The Mary Sue: Last Friday, we rang in the weekend with a discussion of Chris Pine baring it all in his newest film Outlaw King. Naturally, it was all anyone wanted to talk about during interviews, which Pine spoke about at a press conference at the film. “We all have certain body parts,” the actor said, “yet there’s so much disemboweling and beheading in this film, it nearly makes your mind spin. That, somehow, to a human modern audience is not nearly as interesting or revelatory or exclamatory as someone showing A) a sex scene, or B) their penis.”
4 comments:
This article draws attention to the double standard relating to violence and sex in the film industry. I have wondered about the controversy surrounding nudity in movies and television but I have not really thought about how it related to violence and how that is just accepted. Violence in film is extremely prevalent and no one really seems to mind; I do not particularly enjoy excessive violence in movies but I have never really thought about it as a controversial topic. This is probably due to, as the article says, society’s general acceptance of violence in the media. I do not really know where this comes from but it is interesting to compare it to the discomfort that comes with seeing nudity on screen, especially because, as far as I know, sex and nudity is a lot more common among most people than such extreme violence is. While I do not know of an actual solution to society’s double standards related to sex and violence, I do know that being aware of it is a step in the right direction.
The difference between the way human sexuality is depicted and ‘rated’ in film versus how violence is is shocking. We see films where people are hurt, killed and destroyed very often, unlike in real life. If a normal joe lives his normal life, chances are he will never experience a violent attack, where he sees or is someone brutally hurt. While on the other hand, naked bodies, our flesh homes, the main tool of our existence, when depicted on screen get rated “R”. And to make things worse, the female body is more commonly seen, as long as it is being used for a male’s pleasure, not as experiencing pleasure itself. The current rating system is established over “moral values” which belong to a society that no longer serves us. We, as a country are not the same we were 60 years ago, hell… we are not the same country we were 17 years ago, why should our rating scale stay unchanged?
The Hays Code was established during a time when the country was undergoing a contradiction of things: the physical freedom following the Roaring 20's, the conservatism of the Great Depression, the illegal activities within Prohibition, etc. As time progressed, we saw a return to traditional values as the US got involved in the war and the country decided to project a wholesome international image. This meant things like married couples sleeping in separate twin beds, limits on how long kisses could last onscreen, the intensity of the curse words used per category. However, violence has always been a different story. Possibly because in the history of the Catholic Church we see extreme violence as justified in the name of God and salvation (The Crusades), violence has always seemed separate from anything worth censoring. It is astounding, although not surprising, that it has taken this long for issues of sexuality vs. violence on screen to be discussed and questioned. It has been this way in film for so long because this is also still how society thinks, for the most part. Almost all kids' TV shows, video games, cartoons, films include some sort of violence, no matter how subtle or non-graphic. Sexuality though, is never portrayed and if it is it's deemed indecent and usually of a predatory nature. From a young age, kids see violence in various forms (emotional, psychological, verbal) in everyday life, but most parents keep discussions of sex and sexuality at bay as long as possible. I think it is absolutely time to address the issue that people would rather see "a woman die brutally" than watch "her enjoy sex or [hear] a teenager say the f-bomb."
The Hays Code was established during a time when the country was undergoing a contradiction of things: the physical freedom following the Roaring 20's, the conservatism of the Great Depression, the illegal activities within Prohibition, etc. As time progressed, we saw a return to traditional values as the US got involved in the war and the country decided to project a wholesome international image. This meant things like married couples sleeping in separate twin beds, limits on how long kisses could last onscreen, the intensity of the curse words used per category. However, violence has always been a different story. Possibly because in the history of the Catholic Church we see extreme violence as justified in the name of God and salvation (The Crusades), violence has always seemed separate from anything worth censoring. It is astounding, although not surprising, that it has taken this long for issues of sexuality vs. violence on screen to be discussed and questioned. It has been this way in film for so long because this is also still how society thinks, for the most part. Almost all kids' TV shows, video games, cartoons, films include some sort of violence, no matter how subtle or non-graphic. Sexuality though, is never portrayed and if it is it's deemed indecent and usually of a predatory nature. From a young age, kids see violence in various forms (emotional, psychological, verbal) in everyday life, but most parents keep discussions of sex and sexuality at bay as long as possible. I think it is absolutely time to address the issue that people would rather see "a woman die brutally" than watch "her enjoy sex or [hear] a teenager say the f-bomb."
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