Poll: Sex scenes in movies

[22steve5150]

to the point of the plot development that is missed with a sex scene, others would say that the plot development gets in the way of the sex, or that blowing things up and fist/gunfights/action waste time that could go into plot development/sex/ect./comedic input/ect.

 

[Someone lost on TVTropes]

They can be either one, it just depends on how it's used. There are some like the sex scenes in Raging Bull, American Beauty, and Adaptation which are actually meaningful. Then there are some like the sex scene in The Matrix: Reloaded which are completely pointless (maybe it was to wake us up because everything preceding it was absolutely boring).

 

[AdamRBi]

People enjoy sex, it's because when you have sex your brain creates the pleasure hormone Dopamine. That's what makes you feel good, pleasure, and gives you the notion you had a good time.

Seeing sex, or implied sex, activates the same gland in your brain to produce dopamine.

It can be used for character building, world building, plot, all of that and if done right it can be great. But if it's just used for titillation then that's what it's doing. Activating your brain's joy center with something all most humans instinctively enjoy to get you to enjoy the movie as a result.

 

[wall5970]

Why is this such a black and white poll? Can't a sex scene in one movie be meaningful and a sex scene in another be gratuitous?

"Brown Bunny" had a sex scene that I felt was pointless.
"Brokeback Mountain" had sex scenes that I thought furthered the emotional arc of the characters.
"American Pie" was all about sex and gratuitous.
"Shortbus" was all about sex and meaningful.

Both.

 

[shogunblade]

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.

I agree with everything you said. That scene in Watchmen nearly killed that movie for me. It was softcore trash that didn't make me care anymore for the characters and the music was just awkward. :|

Why am I the only one who liked the sex Scene from Watchmen? That was a very good romance between the two, and I, probably like most people who read the graphic novel, worried how you could have made that scene work (Much like most of the movie, how could they make it work), and it was done tastefully, romantically and it had some kick-ass music too.

OT: I don't think sex scenes are pointless, except when they are. See why you should have a "Both" option? 300 was pointless, Watchmen wasn't.

 

[uzo]

Hmmm ... I know the kind of sex scene everyone is complaining about is the 1980s action movie Top Gun style hero-gets-the-girl-to-put-out-`cause-he's-so-frickin'-awesome scenes. And rightly so, in Top Gun it's pointless trash - Maverick and Goose singing 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' or 'Great Balls of Fire' to the gal is far frickin' better from a film-making and writing POV. And I don't even think you see any tits!! Jesus, what a waste of time (and in real life she's a lesbian too, lol!!).

But almost the exact same scene happens in Terminator (the Kyle Reese/Sarah Connor scene), and that's a very tender, touching moment in an otherwise brutal and hopeless film, and the writers and directors have introduced it perfectly.

Couple it with the extended scenes that were cut from the original - where THAT VERY DAY Kyle had almost killed her himself because she pissed him off - and you get the sense that, holy shit, Kyle is a guy who's grown up truly knowing nothing but war and death, and all these feelings for Sarah are shit that he just can't understand. So she takes the lead - you could almost say this is the point where Sarah 'mans up' (lol) and takes charge of her destiny rather than it being dictated by everyone else (it's suprisingly deep; Sarah's always talking about how you 'make your own future' and shit like that, but it took Kyle and the Terminator for her to think like that. Before, her life was entirely out of her control. Even in the earlier scenes, it's constantly some other person saying 'come with me if you want to live!' or 'you'll be safe in the police station (lol)' or 'sorry I can't make it tonight' etc.

EDIT: I forgot to mention - I'm one of the apparently few people who think Terminator 2 is nowhere near the masterpiece of the original. T2 is fun, but I can't help but feel it's like a fanfic written by Edward Furlong.

'Wouldn't it be cool if I was the chosen one and I had a special magic friend who came back in time to be my daddy?' Are you fucking kidding me? That's called 'Puff the Magic Fucking Dragon'.

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

I think it comes down to how you portray it. It could be seen as simple fan-service, a passionate unison between two lovers, it could have some deeper meaning that I probably won't get or it could just be in there to fill a few minutes of time. All depends on context and such