Sexuality and Violence in Films Essay (Critical Writing)

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Human sexuality is a set of biological, psychophysiological, mental, and emotional reactions, experiences, and actions of a person associated with the manifestation and satisfaction of sexual desire. Sexuality is an innate need and a function of the human body, like the processes of breathing, digestion, etc. (Aja 10). A person is born with a specific physiological sexual potential, and then sexuality is formed within the framework of individual life experience. In general, human sexuality is due to the integrated interaction of biological, mental, and sociocultural factors. Experiences related to gender determine the choice of one or another variant of behavior, even in situations that are not associated with sexual contacts in the narrow sense. Sexuality is one of the essential driving factors in human cognition of the surrounding reality.

The issue of sexuality in cinema is quite complicated and controversial. Modern society is designed so that it has a significant impact on any creativity, including cinema. Many people are still not tolerant of the manifestations of sexuality in films, which prevents many directors from fully translating their ideas into reality. In turn, such films shape the consciousness of the audience, showing only certain types of interaction between people. In addition, many works of art lose their aesthetic value as authors are forced to get rid of certain parts that are not approved by society and critics. Fortunately, society is now moving towards tolerance and acceptance (Halffield 26). The directors are now much freer than before, and the cinema of our time has become much richer than in the last century.

Violence is the deliberate use of physical power, real or in the form of a threat, directed against oneself, another person, group of persons, or community. It usually results in bodily harm, death, psychological trauma, developmental disabilities, or various kinds of damage. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common phenomenon in all centuries, originating from people’s animal nature. Its manifestations can be found much more often in cinema than expressions of sexuality. On the one hand, this is because the topic of sex is much more taboo in society. On the other hand, there is a notable negative impact of this trend on people, since violence is destructive for them.

Throughout its existence, art has repeatedly turned to the depiction of various forms of violence. The advent of cinematography made it possible to take its image to an entirely new level, and interest in such films has not weakened until now. The explanation for this can be found in two theories: psychoanalytic and ethological. The accumulated “aggressive” energy of people should be discharged, for example, in observing violent actions, which happens when watching films with violent content. Moreover, cinematic violence does more than just create thrills such as anxiety, fear, and excitement. It also helps a person to satisfy the deepest needs in the struggle for life.

It must be admitted that the MPAA significantly more accepts violence than sexuality. This can be explained by the fact that this topic is not so taboo; in addition, it allows the audience to evoke acute emotions (Markey et al. 161). Despite this, there are many prohibitions and restrictions on violent scenes in films. The most important of them are age-related since people with immature and fragile psyches can misperceive them and begin to copy cruel and illegal actions.

Despite the negative aspects, violence is indeed widespread and popular in the cinema of recent decades. Sometimes, this leads to negative consequences in society, affecting people’s consciousness and prompting them to violence in reality. However, on the contrary, other people take these scenes to heart and better understand the consequences of violence. As a result, they create for themselves a more apparent distinction between good and evil, becoming more conscious and kinder.

There are many popular films in which people can find both sex scenes and scenes of violence. In particular, Quentin Tarantino’s film “Pulp Fiction” is one of the clearest examples. Even though the screen depicts both inter-sex relations and violent scenes, this film is popular and significant for cinema’s history. Consequently, critics pay attention not only to the moral standards established in society. For them, the creative component is also important, which is undoubtedly extremely high in this film.

Thus, both sexuality and violence are controversial among contemporary film critics and analysts. They also cause admiration or rejection from the audience. Society has not yet become homogeneous and tolerant enough to accept any proposed content, especially if it is, in some way, shocking. However, it should be noted that bright figures and experiments are needed for the development of cinema and any other art. Therefore, courageous directors, who at first do not reach the world ratings, have the opportunity to subsequently become popular, raising sensitive topics. Undoubtedly, it is not easy to work with them because it is evident that not all the audience will accept such movies. However, this is necessary for new exciting content and mindfulness of spectators.

Works Cited

Aja, Chinyere, “Depictions of Femininity and Female Sexuality Across Levels of Culture in Contemporary Hollywood”. Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2015. Trinity College Digital Repository, Web.

Halffield, Claire, ““She brought it on herself”: A Discourse Analysis of Sexual Assault in Teen Comedy Film” (2017). Honor Scholar Theses. 65. Web.

Markey, Patrick, et al.Human Communication Research, vol. 41, no. 2, 2015, pp. 155-173, Web.

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