Fascinating. It would appear that we have reached a very strange point indeed, then: the general culture is offended by sex in movies, but oddly enough, the Christians—the "regressed prudes"—are having less and less of a problem with it. Here's a fascinating piece by Cap Stewart on the difference between Christian vs. secular attitudes toward Chazelle's "Babylon", illustrating the difference: https://capstewart.substack.com/p/christian-faithfulness-in-an-age
Personally, I don't like sex in movies because (1) quite often what is actually happening in front of the camera is psychologically damaging to the actors and (2) sex feels like it ought to be a more private, intimate thing. I believe sex is just one aspect of the human experience yet our culture has blown it up all out of proportion, using it as a key to understanding practically everything. I don't have a problem with sex in movies per se, though—if they are appropriate to the scene and make sense in the context of the story. There's a lot that don't—or that are more fan service than anything else. I'm an older millennial (1984) and I don't like the marvel movies at all, so you can sort me any way you want I guess.
That's a good point about the impact on actors. There are lots of horrifying examples in movie history--like the rape scene in El Topo that really was rape. Also sex in movies leads to lots of uncomfortable situations in real life like the recent story about Ethan Hawke directing his daughter's sex scene. Weird.
But generally I wouldn't mind trading more sex for less violence in movies. It's almost impossible to find a mainstream movie in American cinema that doesn't have guns or physical violence involved. Maybe it's just me but I'd say in a world with less guns more tits, it would all be for the better.
Perhaps it depends on why movies are being made the way they are. Do people want sex in movies because they want to fantasize about a sexier world? Do they like to watch violence because they want to fantasize about a more dangerous world? perhaps people feel the real world is too sexed-up as it is and they want to return to a time when things were less "safe"—I don't know. This discussion would probably be better around a slowly-burning bonfire!
My take as someone who's written screenplays: Guns are easy to add to a story because they automatically increase the tension and the stakes. Sex is hard to add because relationships are complicated and sex is a complicated part of relationships. Any idiot can write a scene where a gun goes off. So basically I'd say there's more violence than sex in movies out of sheer laziness from screenwriters.
Fascinating. It would appear that we have reached a very strange point indeed, then: the general culture is offended by sex in movies, but oddly enough, the Christians—the "regressed prudes"—are having less and less of a problem with it. Here's a fascinating piece by Cap Stewart on the difference between Christian vs. secular attitudes toward Chazelle's "Babylon", illustrating the difference: https://capstewart.substack.com/p/christian-faithfulness-in-an-age
Personally, I don't like sex in movies because (1) quite often what is actually happening in front of the camera is psychologically damaging to the actors and (2) sex feels like it ought to be a more private, intimate thing. I believe sex is just one aspect of the human experience yet our culture has blown it up all out of proportion, using it as a key to understanding practically everything. I don't have a problem with sex in movies per se, though—if they are appropriate to the scene and make sense in the context of the story. There's a lot that don't—or that are more fan service than anything else. I'm an older millennial (1984) and I don't like the marvel movies at all, so you can sort me any way you want I guess.
That's a good point about the impact on actors. There are lots of horrifying examples in movie history--like the rape scene in El Topo that really was rape. Also sex in movies leads to lots of uncomfortable situations in real life like the recent story about Ethan Hawke directing his daughter's sex scene. Weird.
But generally I wouldn't mind trading more sex for less violence in movies. It's almost impossible to find a mainstream movie in American cinema that doesn't have guns or physical violence involved. Maybe it's just me but I'd say in a world with less guns more tits, it would all be for the better.
Perhaps it depends on why movies are being made the way they are. Do people want sex in movies because they want to fantasize about a sexier world? Do they like to watch violence because they want to fantasize about a more dangerous world? perhaps people feel the real world is too sexed-up as it is and they want to return to a time when things were less "safe"—I don't know. This discussion would probably be better around a slowly-burning bonfire!
My take as someone who's written screenplays: Guns are easy to add to a story because they automatically increase the tension and the stakes. Sex is hard to add because relationships are complicated and sex is a complicated part of relationships. Any idiot can write a scene where a gun goes off. So basically I'd say there's more violence than sex in movies out of sheer laziness from screenwriters.