I'm always so baffled by American views on censorship when it comes to ******** vs. Sex... Don't get me wrong, I love horror movies! Though I do wonder... why is it that we are exposed to such violent material and yet something as simple as nudity gets cut from films as being too graphic? Media/ Films depicting *******, war, ****, slayings, shootings are approved for PG-13 and R ratings yet if there's a sex scene with more than 5 thrusts (yea they count the thrusts) it must be edited down or will pass for NC-17... The same goes for female orgasms, full frontal male nudity, & other erotic displays... I find the message disturbing-- that explicit sex is more threatening than ********? I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!
xoxx
Great question! I don't have a great answer... wish that I did. But I'd say it has something to do with how we are desensitized to ********, yet we are highly sensitized to nudity, and especially sex. I don't know why, but doesn't that seem to be the case?
If you've ever watched any old I Love Lucy reruns from the 50's (other shows from that period too), you'll see that Ricky and Lucy weren't ever seen in the same bed together. It wasn't a violent show, but there were sometimes depictions of ********. And from Bugs Bunny to The Three Stooges, programming focused at ******** has always been full of ********. But look what happened when Janet Jackson just barely flashed some nipple at the Super Bowl a few years ago. A lot of people acted like she'd performed a ritual human sacrifice on live TV.
Like I said, I don't know what it is. Americans (more so than Europeans) seem to have a lot of hang-ups when it comes to nudity (and sex), but we tend to almost embrace ********.
BTW, there's a show that comes on History and/or History International that's called Roman Vice. I think it's being rerun this week. It's a good depiction of how the most advanced and "civilized" nation in the ancient world dealt with different aspects of sex and ********. In many ways, it seems that they were as peculiar (and hypocritical) then as we are now. Check it out. I think you'll enjoy it.