Explicit sex scenes in mainstream movies.
 

A while back I was watching a movie directed by Sean Baker called “Starlet”.
Starlet is a brilliant movie that deals with cross -generational friendship and I was very pleased with the film until all of the sudden this explicit sex scene comes up. By explicit I mean pornographic,as we get to see scenes of sexual penetration. I asked myself why would a director ruin such a beautiful film with what is in my opinion just plain bad taste. Baker in an interview stated that he wanted a Cinéma vérité vibe,but it looks more like a teenage prank for me. I'm not trying to make a moral or a bigoted statement,but I believe that artistically speaking there is no need to show genital close ups of sex scenes (or close ups of toilet scenes) in a film ,unless you are looking for juvenile shock value.
We're not in the 1950's anymore ,pornography nowadays (which I have absolutely nothing against) is well accepted and easily available,so there is no need to mix it with mainstream movies to portray some kind of intellectual rebelliousness towards society.
Furthermore ,this year the Palm D'or at the Caannes film festival was won by a movie called “Blue is the warmest color”,and according to Imdb the audience was reportedly 'shocked beyond belief' by the graphic sex scenes that took place throughout the course of the movie.
More than shocked I would have been bored to tears,but that's just me.......

Never seen it, but I may well do now :).

:):)

I wouldn't consider either one of those movies to be "mainstream".

Re: Explicit sex scenes in mainstream movies.
 

You're not European. :)

Re: Explicit sex scenes in mainstream movies.
 

By mainstream I meant everything that is not pornographic :)

I think you have a much broader definition of pornography than I do.

If it bothers you, you can always find out if the movie has explicit sex scenes in it before hand and not watch it. Or you can do what I do during scary movies and have a blanket ready to cover your eyes.

I've yet to see a movie where it bothered me. Sex is a big part of life and movies are going to reflect that.

Add me to the list as well!

No it doesn't bother me,and I don't mind sex scenes in film if done tastefully or at least with a purpose.
I just don't find porn quite stylish and artistically provocative as some indie directors would want you to believe. That's also why I thought Enter The Void by Gaspar Noe' was quite mediocre .

Re: Explicit sex scenes in mainstream movies.
 

I've seen Starlet and I agree that the sex scenes were very graphic and in my opinion unnecessary. I actually spoke to the director about this after a screening. He said that through his job he got to know a lot of people who did pornography. Part of his inspiration for making the movie was that he wanted to present a typical day in the life of a porn actress, in order to demonstrate that they were just like everybody else and had personal lives, triumphs and challenges. He felt that it would have been unrealistic and dishonest to attempt to do this without showing what they did for a living in detail, which is why he felt it was necessary to include these graphic sex scenes.

http://weeklyhubris.com/wp-content/u...greendoor.jpeg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onesposter.jpg

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/images/t...%20of%20oo.jpg

I may agree here. The tendency of more recent movies to be much more pornographic is part of our modern juvenile rebellion against established rules of good conduct.

But when 9/10 of all R rated movies will become pornographic, however, directors who want to be rebellious will need to cut out the explicit sex scenes and so another trend will emerge. ;)

oy! One just came to me! Ok heres the story. I went to Blockbuster video bout 10 years ago, BLOCKBUSTER! Youd think they'd have had a tight vanilla screen. So I rent the Meg Ryan movie (I am so Imdb'ing the name of it cause I try not to memorize drivel) In The Cut, yknow the one where she took this hard edged dramatic Kathleen Turner Body Heat turn. Meg cant hang with Kathleen Turner btw.

Anyhoo I'm watching this Then they showed that hummer! I bout crapped in astonishment! I was equally amazed I rented it at Blockbuster. I always opted for the Directors Cut, but daaaaaayum! :eek:

Re: Explicit sex scenes in mainstream movies.
 

A while ago I watched "The Brown Bunny" with Vincent Gallo. This film he drives around alot and feels sorry for himself looking for his lost love. At the end of the film is this very explicit sceen where he receives oral from his lost love. Since Vincent Gallo both wrote and directed this film, I felt the only reason he showed this sceen was to show the world his genitalia. Very distasteful

Re: Explicit sex scenes in mainstream movies.
 

mmmmm mainstream movies with pornographic style sex scenes, I'm trying to think of some but coming up blank. Sex scenes are quite common in most movies ,especially over the last couple decades, some have even been quite shocking, for example rape scenes in Once Upon A Time in America or that horror movie which I just cant remember now. Full penetrative scenes in "mainstream" movies are quite difficult to come across and I haven't seen any of the movies listed by you guys.

On the topic of sex scenes, I just think scenes where genitalia is visible and you can see penetration is simply ridiculous in a non-porno. It's a bit childish to be honest. If people wanted cheap thrills I'm sure they could log onto their internet accounts at home.

I have no issues with nudity, but I feel the same way about un-simulated sex in non porno films. And it became a thing in art films with films like Le Idiots, The Brown Bunny and Short Bus

mmm it's true, sex scenes and explicit ones at that have found a home in "art" films, a lot of which have been French. I guess it's because these movies need a level of publicity which they wouldn't have otherwise. And there is also this perception among some film makers that explicit sex is somehow more artistic, I am yet to be convinced of that fact.

Well for the French stuff France has different cultural views on sex that are much more open about it. Amelie which is rated R in the states was released with our G equivalent in France. And Lars Von Trier was raised in some sort of nudist convent or something.

But why the Brown Bunny needed a BJ scene even after cutting down the movie after the infamous Cannes screening? No clue...

That's what she said (Chloe Sevigny).

ha!