I just finished watching Heated Rivalry, which is what prompted me to ask this question. I saw this show being recommended constantly and lauded as a gay content masterpiece, so naturally, as a gay guy, I wanted to watch it. I haven’t been this disappointed by a show or movie in a long time. It’s basically just softcore porn. The plot is almost nonexistent, the dialogue is scarce, there’s a random filler episode (episode 3) even though the show is short to begin with (only six episodes), and it relies heavily on the same tired gay clichés. As a horny and kinky person, I never thought sex in a show could bore or turn me off, but apparently, I do have a limit. After the first two episodes, where repetitive sex scenes make up about 90% of the runtime, I’d had enough. If I wanted to see that much sex, I’d rather just watch porn.
Depends on the movie. Red rocket for example has very explicit scenes which serve the narrative and theme. However, many movies have an obligatory scene that doesn’t add much.
Honorary mention: Team America world policeJust for context I’m asexual and that probably colors my answer in some interesting ways, but I say … just a little?
Less is more when it comes to sex and violence. That might be my most old person opinion yet, but it doesn’t come from a place of prudishness or judgment. I just think once the taboo on that stuff was largely broken it became overwhelming. It’s a flashy hook to draw you in with no substance and they just hammer that dopamine switch so hard that it loses any impact after awhile.
Additionally, especially when it comes to sex, I feel like a lot of times it’s hard to appeal to everyone in satisfying ways. Sex and our relationship with it is deeply personal, the things that appeal to one person might not appeal to another. We’re often left disappointed when the net is cast too wide and feels impersonal, or it tries to appeal in ways we’re not interested, or (IMHO worst of all) comes off as a flimsily disguised exposure to the creator’s unique fetishes. Fine if you’re into that, but very offputting if you’re not.
I was just reminiscing the other day on the experience of growing up as a teen in the 90’s finding some fan translated PC-98 visual novels. You’d play for hours just on the hopes of glancing a single, pixelated boob and end up enraptured in some cyber punk story.
I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong here, I don’t expect everyone to cater to my toned-down sensibilities, but I do think there has to be a happier medium where the sex and violence have real meaning and impact again and aren’t just manipulative marketing. I think that’s a lot of what worked well for (at least early seasons of) Game of Thrones. The possibility lurked around every corner, tension in every scene, and when it hit it landed with titillating impact instead of just drowning you in it.
Depends on the movie. Two hot movie stars boning is often appreciated by me.
Typically I prefer if sex scenes tell us something about the narrative, themes, or characters. It feels dated to just have a scene that only serves to titillate the audience. Like from a generation that was averse to porn consumption or access.
I absolutely don’t mind if a couple of actors can tell us something about their characters though sex and nudity. It’s part of being human, it’s part of storytelling. But the show should be about something or I’m just gonna get bored.
That being said, some older movies were spectacle first, light on plot, heavy on nudity and sex, and were meant as light entertainment. They often crossed lines of taste, so not for everyone. Kind of a dead genre, exploitation. I’m an age where I can still appreciate it but often hit a wall of ick and discomfort over badly aged tropes.
I think the sex scene at the start of Don’t Look Now when the couple have just lost their daughter to drowning is an example of an essential scene for the plot. There is so much psychological depth in the two grieving people trying to find solace in each other.
If I want to see sex, I’ll just watch porn where I can actually see it and not just the implication of sex. I can not think of a single sex scene in a TV show or movie that was memorable and hot. And the one that was memorable? The one from Team America. Because it was funny.
The Zero G sex in the first episode of The Expanse was fun and memorable.
The moment I started reading “I can not think of a single sex scene…” I started thinking, and the only scene that came up was Team America. It is probably the only memorable one, lol.
I’d like to see a big-budget, proper TV show or movie, with strong dialogue, a real plot, thoughtful cinematography, etc., that includes unsimulated, fully explicit sex. I think that would be genuinely innovative. However, I’m not sure it will ever happen because of regulations and the social taboo and stigma surrounding it.
I don’t recall the name of the movie but one director created one full length movie only to have the lead actress make him a blowjob on screen.
Yeah, there are already gimmick movies like that, Love (2015) is another example with unsimulated, porn-level sex. But those films tend to be niche or underground, and the explicitness feels like the point rather than a meaningful part of the storytelling. What I mean is a truly mainstream, blockbuster movie or TV show that incorporates that kind of content.
Now I just remembered one: Lars von Triers’ Nymphomaniac.
It didn’t have unsimulated, genuine sex. It’s also an “erotic art film”, so I wouldn’t call it mainstream or blockbuster. In my opinion, it’s just another example of a gimmick.
Well, it wasn’t simulated. The body doubles did have sex.
Brown Bunny?
Yes, that one.
I’ve seen movies like that but it’s basically immediately cheap porn with a plot instead of a movie with a real sex scene
The kiss the hero after being saved is a trope that makes me tune off from whatever the film is about almost immediately…
I have one good scene: Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair.
I don’t care about the quantity, but arbitrary sex scenes for the sake of sex sells are one of the most annoying elements in modern film and television - especially in Netflix TV shows. While sex sells is not new, it used to be at least within the flow of the movie/TV show. Now it’s Witcher 1 level of random sex, as if a specific amount of sex per season was part of a contract.
I don’t mind sex scenes if they fit the characters and plot (and won’t complain about seeing naked beautiful people anyway, as long as it’s fine by them), but the awkwardly placed and just long enough to be creepy feet shots on Tarantino’s films and the anime adaptation of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (of course the first episode of season two had to have one; seriously, Madhouse, what the actual fuck) start to get tiresome after a while…
Hell yeah, new Frieren!!
Still no chapter #148, though… 😭
s2 is out?
Yesterday, yes.
I quite enjoy movie and show sex scenes / nudity - they’re more special than porn and can easily be more artistic than pornography.
There is actually a very high upper limit on how much sex can fit into a show, IF it is a “meaningful” sex scene and adds to the plot… you could theoretically have 50% sex scenes if it was a show about sex or a very sex centred episode. But that would be a bit like watching porn, which is just one reason why movies tend to cut away or interrupt the nsfw action. (Anothee reaskn is that they can’t be bothered to film it all, because it’s not actual sex.)
Case study: I actually tried to watch a show largrly about sex. “The Girlfriend Experience.” All of the storytelling and excitement of this series goes into the sex scenes, which they honestly should have had more of, given that it is a show about sex.
The rest of the show was incredibly flst and boring - LITERALLY just people conversing with one another in a sterile corporate high rise.
old-ish movies: If you watch movies from the 70s and 80s you’ll notice a ridiculous adherence to having as many female stars or background characters showing their breasts as possible. It reminds me of how people (e.g asmongold) get about video game character design - they think the lack of smutty stuff is a personal attack.
I’m not sure what to think of this gratuitous nudity, because i do of course like it, but it’s very tacky and obvious. Doesn’t waste as much time as unnecessary sex scenes, i suppose.
The problem I see with sex on the screen is that almost always it isn’t well integrated in the story. It looks like someone said “we need a sex scene at 47 minutes in the movie”.
Agreed, if the sex furthers the plot I don’t mind it at all. Implicated or otherwise. Early seasons of GoT have a few good examples. The tower fucking comes to mind.
If the scene just exists because sex sells, it is pointless to me and should be cut out.
For context, this was back when TVs were big boxes with a cathode-ray tube (a massive vacuum-“filled” glass bottle with the phosphorus-coated screen on the bottom and a literal particle accelerator on the top, put on its side, and powered with high voltage) inside.
If you can manage to have sex on top of a low cupboard put on top of a table you could probably have sex on top of one of these (though you probably shouldn’t, what with the glass, and vacuum, and high voltage, and whatnot), but falling off would probably be a common outcome.
Doing it on top of a modern flat screen would require a much less believable amount of acrobatics.
Heated rivalry IS mass appeal soft porn. Judge it for what it is, not for what it isn’t.
Unfortunately, that isn’t how the series was advertised by fans. I went in expecting a spicy but deep, gritty love story.
I prefer no sex-scenes tbh as they extremely rarely add something to the story. The implication or the first few seconds are more than enough. They only time I’ve felt that a longish sex-scene have added to the story is in Bridgerton when Penelope finally finds her love match.
Same, sometimes I even skip forward
This is a gross mischaracterization of the show. Yes, it has several sex scenes in most episodes, and for TV (and it being gay men) they are relatively explicit. But they are essential for the plot and characters; the relationship starts as purely hookups and develops from there. A lot of the early unspoken dialog between the main characters is exchanged in these scenes. And the vast majority of the runtime is filled with quite a bit of plot showcasing some very fine acting. I can understand if someone dislikes sex scenes, I’d often rather would do without them myself when they don’t add much to the story or are badly done. But for this show they are essential and painting it as just softcore porn makes me believe, OP fast-forwarded through everything but the sex scenes.
What character development? Episode 1 begins in 2008, and by episode 5 it’s already 2016, so it’s been a good eight years since they first met and hooked up. By episode 5 they’re still not dating: no romance, no confessions, no emotional progression, just sex whenever they meet and short, dirty dialogue. That’s especially wild considering the show makes it clear they’ve been in constant contact throughout those years, texting whenever they’re apart. And don’t even get me started on the fact that the two main characters are basically borderline-offensive gay clichés: the sensitive bottom and the cold, “pseudo-straight,” vulgar top. Ilya even has a line at one point that goes, “I like girls, but I like you,” which might be the most tired macho trope in gay media. I’m also exhausted by gay men being portrayed as hypersexual animals.
I’m not gonna argue with you, only wanted to put a warning that you’re either rage-baiting or just want to smear the show for some reason. Also, nice biphobia you’ve got there.
You haven’t said anything factual or given concrete examples from the show itself. You claim the sex scenes are “always relevant,” but how is that true in episode 4? Shane and Ilya are at Ilya’s house after already hooking up that night, there’s already been a sex scene. Instead of addressing the obvious issues with Ilya’s family or their relationship (especially since Ilya had just received a call from his father), we get another sexual moment where Shane jerks Ilya off while sitting on top of him. Then Shane just runs off, again, which fits the pattern I mentioned before with the “sensitive bottom” trope. Nothing is resolved, nothing progresses, and the characters don’t meaningfully change. And this is how the entire show is structured.
Sex scenes in TV/Movies are lame. What do they really provide to the story? Like the stuff in Thrones. It was beyond gratuitous. I could definitely do without scenes of SA as well. (I know it was in the books). It seems pretty clear who these scenes with topless women are for. Clearly I am not in the target audience lol.
Perhaps I am just a bit uncultured when it comes to film as art, and the metaphors that are drawn by these scenes.
I actually dig a slightly coy lead up and I’m good with the implication of sex, or just the very beginning. But then you can just cut to the next scene; I know how it works.
I really hate sex scenes that are complete with fake as pounding and moaning; get that outta here. I don’t mind nudity in the least though.
