The difference between Movies & Films

"What's your definition of 'dirty' baby?
What do call pornography?"-I Want Your Sex/George Micheal


" Did I say something true?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex.
[I must have been crazy]
Did I have a point of view?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about you.
[ What was I thinking?]- Human Nature/Madonna


* I think sex and music is far more liberal, than sex in movies. It's all about the imagination.
; movies leaves nothing to it, and music is all about it. I think it's all good, as long as it stays in a rhelm of taste. Again, what's tasteful to me...not be for you. Oh well, guess it's either all good, or all bad.

i've seen maybe a scene or two of porn........don't know much aboutit, and don't care to seek it out.........But, remember the Seinfeld "Master of your Domain" show where Elaine wants in on the bet and Jerry say's "you can't........you're a woman....IT'S DIFFERENT FOR YOU"............"WE'RE MEN!! ......WE HAVE TO DO IT........ it's like a part of our day!" From what i've heard male friends and brothers say, the same goes for porno. do you guys out there agree with that? Be it for various reasons; fun, curiousity or a serious kind of addiction?

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on dance seul, on dance seul.....

Have you seen all of Eyes Wide Shut? It's most definitely not softcore porn. But since it actually has artistically valuable, maturely handled sex scenes, it's deemed unacceptable for the American moviegoing public to see. When they can rent a movie like Cruel Intentions or Wild Things without a problem. The censors don't like the idea of sex being treated in a serious, thought provoking manner for some reason.

Ok...Well how do you feel about a movie being rated R because there is a shot of breasts in it? I understand a restricted rating for a movie like Boogie Nights, but not for something like Amelie. Something is wrong with our rating system - those movies are considered equally offensive!

So, TWT, are you allowed to pretty much watch what you want, since your parents seem to want you to learn about sex at an early age?

Steve, was Amelie Rated R just for the breast shot? Titanic was rated PG-13 and lingered on Kate Winslet's chest, so yes, I agree the rating system has favorites and tendencies they like to use.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

Well, Amelie had more than just one breast shot. There is one humorous scene that shows extremely breif glimpses of fifteen couples at the moment of sexual climax. Plus, one of the chracaters works in a sex shop, and many dildos and such are shown.

Still no big deal in my mind, and it seems silly to keep such a vibrant and original movie away from those under the age of seventeen rather arbitrarily, but such are the inequities and silliness of a large system. All large systems are imperfect, especially when dealing with matters that are so varied depending on subjectivity. But the MPAA ratings board is more fallible and inconsistent than most, no doubt about that.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Well there you go. It just goes to show you how retarded the system is. Titanic cost 200 million dollars to make, so it gets PG-13 so more people can see it. Amelie is french, and we know how sexual the french are, so it gets an R.

Cameron also practically made them give Titanic a PG-13 rating, though. Rating system shouldn't be able to be bought out for certain movies.

Kate's breasts were just there on the screen though, and who hasn't seen a set of breasts before? I think the PG-13 rating was appropriate. The sex scene, later on, between the two characters was very modest.
In the case where breasts are shown during a sex scene, I think that bumps the rating up a bit, wouldn't you agree?

Actually, it's in the eye of "community standards" according to the US Supreme Court.

Right, and there's no concrete way to define "communtiy standards" either, which is why so many of these high-profile cases wind up going before The Supreme Court, which thankfully has always erred on the side of caution and left it up to individuals rather than passing a law that would "ban" any form of expression.


Milos Forman's The People vs. Larry Flynt is a decent examination of this issue, but it's so overpowered by the personality of Flynt. A terrific look at this delima wrapped in a feature-length film is Dirty Pictures, which premiered on Showtime in 2000 and is now available on VHS & DVD. It stars James Woods as Dennis Barrie, the curator of a Cincinnati art gallery who is taken to court when he books one of Robert Mapplethorpe's most controversial photographic exhibits in 1990. The film is well directed by Frank Pierson (screenwriter of Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke, and The Anderson Tapes) and interestingly mixes in interviews with the likes of Salman Rushdie, Barney Frank, Fran Liebowitz, and Susan Sarandon, who discuss not only Mapplethorpe's work but the issue at large.

All of it? Nope. I've seen enough though, thanks very much. There are also websites which detail what shows up on screen very specifically. I'm not hailing them as all I need to determine the value or taste of a movie...but in some cases, you can tell.

Ridiculous. Who deemed it unacceptable? Need I remind you (well, assuming you knew originally) that "Eyes Wide Shut" debuted at #1 in the country at the box office?

No, they're not. Individuals judge on offensiveness and such. The ratings are ALWAYS going to have movies under the same label that are very different...period. You can't stop that...and as such, some people will always have a problem with movie ratings. Do we need a new system? Yes. Will that make all these problems go away? Hell no.

Of course not, that'd be foolish. Learning about sex does not entail watching pornography, or anything I want to. Learning about sex entails them teaching me the basics at a young age. You don't teach someone about self-defense by telling them to go out and try to get themselves into a fight. I think you're confusing teaching about sex and trying to be open with it to complete freedom; which is something almost no child, or teenager, can handle, without making serious mistakes.

As for "Titanic;" well, I'm certainly not defending it. It was a big-budget movie with some powerful people involved...there's little doubt that THAT is what got it that rating, and that ticks me off. Now, when it comes to nudity, it was pretty damn harmless. I still don't like the idea of the MPAA bending over backwards for the movie. "Titanic" should either accept an "R," or cut the scene.

I don't draw any distinction at all either. To me it's like calling Van Gogh's work "Paintings" or "Canvasses"... who cares?

It's art either way you look at and it either touches me or it doesn't. Why complicate things?