Because I'm not talking about modern stories with a thin veneer of the past.
Not only do I think your claim is false, I can present evidence that the exact opposite of what you claim is what's actually happening.
Take the 2021 film
The Last Duel. It's set in 1380s France, and is based on real events. I won't go into detail about the subject matter, for the sake of Eric's grandma, but suffice it to say that it deals with some
huge warts. Warts that have, in the past, traditionally been whitewashed, bowdlerized, excused or just completely ignored in order to present a romanticized version of the time period.
Warts that actually persist to this day in society, though certainly not to quite the same extent. But they're still present. And discussion of these warts, out in the open, by people who refuse to remain silent about them any more, has become more and more common in recent years.
A film like
The Last Duel would not have been made in, say, the 1980s. Portrayals of medieval times at that time were still very naive and romanticized. It's only now that media is beginning to address some of these warts that have been ignored for so long.
So this is evidence that not only is the discussion of these warts in media
not being curtailed, it is actually increasing. Pushed, at least in part, by the "forward-minded people" who are now trying to force these issues to be addressed in the present time. It's the precise opposite of what you claim.