Sexual Media: A Lucrative Industry

If one thing is for sure, it’s that sex sells. As much as you might not want to believe it, it’s true. Sexually oriented print, video, broadcast and Internet materials are part of a highly profitable industry; which might cause some reason for concern. This is due to the fact that lucrative industries have a large tendency to have a continued presence in society. But with an industry that is growing in size and constantly upping its sexual content to rake in more dollars, are there any externalities resulting from this practice?

The film Kids is directed by Larry Clark and initially caused a considerable amount of controversy in its public debut. It mainly follows Telly, a New York teenager infected with the HIV virus, who prides himself in his ability to deflower young women. What a great story line. I bet Harmony Korine, the writer gave himself a pat on the back. My guess is that he probably did.

The budget for the film was $1.5 million and it raked in $20.4 million worldwide. That’s 1260% return on investment. The managers at Miramax probably didn’t spend a dime on advertising. The graphic scenes of young adolescences engaged in sexual activities were enough to spark a worldwide uproar; a great strategy to avoid costs and increase margins.

Production Budget Domestic Gross Worldwide Gross
$1,500,000 $7,412,216 $20,412,216

“Movie Budgets.” The Numbers – Movie Budgets. Nash Information Services, LLC, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Societal pressures shown in Edward Scissorhands

The film Edward Scissorhands, directed by Tim Burton, is a depiction of a man simply trying to fit in; however no matter how valiant his efforts he continues to be an outcast in society. This film made me think critically about the role of fitting into society and the underlying pressures to conform to life as it is.  Edward was obviously very different from the average person, however the feelings of loneliness and despair that he felt can be related to by any person who has felt alienated during a part of their life. This movie made me question the social constructs that are in place in society, and the idea that we should all live the same mundane lifestyle that others have lived before us.  Edward is an outcast based on his looks, demeanor, and situation in life. However, in real life  the pressures  to conform are not only focused on looks and behavior: you must also conform to the way society is set up politically and financially  in order to fit in with the crowd. It is due to this flawed set-up that most people can find some reason to feel alienated at times, in much the same way Edward was during the movie. Even though he had some social interaction and had his moments of use, the scenes that I paid attention to the most were moments when he did not fit in with the crowd.

To understand how much of a factor societal and cultural norms are; just think of the way you view someone who tries to be different in the way they live their lives, the clothes you wear, or the music they listen to. Do you really view a teen with piercings dressed in all black clothes walking down the street the same way you view a business man in a suit? The answer is obviously a no. Preconceived notions of people who are different are formed because of the idea that there is a right way to live, and a right way to look. These notions are formed by culture: through advertisements, television shows, language, and music. Overall, I found this movie to be interesting in that it reminded me of how much of an influence society has on all of us, and how we long to fit in to it.

Class Conversation continued… The Virgin Suicide

After viewing first time director Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides,” an interview from the production reveals great insight into the films meaning. Not only do we hear from the movies director and writer, but also from the author of novel. The original  authorgives his take on the films portrayal of the characters. An interesting point Jeffrey Eugenides makes is that the film focuses on adult men reminiscing on the painfully real feeling of love thirteen and fourteen year olds face.

A topic we didn’t discuss in class, because the story is a retelling of the boys imagination, the audience has to be aware some details may not be exactly the same. On top of not remembering the details completely accurately, the boys deep passion they felt for the girls could easily sway the memories they had. In a young boys mind, it is to think the one you love is the most beautiful girl in the world. Ultimately ending in the girl’s suicide, I think the biggest thing to take away from the film was the idea of young passion. Regardless if its Trip or the four boys from across the street, the memory of these girls forever will be their idea of “first love.” Continually day dreaming about the girls they once were in love with, we clearly see the memory of these girls have drastically impacted many adult men’s lives.

Naivete in Kids

The movie Kids sought to illustrate the behaviors and naivete of teens in the 90’s. Although I felt that the movie was exaggerated in the sense that the majority of kids as young as ages 8 and 9 were most likely not into sex, drugs and alcohol during that era, I believe that it did bring awareness to the prevalence of these issues. I feel as though the theme of this movie is timeless as teenagers to this day can relate and learn lessons from each character story which brought a different issue to the table. For instance, Jenny and Ruby’s situation proved that in contrary to popular belief, the number of sexual partners one has does not determine how susceptible one is to disease. While Jenny only had one partner, Telly, and Ruby admitted to having up to eight partners, when they went to get tested Jenny was the one that ended up contracting HIV. This plays into the naivete of teens in general as Jenny stated “this can’t be right, I’ve only slept with one person.”

As the introductory scene in the film showed Telly manipulating a young girl into having sex with him with his infamous line “I care about you so much,” it showed how permissive these young girls were as they were so easily manipulated by the same line that Telly eventually uses to deflower another young girl at the end of the film. Telly’s obsession with virgins made me question how Telly values himself as he is far from pure but finds so much value in unjaded girls as he explains to his friends how much joy he receives from taking the virginity of girls who are usually not even teenagers themselves.

 

 

Morals in Lolita?

The controversial movie Lolita (1997) is based off the novel written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1955. What made directors and producers decide to create a movie out of this novel is beyond me. Being adapted from the 1960s version of Lolita, this version sends your stomach into an upset. Director Adrian Lyne put on a sexual, forbidden-love spin to the tale. Instead of having Lolita act like an innocent and naive girl, Lyne’s version poses Lolita as a crafty tease towards Humbert.

The morality of this story is that there is no morals. An adult male insisting himself upon a tempting child makes for a disaster for both characters. From watching the movie, I saw no good in either characters. Each had their moments of being morally just, but as a whole, both were rotten in their motives. Humbert wanted a girl who reminded him of his first love as a preteen. However, he failed to realize that is culturally wrong and damaging to himself. Stated in class, Humbert could have stepped away from the whole mess at the hotel when he went outside. He could have just kept walking and left Lolita there. Of course that would be abandoning her without anyone to care for her, but he wouldn’t have become so engrossed with always having her around. Lolita was naive but not innocent; she was not pure. Lolita knew what she wanted and how to get it. Yet she too failed to realize this was damaging to herself. She could have run away, which she eventually does, but that puts her in a worse position of child-pornography.

Neither character wins in this story and audiences are left feeling disgusted. The morals are unclear/nonexistent in Lolita, looking at the book or movie versions. This story tells people what not to do and what should not be seen as an acceptable forbidden-love tale.

The Virgin Suicides: Ethical Dilemma

The story of the Virgin Suicides was tragic, both for the girls who ended their lives and those around them who felt the effects. However, their deaths bring up an ethical question: should some sort of social work have been done in the family after the suicide of the first child, and would that have prevented the eventual suicide of the rest of the children?

Throughout the movie it was clear that the Lisbon family was different. They were strict, unyielding, and kept such a close grip on their children it was a miracle they were even allowed to attend school (even though that “privilege” was taken away form them as well). Their family upbringing was not normal and everyone around them knew it, children at school did not view them the same, the teachers treated them differently as well. It brings up the dilemma that, even though everyone knew something was off in their family, why is it that no one said anything to try to help the girls out?

Especially after the death of the youngest in the family, Cecilia, something should have been done to look into the family dynamics and look out for the lives of the other sisters. As far as it is seen in the film, no one makes sure that these girls are ok, instead they look from the outside and assume how the girls are feeling. If someone had thought to take the steps and go to the family, perhaps a social worker or even  friend, there could have been something done to perhaps delay or even stop the suicides of the rest of the sisters. Its important to consider this because it shows how we, as a people, sometimes take more interest in a person’s troubles instead of the possibility that we can help them. Everyone in the movie was always interested in gossiping and discussing the girls, but no one thought to help them or call someone who could, to get them out of the situation they were in. They were more interested in being able to gossip about the girls than they were in helping them. This is unfortunate but it shaped the entire movie, and it brings up the ethical question: If someone had tried to help the girls out of their situation at home, such as a social worker or other public figure, could have been saved?

 

Kids Controversy

Once you have finished watching Kids you can understand why the movie has caused so much controversy. Kids (1995) was directed by Larry Clark and is still notorious for the controversy it created. It portrays a group to teenagers in New York indulging in alcohol, drugs, and promiscuous sex. Kids deals with more than just sex, drugs, and alcohol; it deals with STDs. Telly, the main character in Kids takes away Jenny’s virginity while also giving her HIV. Most of the movie deals with Jenny searching for Telly to let him know what he has done to her. Telly does not stop with just taking Jenny’s virginity, throughout the film he also takes the virginity of two young girls and also gives them HIV. The film tends to be very graphic opening with a close up of Telly and his latest conquest making out half naked in bed. With all of this graphic and controversial behavior there is a lesson behind it all. The film is meant to open the eyes of kids who think they are invincible and open the eyes to parents who may not think that kids are capable to doing the things that they do in the film.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/kids-1995

Real life Teens vs Teens in kids

Kids is viewed as a very controversial film, the behavior of the characters in the movie isn’t what parents want to see or even think about catching their child doing. These kids in their teens are walking around New York City  getting in to trouble, drinking, doing drugs and having sex. The movie mostly follows the character Telly who likes to have sex with virgins and talk about sex and get into mischief with his friends.

The fact of the matter is the behavior that the characters show in Kids isn’t far from what happens in real life, minus some extreme things. Teenage boys are trying to get laid by any means necessary, they lie and tell girls things they don’t mean just to get them into bed. The way Teenage boys have always discussed sex in such a way that the movie depicts is pretty spot on too, they talk as if the girls are just objects and brag about their success. Getting into trouble is also very prevalent in teen years, from fights to petty crimes like trespassing, teens get into a fair share of trouble. Parents and adults don’t want to see this behavior or have their child be exposed to it. Teens do do what is show in this film, it may be different levels of extreme but it still happens.

Scene where Telly talks about having sex

 

Race in ‘Boyz n the Hood’

‘Boyz n the Hood’ is acclaimed as one of the few African American films to rightly exclude white actors. After reading the article linked below, called ‘Boyz n the Hood,’ 20 Years Later: The Making of a Movie That Did Race Right, I realized the sigma that Hollywood attaches to films like ‘Boys n the Hood’. The article made an excellent point when saying that minority films usually place a white person as a lead role, or a “white savior” as some critics have called it. Because race is such a sensitive topic, I think directors think way too much about which actors they cast. In my opinion, casting a white actor as a lead role with a cast of mainly minorities calls into question racism in the director themselves. It puts them in my mind as someone who thinks they need a white person to make their movie a seller. If the director of ‘Boys n the Hood’ had casted a white person in the film, I strongly believe it would have taken away from the rawness of the film.

Furthermore, I thought the directors choice to make the police officer African American, was a smart move. While having a white police officer wouldn’t have been inaccurate, I think the racism between white and black people would have taken away from the true meanings of the film. But at the same time it still shows the judgement and stereotypes that exist between African Americans. The police officer didn’t walk around the fact that he thought the boys were unimportant and useless. He even went as far as putting a gun to Treys head; which truly shows how much the officer assumes about the boys because Trey was portrayed as a character with more “potential” than the others, not some street trash.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/boyz-n-the-hood-20-years-later-the-making-of-a-movie-that-did-race-right/244317/

Is Kids as controversial as its reputation?

The movie Kids (1995) written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark, has garnered much criticism from critics and audience alike for the provocative nature of the film. Many have called the film “borderline child pornography” for the scenes depicted what it is like for teens having sex and losing their virginity. Another way this film is marked controversial is the dialogue between these young characters. The dialogue of Kids, tends to be navigated towards adult topics such as sex, drugs and crime. Because of these instances of “borderline child pornography” and harsh dialogue, audiences were starting to believe this film was simply glorifying this way of life. Another way audiences and critics feel this film to be controversial is because of the style in which this was filmed. Audiences believed this film was depicting real life and many were fooled into believing this was a documentary showing the lives of these inner city children.

Over the years, Kids still has its controversial reputation, but is beginning to become more widely accepted. Before, audiences were not accepting of the art that Korine and Clark were bringing to the public. Slowly, people are beginning to realize there was no perverse subtext to the movie but it was simply to show how out of control some kids lives can get, as well as how serious protection against AIDS was in the early 1990’s.

 

example of controversial scene- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLwhN1Yxkpo