Poll: Sex scenes in movies

[manic_depressive13]

I don't like them, and I don't see how they would ever be strictly necessary. If it's for characterisation or whatever, doesn't implied sex work just as well? Anyway, they're never satisfying and only serve to make the experience somewhat awkward if you happen to be watching with family or friends. I don't really see the point.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Most of the time they are pointless pandering. A useless attempt at titillation to keep the 'tards paying attention.

It is only really meaningful in any way when it is supposed to be horrific or awkward or something. We can tell people totally love each other enough with a kiss or implied sex, so it's unnecessary for that.

I'd say I'd rather we did away with them but then what am I going to hoot at and make the entire family feel awkward.

 

[Zac Smith]

The sex scenes play a huge part in the film "Anti-Christ" and anyone else who is seen that film will know they were very effective in telling the story...if a little bit mentally scaring

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Usually they are pointlessly dragged out, get the points you want across then move on (RocknRolla did it perfectly).

Watchmen was the most aggressive one with this, they just went on and on, I know they got that semi porn actress specifically for this but come on I wasn't there for porn, release it as a DVD extra if you really feel the need to make fan fiction.

To be fair, that scene exists in the book and the sequence of panels could easily have been used as a direct storyboard.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

Even just showing showing shadow puppets of characters as they have sex is time wasted, for me at least. Unless something truly world-shattering happens (assassination attempt?) then the movie could get away with hinting at what happened rather than showing it and letting the audience fill in the gaps with other scenes where the characters are more or less nude.

And I agree with the OP. If I want to see sex, there's plenty of porn on the net and definitely drawn porn of every character pairing possible. If not... Someone has to make it some day.

 

[Aris Khandr]

If it's for characterisation or whatever, doesn't implied sex work just as well?

Not always. Going back to my example of Love and Other Drugs, the sex scenes at the beginning were establishing the characters. There was no affection, just each using the other to fill a base desire. If they had only implied it, it would have taken even longer to set the scene. It was only the slow progression as we watched Jake's character fall for Anne's that really made the scenes pointless. I get the idea, that we were supposed to see him fall for her over time, but the way it came off was just "well, the last ten minutes of movie have been rather dull, haven't they? Let's spare you. Anne, take your top off!" They just went back to the sex scenes too much. It wasn't the idea that was bad, just the execution of it.

 

[Araksardet]

The film "Shortbus" is pretty much all about sex and people's sexuality in one way or another, so the sex scenes are indeed meaningful. There are other films where, similarly, these things help with plot, character or mood.

On the other hand, sex in other movies is just mostly pointless, or is used to crudely make a point better made in another way. Most Hollywood films with sex fall into this category, though honestly, I don't see many with actual sex - just fade to black moments. Except in comedies, when you see someone hilariously interrupted during sex; also pointless.

In fact, come to think of it, comedies are probably king of pointless sex scenes.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Usually they are pointlessly dragged out, get the points you want across then move on (RocknRolla did it perfectly).

Watchmen was the most aggressive one with this, they just went on and on, I know they got that semi porn actress specifically for this but come on I wasn't there for porn, release it as a DVD extra if you really feel the need to make fan fiction.

To be fair, that scene exists in the book and the sequence of panels could easily have been used as a direct storyboard.

Different medium different rules, you can't just throw everything from the book at the movie, it simply doesn't work that way.
We aren't at the theater alone so pulling up a 10 minute porno is just a waste of our time, we got the point of it in a couple of seconds so move along.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

It's never as 'cut and dry' as just "all are meaningless" or "all are important". It very much depends on the story they take place in. Sure some of them are obviously just there to give the audience some bare skin to oggle at for several minutes, but some of them do have relevance to the progressing story as well as the characters.

Sure I can't think of any examples, but trust me on this. Some sex scenes are necessary.

 

[Kapol]

It depends on the movie as others have said. Done right, it can show two characters reaching the peak of intimacy, showing that they are engaged in an act that is commonly thought of as two independant bodies coming together to form a powerful bond between them, or becoming one as some would put it.

Done wrong, it's pointless sex for the sake of trying to sell to people who don't want to or can't look at the real stuff.

 

[Vault101]

...and hey some peopel actually enjoy them, as Bob said in his reveiw of black swan is that really a bad thing?

Yes. Yes, it is. It creates a bad precedent for other films, particularly action films where it seems de rigeur to include a pointless romantic relationship in there for the sake of targeting a specific type of female audience who wouldn't be watching the films willingly anyway.

well sex scene or no sex scene a romance that just thrown in there for the hell of it is always annoying

 

[mchoueiri]

Can I vote for both? I don't watch many movies that include such things, but the last one I saw was Love and Other Drugs. The first couple of scenes were good for establishing the characters. But they just kept going back to it, over and over and over. It went from being a part of the narrative to just "we know you're all here to see Anne Hathaway naked, so here's some more".

I would say the same thing some films like 300 have pointless sex scenes but films like for example Black Swan has sex scenes that have a purpose

 

[Llil]

If you want pointless sex scenes, go watch Caligula. Lesbians out of nowhere!
(I still like that movie though.)

Usually sex scenes feel pretty pointless, and I think they rarely add anything to the story. If you want to have a sex scene in your movie, one way to do it is to cut away after you've made clear that sex is going to happen. We don't need to see it all, that will easily feel like it just drags on for too long. As for character developement, "these charactes have sex now" should be enough. I don't think seeing which hole they stick it in is going to add much to the movie.

 

[Kargathia]

Is it annoying to have annoyingly obvious fan service sex scenes? Yea. Is it really the biggest issue with film-making? Usually not.
Generally when movies are doing this it's more a symptom of the bigger problem of the forced love interest that serves practically no purpose.

Just look at a Hitman as a prime example of a film with a love interest that not only was pointless, but actively detrimental for the whole movie. And that's without any sex.

Watchmen is the exception for this: the relation between the two going at it actually was important to the story. Maybe there you just have to keep in mind that compared to the comic book it was very tastefully toned down.

If I had to give an example of a movie that did it right then the first thing that springs to mind is Catch Me if You Can. The one where you see the remnants of an expensive dinner in a hotel room shaking on the table while you hear the sounds of the protagonist going at it. Followed by the post-coital remark of "You know, this has to be my best date ever".

 

[jowo96]

Sex scenes are often sold as being artistic but really its just a way to sell the movie, sex sells and Hollywood knows it.

 

[spielberg11]

Either trying to be mature or just trying to sell more tickets (sadly usually the latter).

 

[Meggiepants]

I'm not really going to vote because the options are too black and white.

Some sex is clearly there because it's meant to sell a movie. I can't remember what movie it was... Swordfish I think, but there was a big to-do about Halle Berry's naked breasts in that movie. They paid her big time to do it. It seems to me that was a case of, "Hey look, we have Halle Berry's breasts. Oh yeah, and a movie."

But sometimes the sex really fits the movie. Sharon Stone's sex scenes in Basic Instinct, if taken out, would have made the movie less powerful imo. The movie is about the power of sexual attraction and what it can do to a person. She was a femme fatale and the director was trying to illustrate her prowess.

There are plenty of other examples where the sex scene is meant to convey awkwardness of the act as well, something that cannot be conveyed as easily if you simply imply it happened, as some suggest.

Long story short, it really depends. Sometimes it's meaningful, sometimes it's not.

 

[Cirlan Catalin]

I think the real question is: does this film require a romantic (sub)plot? The question is, of course, answered on a movie by movie basis. In films like "Mulholland Drive" the romantic plot and the sex are important, if not central to whatever the hell that film was about (the two leads are also uber-hot). In an action movie, the romantic subplot is mostly clichee or padding, if not utter garbage, because the director and writers don't have the tallent to do the action without a few scenes of softcore boning. If we remove those scenes, this kind of movie will not suffer, it may even be better for it.

Good action films don't need a romantic subplot to distract from the action - think of the first two Alien movies. Moreso, the first film was so ripe with sexual motifs and subtext that it would have been less emotionally scarring had it contained prolongued scenes of male on male hardcore action (that is, for the real masters like Mr. Scott and Mr. Kubrick - the sex is more than mere copulation).

 

[Nouw]

Depends on the context. Both options are as valid as each other.