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Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

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

#131

Post by ipaddr »

saithound wrote: post #82
hirundo wrote: post #35

Is this a side effect of normalizing porn, that sexuality is more effectively partitioned? I once had a debate in an online forum about legalizing prostitution, and most participants were supportive of it. Then I asked the same group, what about legalizing partial prostitution, like a receptionist that also has sex with the boss as part of the job description. The participants all immediately switched to revulsion at…

Others have explained why certain jobs are "segregated", and how sex work could plausibly fit into that category. But even if it does not, there's nothing we can learn about sex work from the reactions described above. Isn't it strange how most programmers think that specialist barista work is not demeaning, but would quit on the spot if they were instructed to serve morning coffee to the management? Oh wait, it's no…

At my salary I would welcome serving coffee while everyone is in the standup.

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

#132

Post by mymythisisthis »

dqpb wrote: post #53

It’s so strange and depressing that American society glorifies violence and villainizes sex.

I find that films from the 1950s had more realistic violence. People remembered the war. Even with a small revolver, when someone got shot, they fell down. A few decades latter you get to something like Rambo, with bullets flying, but none hit him.

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

#133

Post by api »

Jtsummers wrote: post #59
rayiner wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This stresses me out as a young and not sexually active millennial. What do we do as a society to improve some of these trends? Do we want to? What do I do as an individual to change my individual situation? Why do we need to? The data shows that sex, drug use, etc., actually peaked with baby boomers. They were peak frivolity. It’s only because they created all the media for decades that we think those were good th…

> Millennials are a more sober and serious generation for a more sober and serious time. No need to regress. I mean, the US did embark on a multi-decade war. But is our time fundamentally more serious than what the Boomers went through?

A boomer could graduate high school, get a job, buy a car, buy a house, and start saving for retirement.

Younger generations have to work 10X as hard for a chance at that kind of middle class lifestyle.

When it comes to where you live it's poor job prospects or unaffordable real estate: pick one. Everything goes up but wages. If you're not in the "professional class" by 30-40 years old you're in real trouble. There's an alternate path that involves living in low cost of living places and working your ass off while you live below your means, but that's not really easier just different.

Younger generations, especially those younger than GenX, know that you just can't fuck around... literally or metaphorically. The party's over.

Edit: Someone will comment that this was only true for white boomers. You're right. Now it's true for nobody.

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

#134

Post by Robotbeat »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #81

Interesting essay. As a fan of cinema, I've noticed that there is a clinical deadness lately when it comes to representing real people. I don't agree with the conclusions of the essayist, but there's something there. Verisimilitude is gone. Real people are gone. In their place, there's a clinical, sterile plastic automaton put together by marketing departments. Even when there's nudity and sexuality, it feels like a…

Can you give examples of really good films of the past/recent past?

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

#136

Post by anonll394e92 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #124
anonll394e92 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I believe I have enough experience to tell if a girl is enjoying her time with me or not and go out of my way to make her feel good (I perform oral and am generally not defensive). When I say I look for 'permissive' girls I mean I look for girls that permit kissing and "sports fucking". I don't choke / slap / hair pull or whatever. If a girl gives signs that she doesn't enjoy sports-fucking I don't persist…

I'm not suggesting you are doing anything morally wrong, but keep in mind that they may be faced with a situation where not only are they being pressured into this by specific people but there simply aren't good alternatives for them to make decent money. Men tend to make more money than women. If a woman has a child or children to care for, sex work or exotic dancing etc al may be her only really viable option. I wi…

There's a world of difference between the girls I'm talking about and the escorts who get booked for whole-night affairs and go to dinner with clients.

Honestly I don't even know if there are any escorts like that in Romania. The few people that could afford them are relatively well known and going to dinner in an expensive restaurant would be seen by basically everybody which I assume is not desired by men of high status. They might book them at the hotel though and honestly for 1000$ a night or more I assume it is easy to act.

However I pay 70$-100$, you think a girl would care enough to act for such little money? Even though it's Romania, most people that make money easily learn to not give a crap about money and are not generally motivated by money.

Edit: also, I never tip, I only pay the advertised price.

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

#137

Post by dleslie »

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #121

I feel like this article/author wanted to connect a lot of things when the reality of the situation is far more simple. People and young people have having less sex and less of everything because of poorer circumstances combined with an inability/reflectance to compromise. Applied to housing this means that it is economically harder to afford a house so people stay home in their parents mcmansions. It's hard to affor…

No one builds starter homes because municipalities don't zone for them.

If you want a 3 bdrm condo most cities don't adequately zone for them, and so the limited stock is obscenely over-priced. The same follows for townhouses and row homes.

My own municipality is, allegedly, progressive and far-left; but even it has locked in a huge chunk of the town as single unit homes in a "heritage conservation area", and insists on building bachelor and 2 bdrm suites when it densifies.

So what's the point? You can rent your parents' basement suite for cheaper than the mortgage on what would be a lateral shift in housing status.

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

#138

Post by Robotbeat »

dysrend wrote: post #63
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?

I'm not sure, frankly, but I think there's a connection. A more sexless society is also a society with a lower overall birthrate. When the pressures of urbanization and modern life mean few people choose to have children while the trends in the article and in many of these comments show that people are less likely to accidentally/serendipitously become pregnant as well combine to somewhat drastically reduce the birthrate.

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

#139

Post by sudosteph »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #81

Interesting essay. As a fan of cinema, I've noticed that there is a clinical deadness lately when it comes to representing real people. I don't agree with the conclusions of the essayist, but there's something there. Verisimilitude is gone. Real people are gone. In their place, there's a clinical, sterile plastic automaton put together by marketing departments. Even when there's nudity and sexuality, it feels like a…

I agree with your core sentiment on movies - but I couldn't disagree more on the topic of TV having reverted to the mean.

It may not all be "Sopranos", but I've seen so many TV shows in the past decade that have pushed boundaries and delivered experiences that frankly, have hit me much harder than almost any movie - and certainly much harder than pre-netflix era TV.

I know everyone has different taste, but I think we've seen a lot of maturation in the past decade specifically in the form of more interesting TV anthology series / single-season narratives (True Detective, Fargo, Watchmen) and dark-ish comedies (Rick and Morty, Barry, American Vandal, Succession). I think networks in general are giving show-runners more space and budget for trying weird stuff, because even if they end up with a show that's too niche for a general timeslot - there's at least the possibility of selling it to a streaming service later (like Arrested Development, The Expanse, and Community did).

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

#140

Post by joe_the_user »

m463 wrote: post #85
joe_the_user wrote: post #52

Tiny point: "It was all bullshit: no one looks like that without calorie restriction." I'm 6' and I've weighted 135-145 pounds for my entire adult life and I'm 50+. Being a guy, I never restricted my calorie intake. I'd expect there are women with a similar metabolism. Which isn't to say that a lot of skinny celebrities aren't dieting like mad to get this look. But probably some percentage aren't and the rest hate th…

I think she's talking about 6' 205 pro baseball player physique. The kind of person that looks "normal" in a movie but if you met them IRL they are extremely fit with very little fat and perfect definition. (I'm not putting you down)

She means the average weight, all-muscle physique for men and she means more or less my physique for women. My only serious argument is that some women no doubt have the barely-underweight-for-size physique without dieting.
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