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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

#291

Post by aksss »

throway98752343 wrote: post #246

> [Julia] was a bold-looking girl, of about twenty-seven, with thick hair, a freckled face, and swift, athletic movements. A narrow scarlet sash, emblem of the Junior Anti-Sex League, was wound several times round the waist of her overalls, just tightly enough to bring out the shapeliness of her hips. Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her. > Better than before, moreover, he realized why it…

That guy knew what was up. Does all of this just flow out of the technology that turns high population societies into behaving like low population communities? The lack of privacy, the moralizing.. combined with a too-far removed central authority? Is that the dynamic that Orwell was able to see?

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

#292

Post by magicalhippo »

Robotbeat wrote: post #134
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?

Not op but I'll throw in some that I've really enjoyed and that made me go "hmmmm", roughly ordered by year

The Double Life of Véronique (1991) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1600-la-double-vie-de-v-ron...

Strange Days (1995) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/281-strange-days

Upstream Color (2013) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/145197-upstream-color

Under the Skin (2013) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/97370-under-the-skin

The One I Love (2014) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/242090-the-one-i-love

Welcome the Stranger (2018) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/413852-welcome-the-stranger

Segfault (2018) (the less you know the better) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/463594-segfault

Possessor (2020) https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/435615-possessor

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

#293

Post by lotsofpulp »

koolhaas wrote: post #57

Was really glad to see 9/11 mentioned in the article in relation to the American male body entering its militaristic phase. It validates an armchair theory I've had related to the correlation between media coverage / dramatization of Special Forces operations in the early to mid 00's and the general trend of American dudes getting very ripped and growing beards. At some point around 2005-2008, I just started noticing…

> And then the ripped look was kinda table stakes. Everyone had to mirror that alpha male SEAL physique and eventually people forgot why, and it became a self reinforcing cycle for the next 10-15 years.

You might be in a bubble. Outside of a few US cities and outdoorsy areas, when I look around, almost nobody looks like they are going to raid a tunnel system in Afghanistan.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/cdc-american-obesity-rate...

And physical fitness shows you have the time, money, and discipline to take care of yourself, and it can't easily be faked, so it serves as a pretty good signal of those traits. I'm not surprised leaders would want to differentiate themselves using it, especially when you're trying to stand out in a crowd of people who have time and money, since discipline is the rare trait.

It's also objectively healthy to lift weights for bone density and strength, among numerous other advantages, especially in our sedentary lifestyles. And the standard abdominal fat/beer belly is incredibly damaging to one's health, so if your goal is to stay healthy through your 60s to 80s, I welcome being "fit" as a fad.

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

#294

Post by aksss »

souprock wrote: post #282
aksss wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The enormous gaps in US toilet stalls are far more terrifying ADA compliance?

I think he refers to the 1-inch gaps between the stall and the wall, and on the hinge side of the door. He might also refer to the 1-foot gap below the door or the half-inch gap by the door latch. American stalls are also short, so tall people can look right over the top. With gaps so big, why do we bother?

Ohh I see. Yeah, that is a little weird but it’s hard to look in the gaps casually when you’re walking by without being obviously creepy (a friend tells me). Like it seems more visible from the inside where you’re stationary than from the outside in motion.

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

#295

Post by throwawaysea »

loveistheanswer wrote: post #101
david927 wrote: post #93

I think social media has made us such narcissists that we demand the beauty as an ideal and eschew the vulnerability of sex.

I wonder if the proliferation of easily accessible porn on the internet may also be a factor. People literally have access to porn 24/7 in their pocket if they have a phone.

I don't think porn fulfills the same niche. Movies have room for greater story telling, character development, and a realism that the viewer can connect with or feel emotions from. My armchair take is that the erasure of sexuality is most tied to the fear of appealing to modern audiences who are easily outraged at anything that offends them. And so the movies all tend towards a boring beige, a formulaic re-skinning of the movies that came before them. The MCU is a great example of this.

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

#296

Post by dingaling »

kenneth wrote: post #272
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;…

Being sexually active is a choice. Nothing's stopping you from going out there and meeting people. There's plenty going on if you're willing to step out of your house and meet people. (And no, swiping on apps doesn't count.) (Pandemic lockdowns of course might get in the way, but I'm speaking generally when those restrictions aren't there)

For the vast majority of people it simply doesn't work like that. It's a long, expensive, seldom successful and generally frustrating experience which takes a toll on self-esteem.

Unless you're in the top 20% or so of attractiveness.

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

#297

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

noofen wrote: post #157
theonemind wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are almost 7.7 billion people on the planet already, even with less than replacement birthrates, I think we're good on human count for the next 300 years or so at a minimum so unless the birth rate really catastrophically collapses. We could lose an order of magnitude of people without endangering genetic diversity, take significant load off of the environment, and frankly, quite probably improve the human cond…

There are going to be real, significant consequences from us as a Western society collectively deciding to commit civilizational suicide. Every day I see attractive, intelligent, productive, highly empathetic couples justifying their decision to not have children because of abstract "environmental concerns" amongst other decadent reasons (all highly abstract and indicative of civilization in decline, "first world lux…

I'm struggling to understand the argument here.

> Every day I see attractive, intelligent, productive, highly empathetic couples justifying their decision to not have children ... The total fertility rate for North America is 1.7 [1]. Meanwhile, the total fertility rate for Sub-Saharan Africa is 4.7 [2].

HN requires I give the best interpretation here. It sounds like there's an observation bias: you see prime individuals not reproducing, but what about elsewhere? It certainly seems possible the same cohort in Saharan Africa are not making the same choice, given the higher birth rate.

> ...IQ is 50-70% heritable.

Alright, but IQ doesn't translate to attractiveness or productivity. My school's valedictorian went on to work an IT Support job. Should we be saddened if they don't reproduce?

Lastly, there are plenty of poor, intelligent people. Your comment sets up this narrative that intelligence is split by continent, and humanity will be worse off, since the smart continent has a lower reproductive rate. The facts don't support that. Most people alive today are the progeny of serfs of the Middle Ages. They were poor, but certainly not all were unintelligent.

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

#298

Post by EdwardDiego »

astrange wrote: post #204
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.

I don't know if this is just what they picked for BBC America, but every single British TV comedy I've ever watched has a cast of 90% white haired elderly people sitting around and being sarcastic at each other. Last of the Summer Wine, Dad's Army, Are You Being Served, etc etc. These were also the only thing my parents watched, so it was a relief when I got to watch normal people TV and saw someone in their 20s.

I'm quite enjoying BBC America's The Watch, rather loosely based on Terry Pratchett's Guards novels.

It has the occasional conventionally attractive actor, but boy howdy, they really roughed up Richard Dormer, who plays Sam Vimes.

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

#299

Post by aksss »

jack_pp wrote: post #215
DoreenMichele wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My very first words in my first comment were: I'm not suggesting you are doing anything morally wrong I'm not making any of the assumptions you accuse me of. I'm just trying to say that the world of work and opportunities available to women are different than for men, so their logic for why they make certain choices may not be what a man would expect based on how he thinks about his choices in relation to how to earn…

I won't comment on the personal stuff because I've stopped trying to save everyone. For the record I rolled on random.org with a 20% chance saying I should offer to personally help you and you got 57. > When push comes to shove, women are expected to use their sexuality to some degree to open doors career-wise in a way men are generally not expected to do Men are generally not epected to use their sexuality because i…

> I rolled on random.org with a 20% chance saying I should offer to personally help you and you got 57.

Funniest thing I’ve read today. Is that a normal thing you do? Just online or for the panhandler at the corner via mobile? How do you determine the saving throw? So many Q’s..

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

#300

Post by EdwardDiego »

miserablegit wrote: post #66
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.

Luther, okay, I'll grant you, it's Idris Elba. But everyone else around him (aside from his ex) looks rather, well, normal and British.

Ruth Wilson is a great actress, and, in my opinion, somewhat attractive, but she's not of the "Moved to LA and looking for stardom" mould that a lot of American actors and actresses fall into.

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