That’s the story according to the latest CNN article.
As someone who works with college students, and who deals with sexual issues quite a bit in the ministry, I was disturbed by some of the suggestions in this article.
Am I overreacting?
This article tells me a few things that are disturbing, ironic and more as you will see from some quotes from this article followed by my thoughts:
1) “People get itchy about straightforward sexuality,” Universal Pictures publicity executive Michael Moses says.
That’s a disturbing thought, because what I really feel is missing in this culture is a straightforward discussion on the issue of sexuality. That’s why I preached on it for four weeks. But the irony is, sex really isn’t dealt with in a straightforward manner in the movies. They don’t show you the consequences, or pain, or emotions related to sex when it is done outside of God’s plan. To Hollywood, it’s all fun and games. No consequences.
2) “Outside of the sophisticated urban art-house milieu, most American moviegoers just don’t want much sex in their movies. According to studio marketers, it tends to make them (especially men) uncomfortable. “If you spell sex in marketing materials, it doesn’t sell,” producer Peter Guber says. “If you spell fun, it sells. Sex inside a comedy candy-coats sex and allows the audience to feel comfortable. Laughter covers up insecurity.”
Where do I begin? That if you are sophisticated you appreciate movies with sex. But those of us, who don’t attend urban arthouses, aren’t sophisticated, and therefore don’t appreciate these movies. And you can’t package just sex, but if it’s sex and fun, it will sell. Seriously, who writes for CNN. Their hidden motives and agendas are killing me. What a sad commentary on our society if that is the case. So let’s not deal with the realities of sex, but let’s package it up into a fun little movie, and show no consequences, no pain, no reality, and then it will sell. Does anyone wonder why our culture is so messed up when it comes to sex.
3) “Sex sells, but not serious sex. Films can be sexy, but they can’t portray the sexual intimacy most people crave. In the movies, you have to have safe sex palatable to a younger audience. The portrayal has to be violent or funny.”
Unbelievable. Is this true? We want to go to a movie and watch people fooling around, and sleeping with everyone outside of marriage, or in marriage for that fact, but please don’t show us a married couple who are intimate with each other. What a sad commentary. I’m one who prefers no sex in the movies…if that is a part of the plot, then can’t you just allude to it like Alfred Hitchcock did..his point was made, and made better. How sad it is though, that what people really crave, is not what they actually want to see.
4) “Why? These days, sex is in the home. In the privacy of your own room, you can see all the racy material you want in “Sex and the City,” “The L Word,” “Queer as Folk,” “Deadwood” and “Desperate Housewives.”
Interesting isn’t it. Sex does sell, but not in a public format. As long as people can view things in private there will always be a need for it.
5) “We are a Puritan society,” Press says. “We’d rather watch it at home.”
Oh gees. Well of course. Blame it on the Puritans..they’ve ruined everything. If it wasn’t for those darn Puritans, Hollywood would be making great sexual movies.
What a joke! This article is disturbing on so many levels. It exposes CNN and the Main Stream Media’s biases so evidently. That those who are intelligent, and enlightened, go to movies about sex. But the Christians and Puritans, they don’t go to these movies, and they aren’t intelligent.
And how sad it is if these things are true. Sad that Hollywood doesn’t deal with the realities of abusing sexuality…and sad on the part of the movie viewer who is fine watching sex as long as it is detached from any type of committed marriage. Keep if fun. Just let everybody hookup! That’s done us a lot of good!
