Moviegoers generally can tolerate violent films because they know they’re fiction; when filmmakers attempt to shock audiences with unscripted sex scenes, however, this strategy often backfires and becomes offensive to audiences.
Steamy simulated sex is all most viewers can accept; anything more may be too much. When moviegoers watch sexual scenes on screen, they want it to feel real.
Is it real?
So unless you’re watching a pornographic film, all sex in movies and TV is faked. Actors tape their genitalia or add padding so as to prevent getting an erection during a scene and avoid being caught by camera; doing this also keeps them from having to explain everything to a therapist afterwards.
audiences tend to accept sexual scenes in films because audiences understand that characters are acting. However, when filmmakers attempt to mix genres by showing real people engaging in unsimulated sex activities uncontrolled by actors they risk alienating audiences as it’s like mixing apples and oranges, or comparing fantasy with reality.
Moviegoers tend to expect narrative films to tell a narrative tale, so those which veer away from this expectation tend to receive less praise – which explains why Noe’s voyeuristic film Love was widely criticised across the board.
Audiences don’t tend to be overly sensitive or conservative; rather, they simply prefer characters and situations with plausible potential. Although audiences can tolerate some violence and sexual content in films, unrealistic depictions will leave them feeling shortchanged and disappointed.
Is it too real?
Movie sex tends to be very unrealistic. That’s okay since movie sex should serve as an escape, not reality; but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy having some sense of reality in our sexual fantasies!
Some movies have recently gone beyond expectations in pushing the envelope. You, featuring Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl fame, was an award-winning drama that stirred plenty of controversy with its steamy scenes and depiction of Billie as an established psychologist who longs for her decadent past as a bartender and nightclub singer.
Unrated is an upcoming documentary film featuring interviews with actual murder victims that takes sexual content even further, sure to raise eyebrows from morality police and encourage Hollywood filmmakers to push the envelope even more when it comes to sexual content.
Art-house purists may lament Hollywood’s lack of creativity until Nuri Bilge Ceylan releases their last Nuri Bilge Ceylan film. However, studios continue to make genre films because they work: making money for studios while entertaining audiences and satisfying narrative expectations; although some of these movies may feature mostly faked sexual encounters.
Real-life sex can look just as stunning on film, and some viewers may be disturbed at the idea of seeing someone else’s floppy pink bits on-screen, but others find it liberating – as although physical reality of sex may be ugly, its potential power of seduction cannot be denied.
Some critics have asserted that moviegoers reject movies with unsimulated sexual content because they’re too prude and sheltered; this, however, is inaccurate. Instead, experimentation such as Unrated breaks the illusion of cinema and can result in embarrassing rather than captivating experiences for audiences; when executed properly – like The Idiots’ gang-bang scene – however, results can be truly incredible.
Is it too much?
Though explicit sex remains less prevalent in movies than it once was, explicit sexual content remains less frequent these days. While it can add an edge of sensuality to a story, too much sexual material can feel gratuitous and take away from its narrative purpose. Sean Baker’s low-key tale of a porn actress in San Fernando Valley (Starlet) uses sexual scenes so well they feel both sensual and necessary while in others like Lars von Trier’s disturbing Nymphomaniac it appears overbearingly exploitative.
As previously discussed, too much sex can disengage audiences from a film. Although a few steamy movies (such as Lust, Caution or Blue Is the Warmest Color ) may get away with unsimulated sex between actors or body doubles (see Lust, Caution or Blue Is the Warmest Color), moviegoers typically expect simulated sex in films. When filmmakers attempt to blur these two concepts they create expectations which audience members may not be prepared to meet.
It doesn’t mean moviegoers are overly conservative; rather, they prefer not being shown content they find uninspiring and irrelevant. If a director wants to experiment with non-narrative cinema, they should ensure any sexual material used for these experiments is either artfully edited or employs body doubles so viewers won’t become distracted from the story and leave altogether.
Is it perfect?
Sex scenes in movies should make sense within the story and characters, without necessarily needing to be realistic; rather they should fit with both plot development and character growth – for instance if there is major conflict occurring during that particular scene it likely wouldn’t be ideal to introduce sexual tension with such scenes.
Writing a sex scene involves prioritizing emotional beats over physical ones; once your director and actors work on this part, physical details will come naturally. By detailing emotions and character motivations more deeply than before, she or he can more effectively portray these visual cues visually.
Lady Bird offers an excellent example of this concept with its sex scene, in which our titular heroine loses her virginity to Kyle (Timothee Chalamet) through naturalistic, realistic depiction without resorting to cliche techniques like slow motion or romantic music – making the scene more believable than an overt moment that would distract from character development or narrative tension; making the scene part of Lady Bird’s journey rather than an extraneous addition like slow-mo or an emotionally charged soundtrack would. Bastille Day depicting one such character’s journey is similar; von Trier has an upcoming 3D provocation called X-Men which could sees female protagonists battle hard against themselves both on and inside of Bastille Day to adds some cerebral depiction; with von Trier also producing Bastille Day which features depictions of a porn addict’s struggles depiction or von Trier’s 3D provocation called X-Men (to be released early).