are seeing the giving of cultural permission to talk and act that way.
Even on the simplest level: whoever thought that we'd have to think twice before we say, "Merry Christmas"? But it's the power of cultural permission that's making us think twice. Do we have the culture's permission in this particular case and in this particular place to say "Merry Christmas"? Whoever thought we would have to think before praising our Founders like Jefferson and Washington? The culture is making us think twice. "Do we have cultural permission for such praise," we're asking ourselves.
Whoever thought that we'd have to think twice about team names such as the Washington Bullets of the NBA? They changed their name to the Washington Wizards. ( "In 1995, the owner announced he was changing the team's name because Bullets had acquired violent overtones that had made him increasingly uncomfortable over the years.") Whoever thought that the annual game between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma would change its brand from "The Red River Shootout" to "The Red River Rivalry'? But the culture did not give its permission to anything so violent as "shootout," so away went the brand.
We may not like it, but we have to admit, no matter who you are, we're thinking twice about having the permission of the culture. That's how powerful cultural permission is. The Bible calls it "the kosmos," that is, the "world-system" a system that's organized to leave God out, and it is powerful. It carries clout and woe be to those who stand against it.
Yet, the Lord Jesus said to us, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world (kosmos) you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (kosmos).” Jn. 16:33
The culture gave it's permission to the proper use of the English language and not the coarse; the culture gave its permission to the proper behavior and not to the perverted; the culture gave its permission to approve of the good and disapprove of the bad; the culture gave its permission to proper attire; the culture gave its permission to uphold the church and those in it. The culture supported truth, justice, and the American way in that land now far, far away.
But that was back in the day. Today, the arts are the power that gives cultural permission to the coarse, the common, and the degraded. The arts give the culture permission to teenagers to be angry, sullen, and rebellious. The arts give the culture permission to devalue language to a level below coarse; the arts give the culture permission to form mobs, to destroy property, to override the freedom of speech by making heroes of those who do. Whenever we hear the coarse or see the perverted in the arts, we are seeing the giving of cultural permission to talk and act that way.
Even on the simplest level: whoever thought that we'd have to think twice before we say, "Merry Christmas"? But it's the power of cultural permission that's making us think twice. Do we have the culture's permission in this particular case and in this particular place to say "Merry Christmas"? Whoever thought we would have to think before praising our Founders like Jefferson and Washington? The culture is making us think twice. "Do we have cultural permission for such praise," we're asking ourselves.
Whoever thought that we'd have to think twice about team names such as the Washington Bullets of the NBA? They changed their name to the Washington Wizards. ( "In 1995, the owner announced he was changing the team's name because Bullets had acquired violent overtones that had made him increasingly uncomfortable over the years.") Whoever thought that the annual game between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma would change its brand from "The Red River Shootout" to "The Red River Rivalry'? But the culture did not give its permission to anything so violent as "shootout," so away went the brand.
We may not like it, but we have to admit, no matter who you are, we're thinking twice about having the permission of the culture. That's how powerful cultural permission is. The Bible calls it "the kosmos," that is, the "world-system" a system that's organized to leave God out, and it is powerful. It carries clout and woe be to those who stand against it.
Yet, the Lord Jesus said to us, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world (kosmos) you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (kosmos).” Jn. 16:33
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