Happy Easter....sex, and television shows..which had nothing to do with the holiday

[shadowkat]

Told mother how I amused myself researching the dark net - or rather was amused by the people asking how to get on it.

Mother: I'm glad you found this amusing...
Me: Well yeah.

I was also amused by this random tweet on Twitter..

They were discussing why it's not a good idea to buy titantium or steel rings, which seem cool until you can't get them off. And an ER doctor added this tidbit to the discussion.

If you come to the ER with a titanium cock ring that you cannot get off, our ring cutters are not sharp/strong enough to cut it. Which will result in us having to call the fire department to get their diamond saw, and this is a very undesired experience for everyone involved.
Hee Hee Hee. I was amused.



W: I read about two film critic/movie psychologists who were analyzing the romantic relationship in the Twilight films and how this may screw up young girls minds.
Me: Well it's basically 50 Shades of Grey. And everyone has twisted sex fantasies they don't want to share with anyone. Or rather one person's sex fantasy is another's nightmare.
W: True -
Me: Now acting them out in reality is a whole other issue and not something people should necessarily do. At all. In fact most of these fantasies are far too twisted to ever even contemplate doing. That's when people get into trouble. Nor should we necessarily share our sexual fantasies with others - because again, one person's fantasy is another's well...nightmare may be too strong a word or then again maybe not.
W: I don't have them any more - but maybe that's why I don't? I acted it all out and got it out of my system?
Me: Or menopause and thyroid issues.
W: I stopped taking my meds for that - because I don't want to see the doctor again.
Me: Uhm...say that sentence again and think about why it doesn't quite work? I mean, I get not wanting to see the doctor again - but you are putting your health at risk. If you don't like the doctor find another one.

Also in regards to the Twilight films? The appeal of those things is completely lost on me. I found them boring - it was as if everyone was deeply stoned. Watching the first two (actually one and a half - I didn't make it that far) was painful.



I don't have issues talking about sex. It's not how I was raised. Mother was fine with it. She doesn't understand people who do. The human body is just that a body, natural, and sex a natural act. Her mother didn't have issues either. And neither cared much about nudity. Prudish - they weren't.
Although they were mindful.

And my innocence regarding it was kind of ripped away at an early age when I stumbled upon guys reading explicit magazines in the woods across the street from where we lived. They were "child pornography" (I don't think I need to go into detail - although images are still engraved on my brain, although at least the photos were all in black and white.). My friends and I got hold of the magazines to see what they were reading. And got the shock of our lives. We were about 10 years of age at the time. My poor mother. I still can see her picking up the magazines - that we threw in the crick - and throwing them into a huge trash can. She wouldn't let us help. And shortly after that we moved away to Kansas. This was in Pennsylvania.

We were lucky. Very lucky. And I don't blame my mother for freaking out. I would have. Thank god - our only interaction was with the magazines. The men were stoned out of their minds, and not aggressive and left us alone - thank god.

The problem with our society is it represses sex. And is prudish about it. While glorifying violence. This is highly hypocritical. I mean look at Disney? It won't do sex - that's for mature audiences, but it does have violence. Cartoon, comic book, and otherwise. I never understood this. You can show two bodies making love or intercourse, but you can show someone being tortured or killed? Same with language. Folks can't handle the word "fuck" but they have no trouble watching a violent cartoon, video game or television show.

My mother and grandmother considered it hypocritical.

And as a child, mother used the word vagina and penis, and had no issues with that. We didn't need to make up names for our private parts out of shame.

People can watch explicit sexual violence and torture scenes in movies and television series - but they can't talk about the act? Or use or write words like vagina and penis? Really?

***

Finished watching The Gilded Age on HBO Max. It's okay. Not as good as Downton Abby. Kind of boring in places. And none of the characters truly grabbed me. Part of the problem with it - is that there are too many characters and subplots.

Also, some of the subplots fall into cliche. I found it difficult to follow at times.

The costumes and set design was lovely. But I couldn't get involved in the characters or plot. Curious to see if they go for a second season. They neatly wrapped up season 1.

The Big Chill - re-watched the 1980s film, The Big Chill, on HBO Max today. I couldn't remember it - and got curious. Turns out what I could remember was wrong. Although some things were correct. I remembered a dance sequence in the kitchen with Joy to the World playing, and it really was Tru Love or Gimme Some Loving. The sound track and the cast are the best things about the movie. The dialogue, direction, and story are kind of lacking. It's by Lawrence Kasdan. Filmed in Beaufort, South Carolina. I actually saw the house it was filmed in when I visited Beaufort years ago.
Kevin Kline and William Hurt may be the best thing in it.

Reminds me a little big of A Million Little Things.

My parents hated it. I couldn't remember why - until I watched it again. They found it whiny and disliked everyone in it. I identified more with the middle aged, semi successful ex-college friends who are bemoaning their life choices. It's about a bunch of ex-college housemates who reunite at a friends house for a funeral of a mutual friend/college housemate who committed suicide. Stars Kevin Kline, William Hurt, Glenn Close, Jobeth Williams, Mary Kay Place, Jeff Goldblume, Tom Berenger, and Meg Tilly. Kevin Costner played the guy who committed suicide - but his reel got cut from the film. At one point in the film, Close talks her husband and friend into having sex, because her friend wants to have a baby, and she had cheated on her husband a few times with the guy who committed suicide. (LOL! It's such a fucked up scene that I was like...oookay, that's so not a good idea on so many levels.)

It's funnier than I remembered, and kind of slow in places. Also I think I liked it more than my parents did at the time. The soundtrack is excellent though. (My parents didn't love the soundtrack like Wales and I did, so that's part of it, I suspect.)

Comments

[petzipellepingo]

The second season of "Gilded Age" is currently in the works. I liked it, especially the battle between the old guard and the upstarts.

[shadowkat]

I had mixed feelings about it. The battle between the old guard and upstarts worked. The romances didn't. And I wasn't thrilled with Ms. Scott's storyline.

[mtbc]

Yeah, when mst3kmoxie worked at AMC, parents who called to ask about movies cared only about nudity or sex, not violence. Coming to the Midwest from Western Europe, it was quite a culture change for me.

[shadowkat]

The US is very "prudish", and "hypocritical" about it.

I don't know why exactly. If it was the influence of the puritans or the orthodox religions, jewish and otherwise. Or just the cultures who came here.

But the prudishness and hypocrisy has resulted in an uptick in sexual violence, and objectification that isn't as prevalent elsewhere.

[iddewes]

When I was an au pair in France I had come straight from Canada and it was quite a surprise to see how they decided which films were for over 18s compared to how it would be in Canada. I had an American friend who was an au pair too and we saw Betty Blue together in the cinema there - and were both struck by the fact it was for “15 years old and over”, though it had a lot of explicit sex scenes. We were sure it would have been over 18s only in North America. Then I did go to another film that was for over 18s only, and there was absolutely no sex in it at all, but it was disturbing and had some violent content. It was so different there and made much more sense to me.

[shadowkat]

I saw Betty Blue in London, so most likely saw the version you saw in Canada. Britain is odd about sexual content though - they censor more of it on television than the US does, but their films appear to be less censored. (I know for example that Britain censored both Farscape and Buffy, and refused to show certain Buffy episodes in S6, because people overseas had to get it another way. Or the version they saw had massive cuts to it. Same with Farscape, certain episodes weren't shown - while they were in Australia and the US. Or they were edited differently. So the Brits are kind of prudish too apparently...while the French aren't.)

[iddewes]

We saw Betty Blue in Paris, so it was the original version, I guess.
It depends in Britain which channel you're talking about - I remember moving back from Canada in 1996 and being amazed at This Life on Channel 4 which had full male nudity and gay sex on it. The BBC does not show things like that though. I mean this was just after there had been a huge scandal in North America over St Elsewhere having a character moon someone.

[svgurl]

I grew up sheltered and not talking about sex or anything to do with the body, but that was a cultural thing too. It is interesting how sex is so taboo in America when they claim to be really open, but they're afraid of young kids/teens learning things the proper way and trying to pretend that they won't figure it out anyway. For some reason, as you've pointed out, they're more comfortable showing sexual violence in media rather than discussing consensual sex in life.

[yourlibrarian]

It's been so long since I watched The Big Chill that I remember it poorly. I remember it more for being the driver behind conversations about generational culture and how the 60s generation had sold out and become yuppies.

[trepkos]

Completely agree about the sex/violence thing. It's messed up.