Sex in the Movies

The Marine and I went to see Beowulf tonight.  Ok…so I have a degree in English which qualifies me to run a copier machine at the local copy shop.  But, I do love literature.  Shakespeare is a love.  I have long looked forward to the release of Beowulf, even though it would be an animated cartoon.   Now, what I found completely interesting, as I always do, were the nudity and sex scenes. 

WHAT?!?!  In an animated cartoon?!?!

Yes indeed.  And here is a break for the female population….lots of male butt in this flick.  The male frontal nudity was covered by a strategically placed object (usually very long!) to cover the sensational parts.  I found this refreshing in the sense that outside of Will Smith (and yes….he does have an incredible butt), we hardly ever see men naked in the movies.  What I can’t bring myself to understand is why the “strategically placed” items.  It was completely distracting from the movie itself.  It was like pointing out that something should not be acknowledged by putting a neon circle around it.  Not sure what happened during that 10 minutes that the Beowulf *animated* character was commando, but it was a main part of the movie.  And, I missed it!

Not for the reason that you think though…I was watching the audience.  Fascinating.  You know how theater seats always squeak like a bad set of mattress springs?  The room sounded like rough sex on an old brass bed as every parent in the room was leaning forward to cover their children’s eyes to shield them from the nudity and sexual content.  Outside of the description of nicely sculpted animated male butt described above, there was one scene where a man is putting the sexual press on a woman behind the castle.  He was saying that he would “make her cum like no other man” and “ruin her for any other man” (I swear!!) to entice her into sex.  OK…so here, I almost giggled aloud.  The thought slide through my mind that men’s bad “come on” lines have not changed in thousands of years!

But, as the parents scrambled to “protect” their children from the sexuality expressed on the screen (no matter how bad it was!!), I could not help but think about the previous few minutes of the movie. 

• Strewn bodies ripped apart as blood and guts drained through the view. 
• A female character was battered and literately smashed into the ground. 
• Bodies were torn in half and animals of various kinds were stabbed in the eyes, throat, and gentiles. 
• A gruesome character, Grendel, dismembered people all over the screen. 

 But these fine, gentle folks were concerned with the sexual situations in the movie.  They were concerned about their children learning sex and sexual arousal through this movie. 

When faced with the choices of sex or violence, I don’t understand why people make the choice for violence.  Let’s face it, from the commercials, it was evident that the movie was not Mary Poppins.  Immediately following the nudity scene, Grendels arm is ripped off by the main character.  No one rushed to cover their children’s eyes to save the young, impressionable minds from understanding that violence was right  or should not be hidden from sight.  Did I miss the part of our cultural acceptance where we taught children that it was ok to be violent?  It seems to me that if we had to teach children the value of either sex or violence, the choice would not exist.  Sex would be a clear healthy winner.  Perhaps…that is why I don’t have children.  Seeing this hypocrisy makes me understand how we, as a society, view our sexual values and the silent ways we express our disapproval of the “dirtiness” of sex.  ~~Dee