Sometimes I think Hollywood thinks we have no imagination. This would explain their apparent need to show us everything rather than letting our imagination take its course.
Latest case in point: The Take. In promoting the movie, leading actress Rosie Perez was talking about how awkward it was to do the movie’s sex scene. She has been in sex scenes before, such as in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. What made this one awkward was her close relationship with John Leguizamo. “I respect him so much and he respects me so much. I know his wife, he knew my husband and introduced me to my boyfriend. It was very awkward. Like brother and sister having to do a sex scene.”
What is unusual about this scene is that the characters are married. Yes, Hollywood realized that married people have sex … with their spouses. At least in most places. But … we don’t need to see it. I haven’t seen the movie (obviously since it has yet to be released) and don’t know if there is nudity or how graphic it may be. But the fact that it was awkward indicates we probably ought to feel awkward, at the least, to watch it. Which leads me to ask, “Why is it in there?” I doubt it furthers the plot line.
If Hollywood believed in imagination, all they need to do is suggest they are about to enjoy the marriage bed. A close embrace, a few lingering kisses, a word or two as they find a horizontal space. Cut to next scene.
They no longer believe in imagination when they feel the need to show very graphic violence (unless that graphic violence is the point, like in Saving Private Ryan). I am so thankful that Braveheart did not show William Wallace being drawn and quartered. It is a brutal, ugly and vile way to kill someone.
What happens when we don’t leave things to the imagination is that we risk scarring the soul. We see things we are not supposed to see apart from the proper context and we risk hardening our hearts. With a generation of kids and young adults lacking relational connection, such exposure to sex can sow the seeds of or feed a sexual addiction. Nor do we want hearts hardened by violence; hearts that revel in it rather than lament it. Such hearts lose sight of the conflict between good and evil and glory in the gore.
As people made in God’s image, we do have the power of imagination. It can be used for good, or evil. When some act like we lack such power it increases the probability that we will use it for evil: to replay sexual or revenge fantasies in our minds as we continue to harden our hearts. Respecting the imagination is much more difficult than feeding the fleshly desires. Sadly, the art produced by our culture seems to have largely forgotten that.
Cavman Considers 
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