Subject: Hollywood Gets in the Family Way
Date: Published: 2/3/88 118 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Hollywood Gets in the Family Way
    ---
   By Michael Medved

   Preachers and politicians used to moralize in public
against Hollywood's shameless exploitation of scandalous sex.
In 1987, however, preachers and politicians led the way in
sex scandals while big-studio movies took care of the
moralizing.

[52 lines irrelevant to AIDS have been removed. -- sysop]

   The facile explanation for this current tendency to
de-emphasize screen sexuality centers on the impact of the
Big AIDS Scare.  By now, everyone accepts the notion that the
dangers of this dread disease have stripped promiscuity of
much of its old spontaneity and appeal.
   But when considered in its broader context, the rejection
of sexual adventurism reflects far more than a fear of
infection.
   A few months ago, a number of medical reports indicated
that the risks of heterosexual transmission of AIDS have been
overstated, and that the actual chances of such transmission
remain remote.  By all logic, this news should have produced
widespread relief and celebration.  Single heterosexuals in
particular might have been expected to seize upon even the
flimsiest medical evidence as a welcome reprieve and to use
it as justification for a return to the carefree ways of old.
   Instead, the public remained skeptical, refusing to accept
the reassurance of the experts.  Many people seemed
irrationally offended at the very notion that they might not,
after all, be at risk.
This curious behavior leads to the conclusion that the
fear of AIDS is actually an excuse for, rather than a cause
of, the new sexual conservatism.  The big AIDS Scare provided
a convenient cover for a massive shift in the national mood
that had already begun even before the disease was perceived
as threatening the heterosexual population.
   Developments in Hollywood certainly support this notion,
since recent hit films reflect not only a rejection of
promiscuity, but also a fresh emphasis on responsibility and
the joys of child-rearing.
   In "Raising Arizona," an infertile man and wife are so
desperate for offspring that they kidnap a baby from a set of
famous quintuplets.  Diane Keaton in "Baby Boom" and Tom
Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson in "Three Men and a
Baby" all learn that formula and diapers bring greater
satisfaction than even the most high-powered careers.  The new
year is still fresh, but already we have the chance to watch
Molly Ringwald (of all people) becoming a mother in "For
Keeps," and to see other infant films such as "She's Having a
Baby" and "Baby Maybe."
Last year, "Made in Heaven" at one point showed the two
sexy stars (Kelly McGillis and Timothy Hutton) reincarnated
as wailing babies for less than 90 seconds' screen time.
Nevertheless, in promoting the film, MGM used a misleading
photo of two plump and adorable infants sitting together in
the clouds -- an image that never appears in the picture.
When studio publicists decide they can sell more tickets with
a picture of two smiling infants than with Kelly McGillis
showing breasts or legs, then you know you're looking at a
major trend.
   That trend reflects the belated maturation of the
baby-boom generation.  After so many years of delay and
indecision we are finally getting down to the serious and
normal business of procreation and parenting.  Even without
the threat of AIDS, the draw of recreational sex would have
begun to seem less powerful to that huge bulge in the
population curve that hovers today around the frightening age
of 40.  Since there are disproportionately so many of us, we
of course exert a disproportionate influence on the thinking
of the society and the content of its popular entertainments.
My own situation is not atypical:  Last year I became a father
for the first time at the age of 38, and I will readily
confess that I now find celluloid sex fantasies notably less
seductive than I have in the past.
   For the past several decades, we indulged ourselves in the
most extended adolescence in the history of humanity -- 
persisting in defining ourselves as fun-loving "kids" even as
we pushed into our 30s.  Our own carefully nurtured
childishness contributed to the immaturity of the Hollywood
product.  All those movies of recent years about nervous
teen-agers scoring with gorgeous girls or standing up to
snobbish class bullies, appealed not only to the 14-year-olds
in the so-called core audience, they also were accepted by
many baby boomers who found it much easier to identify with
slam-bang stories about high schoolers than with movies that
focused on the sort of grown-up challenges and
responsibilities that so many of us managed to avoid.
   All that has begun to change so drastically that even film
maker John Hughes, poet laureate of the troubled teen
("Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink,"
etc.)  has turned for the first time to a picture that
concentrates on adults.  "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" may
not be Chekhov, but it is a very funny comedy about a harried
advertising man (Steve Martin) who endures one mishap after
another while trying to return from a New York business trip
to his wife and children in a Chicago suburb.
   After nearly two hours of slapstick, the movie delivers a
surprisingly touching reunion scene and becomes for a few
moments a warm-hearted celebration of family.  Steve Martin
hugs his kids, kisses his wife, greets his in-laws and
settles down at last to an orderly, idyllic Thanksgiving
meal.  If Hollywood ahead continues to provide evidence of new
maturity, then we all may have reason to give thanks.
    ---
   Mr. Medved is co-host of the national movie review show
"Sneak Previews" and author of seven non-fiction books.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]