Why were "adult" directors able to get us in the 80's & 90's, but today's are less than clueless?

I feel like , not only were those movies relevant when they came out but they are also very relevant for today's generation.  I had a therapist once who took over drug court and addiction group therapy while her colleague was on maternity leave.  She had never done drugs, never been around them, she was so freaked out she wasn't fit to help them. I had been her patient for a long time, I was pretty wild in my youth but I wasn't an addict, she asked for my help.  She had to show some movies that outlined the danger of drugs and the materials she was given where from the 70s and it was a couple years away from 2020 So I hooked her up with trainspotting,  basketball diaries and requim for a dream. I don't know if she ever used basketball diaries because the people where 18 or over. She did use requiem a lot. She would have the count every time they did the snort shot sequence to ensure they were paying attention.  She did two or three groups before her coworker got back.  She had a 98% success rate with her first group. I think it was only one of them that got into trouble with drugs in the first 60 or 90 days.  It was back in 2023 she sent me an email that showed the remaining people hadn't reoffended and over half of them were done with their probation,  had full time jobs or gone on to college.  It of course was redacted what I seen. She wasn't sharing there personal information.  I was really happy for them and for her. She may not have learned from experience but she was a damn good therapist.  She learned a lot from those movies and used them to help a lot of people.  They are still using the movies today in that community.