It is well known that films represent an essential form of art, which has several crucial functions. Thus, movies discuss topical issues of society, encourage individuals to take certain actions, and even establish connections between people by letting them share their experiences with others. Some various themes and ideas can be expressed through films, and sexual representation is one of them. In this essay, an analysis of sexual representation in the film Kids directed by Larry Clarke will be provided. The study will be focused on fetishism as one of the storylines presented in the movie.
The film Kids is a coming-of-age story, which is directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine. The story narrates about a group of teenagers from New York City who sticks to a morally disordered lifestyle, which is characterized by sexual promiscuity and substance abuse. The protagonist of the story, Telly, has an obsession with the idea of having unprotected sex with virgins. His friends Casper and Ruby have similar views of life.
Together with Telly, they lead careless lives, do drugs, have unprotected sex, and expose their aggression to people around them. In general, there is no culmination and denouement in the film. Instead, it is just a smooth narrative that demonstrates the immorality and swagger of young people. The movie is ending with the question of Telly’s friend, Casper, who wakes up one day and, looking right into the camera, asks what happened.
The central theme of the movie is the sexual relationships between children with the involvement of dangerous consequences represented through HIV-AIDS diseases. After its initial production, the movie received a controversial reaction from the public. On the one hand, it was criticized for its unpleasant and dirty scenario, which shows the youth of the 1990s negatively. On the other hand, society understood that it was difficult to find a movie that would represent sexual relationships between teenagers more honestly and candidly.
Indeed, the film director managed to raise the theme of sexual intercourse among children, which is considered uncomfortable for discussion in public, in a truly unique way. Even though at first sight, it might seem that the plot does not have any educational notes, it transfers several essential messages to spectators.
First of all, the demonstration of children’s lifestyles shows that it is not possible to further ignore the moral corruption of youth as it affects the well-being of future generations. To transfer the idea of the importance of safe sex, Clarke introduces the scenes where the girls take HIV-AIDS tests and find out that one of them is infected. The test of Jennie was positive, even though she had only a single sexual act with one partner. However, the test of Ruby, who has had multiple sexual encounters, turned out to be negative. It is not just a random choice of circumstances that aim to entertain the audience. Instead, this scene seeks to emphasize the importance of safe sex because the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases can happen even after a single random sexual act.
Another significant concern that is expressed in Clarke’s work is the fact that having unprotected sex is not the only problem of the participants of the story. Thus, the main hero, a 15-year-old guy, Telly, has an abnormal form of sexual behavior, which can be determined as erotic fetishism. He can experience sexual satisfaction only with virgins, who are about 12 or 13 years old. His obsessive idea turns out to be the only activity that pleases him, and, at the end of the film, Telly admits that sex is his only life purpose.
This scene suggests that Telly’s fetishism transforms into a form of a psychological disorder, as he rejects everything except for the only things that he finds worthwhile. Substance abuse and robbery further deteriorate the boy’s emotional well-being.
The film ends with uncertainty about the children’s lives in the future. Thus, Telly is represented as a lost child who does not realize that he has emotional issues. At the end of the movie, Casper, with a surprising facial expression, looks into the camera and asks: “Jesus Christ, what happened?” This phrase attracts the attention of the world community to the problem and invites people to think about possible measures that should be implemented to improve the situation.
Therefore, sexual representation was used as a tool for attracting the attention of adults to the problem that existed in the 1990s among teenagers in the USA. By representing sexual relationships among children, the filmmakers managed to create a controversial movie. On the one hand, it does not have an obvious didactic note, but, on the other hand, it transfers many important messages to society. Using fetishism as one of the indications of psychological disorders of Telly, Clarke shows that neglecting the problem may lead to the emergence of mass mental distress among youth. Moreover, the primary idea of the movie highlights the need to resolve the issue to avoid the massive transmission of sexually transmitted diseases among children.
To portray the existing problem of moral corruption realistically and vividly, the filmmakers depicted the central moments of the movie, including sexual scenes, in a detailed way. The numerous parties and getting-together scenes combined with the sexual actions were presented without any embellishments and exaggerations. Thus, the apartments where the teenagers had parties were shown as messy spaces full of illicit substances, dirtiness, and moral distortion. The selected soundtrack to the movie contributed to the creation of the picture.
The majority of sounds in the film are diegetic, which means that they occur in the heroes’ world. In general, there are several music compositions used in the movie. However, all of them belong to the hip-hop genre, which serves as an excellent addition to the actions that were happening in the film.
There are no famous actors in the movie, but some of them used their acting experience in Kids to pave the path to the cinema industry. Acting looked natural and realistic due to the documentary style of the film. Moreover, the fact that there are no popular stars in the movie helps the audience to be concentrated on the stated problem rather than acting. It is also worth noticing that filmmakers carefully thought about every detail, including the costumes of the heroes. Thus, a negligent and simple outfit highlights the careless attitude of children to their lives and characterizes their inner world.
As was mentioned above, the reaction of the public to the movie was controversial. Thus, some people argued that there were too many sex scenes, while others understood that sexual content was necessary to raise the questions essential for society. Indeed, the film cannot be considered a literary creation. There are no long speeches or verbal wit because the primary method of communication with spectators is carried out through visual perception. However, as was stated above, sexual representation helped the filmmakers to convey their ideas about the burning issues of society. Moreover, nudity was excluded from the movie, so it cannot be considered anti-censorship.
Therefore, it can be concluded that sexual representation in the film Kids enabled its director, Larry Clarke, to raise topical problems that prevailed in American society in the 1990s. Thus, sexual scenes helped to demonstrate the promiscuity of teenagers and raise awareness of AIDS and HIV diseases, which are sexually transmitted. Moreover, the filmmakers introduced the idea of the erotic fetishism of the main hero. It led to the emergence of mental issues of Telly and his inability to get pleasure from activities other than sex.
Also, it was revealed that every detail, including music and heroes’ costumes, served as a tool for highlighting the ideas of the film and raising awareness about social issues. Thus, the film can be recommended for watching to those who are 21 and older, because Kids is a truly unique masterpiece. It should be considered as a didactic manual rather than an anti-censorship pornography. It aims to attract the attention of adults, especially those who have teenage children, and the global community to the problems of society that should not be further ignored.