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Originally Posted by Aj_
It could probably be simulated. I don't understand your objections to the graphic nature. What's the difference between sex and violence? Perhaps it is distracting, but not to everyone, it's a personal and cultural thing.
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Well, I have no problem with simulated sex when it serves the story, I was just giving an example of how the vast majority of films could get by without it if they wished. Others could not. I'm no fan of the film Life is Beautiful, but there is a very interesting scene in it. A man and a woman walk into a room and put up a "Do Not Disturb" sign, then when the door opens the man and woman emerge in different outfits, years later, with little children in tow. The scene tells us everything we need to know, and in a much more creative fashion than seeing Roberto Benigni pounding away. Obviously a sequence like this wouldn't work in most cases, I'm just giving an example...
My issue is with real sex. Unsimulated, and in a "real" film, as opposed to a pornographic film. It's that I find distracting. I see no point in any culture to be watching, say, Fatal Attraction or something and we suddenly cut to a close-up shot of the active genitalia of Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. What the hell does that add to the STORYLINE? What would it even add to the effect of the simulated sex in that film, which already features plenty of nudity and thrusting? Is there some sort of mystery to the activity that can only be solved by seeing the penetration itself? Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely against censorship. I've seen plenty of porn in my lifetime. My only argument is that porn scenes in a real film, a film about characters and a storyline, is a gratuitous waste of time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal
If done right, sex in films is an excellent tool to help tell a story. So can be violence. Obviously, both have been abused.
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I agree. Sex can be an excellent tool to tell a story. I would never disagree with that. But getting involved in a story only requires one to believe, at least for the moment, what one is seeing or hearing. And a view of penetration is simply NOT required to sustain belief that two characters are having sex.
