One thing that is not considered here is that media is far more globalized than before. If you want a big budget movie to do well across markets like China, India, and the middle East, you tone down the raunchy content or run the risk of movie getting banned out of large markets. TV is more fragmented so maybe it gets away with local tastes.
This is it. The source is the spinelessness of studios rather than some greater societal shift. However, that's not to say a societal shift cannot follow from reality mirroring fiction because mass media manufactures much of the attitudes of society.
I value old, foreign, dirty films that transgress taboos because they go boldly without the consent and approval of the morality police god squad or the ministry of harmony and culture.
“[Good] Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” ― Banksy
That doesn't explain why every single actor has a perfect body. Every man is bulked up, every woman is super slim. 50 years ago it was completely normal that sexy woman on screen had a bit of belly fat, now this is completely unthinkable.
Does it need a more complicated explanation than increased budgets? 50 years ago CGI was virtually nonexistent and now it's close to photorealistic; does this tell us deep things about how spaceships are secretly aircraft carriers and space explosions are a metaphor for Desert Storm, or is it an artefact of trying harder and paying more?
That's not a good explanation because every country can have different cuts of the movie, some containing raunchy content and some not. They already have to do subtitles/dubbing anyway.
Depends on the movie, and it is not always smooth. Also, it leads to higher piracy in countries where cuts are made because people do want the raunchier scenes. Like Oppenheimer had a bunch of cuts in India but it is still doing well, but it is by no means guaranteed.
Also to consider is that it might be easier for Netflix to get away with a semi raunchy movie than it is for cinemas.
So we will likely see raunchy non-English movies made in Europe and which will have world wide audience. A current example is the Swedish 'Young Royals' which has been dubbed and subtitled in surprising many languages.
So cinemas end up with boring violence and Netflix ends up with everything else.
