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Modern action films fetishize the body even as they desexualize it

bloodknife.com

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

#171
post #160

Wanted to add this RE the shower scene in Starship Troopers: "Two nude scenes were kept in the original version (the co-ed shower and a bedroom scene with Rico and Dizzy), although these were modified in the broadcast version. The cast agreed to do the co-ed shower scene only if Verhoeven agreed to direct the scene naked, which he did. Verhoeven found it strange "Americans get more upset about nudity than ultra-viole…

> A bare breast is more difficult to get through the censors than a body riddled with bullets. I see this point a lot and I think it is a good one but I have some theories on it too. I think that violence (at least to a point) is part of our natural play instincts, think cops and robbers as a kid. We aren’t disturbed when young children mimic violence, we even see it in nature fairly ubiquitously. Animals play fight…

> I think there is good reason we may see violence as less of a big deal than it would be in reality.

Then again, America is fairly violent as a country.

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

#172

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.

We recently watched the entirety of New Tricks. Can't get more average looking than those characters.

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

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

I appear to be the highest ranked woman on Hacker News. I appear to be the only woman to have ever spent any time on the leader board here (under a different handle). A number of people on the leader board are millionaires. I have reason to believe their participation on HN is part of what makes them wealthy. I was homeless for nearly six years and remain dirt poor and continue to get a lot of guff any time I try to…

Thank you for your honesty.

> While I was homeless, men sometimes offered me cash to sleep with them based solely on my looks and obvious poverty.

The way I find girls is through a community forum which practices reviews. I very rarely visit a "new" girl which doesn't have good reviews from reputable members so while I am sorry to hear your experience, I have never offered money to a girl for sex out of the blue or because I felt she was vulnerable. I've only ever been to girls that explicitly advertise such services.

> Lots of low paying jobs are unpleasant work, like cleaning toilets. Lots of low paying jobs subject you to abusive bosses and abusive customers. It's common knowledge that wait staff at restaurants are typically treated terribly.

You assume I am going to girls that are generally treated terribly, have a pimp that takes all their money and are happy to act cheerful for 100$ per hour having sex with 20+ different men per week.

There's no need for her to act, there's plenty of demand for warm bodies without any need for good social skills. And I believe generally those girls that don't offer good GFE are probably forced into it. That would probably even be the majority of the market. I don't know, I haven't done any field research on this but I assume I only visit like 1-2% of girls and am very rarely dissapointed with a new girl because it's hard to fake honest signals.

However it is not hard to make a decent living as an independent girl. The good ones generally work from 10am to 22pm at most. They take good care of themselves, screen clients and build up private lists where they won't even take new clients. If she just wants to live a basic good life she could take 5 regular clients 2-3 times per month and make 1000-2000$ easily working at most 20h per month. That money could well pay for eating only takeout and have a very nice appartment in Bucharest.

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

#174

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…

"heritage conservation area"

Now there’s a euphemism for locking in white privilege if I ever saw one.

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

#176

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 a…

You’re attacking a straw man here. Your experience and personal anecdote may be completely true— however, you are skirting OPs very interesting idea so succinctly stated: that “a populace thoroughly satiated in private can afford to be puritanical in private.” My immediate hunch is that this is generally true.

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

#177

Wanted to add this RE the shower scene in Starship Troopers: "Two nude scenes were kept in the original version (the co-ed shower and a bedroom scene with Rico and Dizzy), although these were modified in the broadcast version. The cast agreed to do the co-ed shower scene only if Verhoeven agreed to direct the scene naked, which he did. Verhoeven found it strange "Americans get more upset about nudity than ultra-viole…

The 1999 South Park movie (“Bigger, Longer, Uncut”), did a bit of a send up on this point, and several interviews with Stone and Parker get into the topic.

“Just remember what the MPAA says: Horrific, deplorable violence is OK, as long as you don't say any naughty words!”

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/08/10/the-time-south-park-...

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

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 a…

I bet there's a cottage industry of porn that specializes in serving you that kind of experience. Even if it's just packaged from existing movies and more "softcore" or something. Porn isn't gourmet or not gourmet, it can be whatever you want it to be. And if there's enough demand (and it's legal), people will make specialized porn to serve it.

| I bet there's a cottage industry of porn

There is. But like with all markets, it's more expensive and will always have less mass appeal than the lowest common denominator. That downward pressure is felt in that industry just like in all others.

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

#179
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A bare breast is more difficult to get through the censors than a body riddled with bullets. I see this point a lot and I think it is a good one but I have some theories on it too. I think that violence (at least to a point) is part of our natural play instincts, think cops and robbers as a kid. We aren’t disturbed when young children mimic violence, we even see it in nature fairly ubiquitously. Animals play fight…

> I think there is good reason we may see violence as less of a big deal than it would be in reality. Then again, America is fairly violent as a country.

Relative to where? Looking up some statistics on violent crime rate by country, it doesn’t seem like the US is particularly an outlier.

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

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not american (Nor european) but I would still be extremely uncomfortable in an all-male shower let alone a unisex shower. I'm curious what you think the reasons that nudity is not as big of a deal to Europeans are.

I mean for one, a nude shower is the standard at pretty much all pools. Gender-separated most of the time, but still. From elementary school swimming lessons (which to be fair happen before pools open to the general public), to attending them as an adult, you drop all clothes when you enter and shower in one big room. Sure there might be partial walls for the extra shy, but most just don't care. Same goes for gym sho…

> As a European (German), not sure what would be uncomfortable about that

I don't have a rational reason for feeling uncomfortable, nudity just feels very personal to me.

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