Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

bloodknife.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 699 posts

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#61

Post by miserablegit »

brushfoot wrote: post #16

There are interesting ideas here. Personally, I find the War on Terror explanation a little far fetched. I think a more likely possibility is that movies started specializing. In the decades before the Internet, cinema was one place where the average person who didn't buy dirty magazines could glimpse more skin than in everyday life. Then the Internet came along. Suddenly pornography was in everyone's home. Soon it w…

> The public had infinite access to the sexual equivalent of gourmet food

If you think porn is "gourmet", you've not watched enough of it. Porn is the McDonalds of sex: repetitive, predictable, largely "safe" (with minimal care, you won't see what you don't want to see), and purposedly all-encompassing but still largely detached from the real thing.

I'm an unabashed porn consumer and I have to tell you, I yearn for anything resembling the sexual chemistry you get in good movies of old. Two people flirting and exchanging double-entendres is a billion times sexier than 99% of mainstream porn.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#62

Post by herbstein »

jinushaun wrote: post #44
EdwardDiego wrote: post #14

I think this is why British crime dramas / police procedurals seem to feel more real (to me, raised in a post-colonial country) - very few people look like temporarily financially embarrassed models slumming it as detectives.

Yes! Although after binging watching 21 seasons of Midsomer Murders, we noticed everyone in the later season got a lot hotter. Consequently, the plot lines got a lot more “conventional” (read: American).

Completely off-topic:

I'm actually doing something similar -- watching all of Midsomer Murders. I absolutely love the way John Nettles' Barnaby (haven't seen any with the new actor) is righteous and upstanding without becoming preachy. In particular S01E03 where his partner's homophobia is shut down. The fact that most of the horrible people are high-brow also has a nice feel to it -- very Columbo-esque.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#63

Post by dysrend »

Robotbeat wrote: post #17

Teen birth rate is currently less than a fifth what it was in its peak in the 1950s baby boom. (And has reduced about 20% relative to the figure here) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/02/why-is-the-... And the overall fertility rate in 2020 was 1.779 births per woman as of 2020 in the US. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/fert...

What's your point?

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#64

Post by gibbonsrcool »

Animats wrote: post #58
brushfoot wrote: post #16

There are interesting ideas here. Personally, I find the War on Terror explanation a little far fetched. I think a more likely possibility is that movies started specializing. In the decades before the Internet, cinema was one place where the average person who didn't buy dirty magazines could glimpse more skin than in everyday life. Then the Internet came along. Suddenly pornography was in everyone's home. Soon it w…

I find the War on Terror explanation a little far fetched. Yes, that was a bit much. The Cold War produced a much more serious fitness boom, especially during the Kennedy Administration.[1] It also produced an education boom. Today, 71% of young Americans are ineligible to serve in the military.[2] Too fat, too dumb, too criminal, or too drugged. There seems to be little concern about this at political levels. [1] ht…

I wonder if the lack of concern is because of the future of autonomous warfare. There's drones of course, but also tech that enables things like aircraft carriers to run with much fewer crew.

I'm betting that national healthcare will cause a fitness boom. We'll start seeing each other's poor health as tax money, and there will be more stigma for being overweight.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#65

Post by Blikkentrekker »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #14

I think this is why British crime dramas / police procedurals seem to feel more real (to me, raised in a post-colonial country) - very few people look like temporarily financially embarrassed models slumming it as detectives.

One of the last television series I watched was The Practice, which not only was notable for having both attractive, average, and ugly cast members, but it is actually a realistic plot point that sometimes comes up with envy between them.

But yes, European media in general is less focused on physical æsthetic perfection than I find U.S.A, Japanese, Korean, and Indian media to be; I often find a similar result in German, Swedish and Dutch television series that characters seem to look considerably more average.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#66

Post by miserablegit »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #14

I think this is why British crime dramas / police procedurals seem to feel more real (to me, raised in a post-colonial country) - very few people look like temporarily financially embarrassed models slumming it as detectives.

Eh, kinda. Luther? Sherlock? Global sex-symbol superstars right there. The same forces at play in Hollywood are at work in London, it's just that the best-looking ones move out to California as well.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#67

Post by ChuckMcM »

brushfoot wrote: post #16

There are interesting ideas here. Personally, I find the War on Terror explanation a little far fetched. I think a more likely possibility is that movies started specializing. In the decades before the Internet, cinema was one place where the average person who didn't buy dirty magazines could glimpse more skin than in everyday life. Then the Internet came along. Suddenly pornography was in everyone's home. Soon it w…

I wonder if the answer isn't more mundane, money. Parents today seem to have no problem with their children seeing a movie where people are eviscerated on screen but won't let their kids see movies with sex in them. I found it funny that "Bridgerton", and "Game of Thrones" both produced with more sex, have been quite popular.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#68

Post by f154hfds »

anonll394e92 wrote: post #37
throwaway77767 wrote: post #11

> This cinematic trend reflects the culture around it. Even before the pandemic hit, Millennials and Zoomers were less sexually active than the generation before them. Maybe we’re too anxious about the Apocalypse; maybe we’re too broke to go out; maybe having to live with roommates or our parents makes it a little awkward to bring a partner home; maybe there are chemicals in the environment screwing up our hormones;…

Personally I use escorts, it is not easy finding an independent, good looking, permissive, not-very-expensive girl but by my calculations that's a far more efficient way of satisfying my inner-chimp until I want to get married and have kids. I do not want to participate in some mating ritual that involves two persons lying to each other in order to just relieve some sexual tension. In Romania I do not feel that gener…

I appreciate your honesty. For the last several years I have supported a charity that helps women to escape this cycle of oppression in Romania. I've heard some of their stories, how difficult life is after they've found a way out. All I can say is that victims abound despite appearances.

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#69

Post by [deleted] »

brushfoot wrote: post #16

There are interesting ideas here. Personally, I find the War on Terror explanation a little far fetched. I think a more likely possibility is that movies started specializing. In the decades before the Internet, cinema was one place where the average person who didn't buy dirty magazines could glimpse more skin than in everyday life. Then the Internet came along. Suddenly pornography was in everyone's home. Soon it w…

[deleted]

Re: Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

#70

Post by stolenmerch »

I wonder if the rise of the Chinese movie market and U.S. studios catering to it has any bearing. Obviously they can and do create a foreign edit, but it might be possible the economic incentives to just create a "cleaner" movie to begin with is a factor here.
Post reply on HN