Are sex and killing scenes really necessary?

[ravenmoon]

Most of my entertainment experience has had them, even before I saw either of these two acts live, I had seen them on screen. Now, I love films that mkae things believable and realistic - especially my once favourite genre Sci-fi/fantasy whos make-belief elements require a lot oeffort from writeres and adapters to make the rest of their world as believable and real so taht we can actually relate to what's goin on in those very unreal environments.

However, I have noticed that films and dramas un-necessarily add killing, death and sex scenes that are just too much, and until I watched some Korean dramas recently, I didn't realise how full of it our stuff is, and how totally un-necessary it is.

You don't actually have to see the car mow down a person or the axe split his head in two, or the man groping the woman (or other man) and stripping themselves naked showing all the parts for it to be convincing. Having watched some really decent shows and films, I got a powerful sense of belivablility and authenticity from the script and the acting as well as the plot and I can safely say that showing me the person dying gruesomely or sex would not have added any value.

So why is it so rampant? To behonest I feel a lot of shows do it for cheap dramatisation, the worse the script is the more cheesy everything is, can't write a compelling plot so you add shock factor with sex scenes and gruesome scenes. There are a few movies and tv shows (like those on HBO otherwise dubbed Hell's box office by a few) who actually tend to have well written shows where you feel the sex or violence as a natural part of the story and shown because the camera is showing everything. Whiles I don't feel it is necessary even there, it certainly doesn't feel like a cheap trick.

I do wonder, and question whether the vast majority of US tv shows and box office hits have become incapable of producing quality material - and I wonder why so much trash is being made and earning so much money. There is quality stuff over here, don't get me wrong, but half of the time it doesn't do half as well and peopl don't talk about it as much.. so I wonder if movie makers have their marketing and studio statistics showign that films with violent death and sex scenes earn more money, and because of that, they just throw in more whether it's good or not.

Ofc, some films are nkown for that Tarrantino is famous for daring to show it all in gruesome measure.. his films strike me as a person totally f***ed up on acid - the shock factor in me changed from wow to eew, but most guys like his work.. In his case though, the films ARE about gruesome violence and sex, rather than a normal story thorwing sex and violence into it to sell more.

I conclude that cheap drama is one makers throw in un-necessarily violent and sexually explicit scenes to raise the amount of viewers.. sometimes keeping it just low enough to pass whatever rating they want to achieve for their targetted demographic or viewing time slot.

[StillMcfuu]

Remove sex and violence would erase the mcu from existence outside a handful of movies.

[Miyagie]

People stupid dont like brain using... using brain hurts!
Show people easy, people dont need using brain!
BRAINS!

[Stormwolf64]

Spmetimes no, sometimes yes.

[VinceVega]

Sex sells. As does violence. I wonder on the other hand why poeple are so squirmish about that and "bad words" like fuck^^

But i agree to a degree with the violence. It is getting too much. Like Torture porn.

Sex on the other hand si something people actually take part in.... well mostly so it is part of everyones life. Murder not so much.

[Biomega]

What do you mean by "necessary"? They're a storytelling tool, and like all storytelling tools, they can be used well or badly.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Puritans need not bother with movies beyond a PG13 rating.

I get angry when movies tackling serious subjects at the same time Disneyfies what happened. Think, war scenes with no blood. Jews in the Holocaust looking like they are clean and well fed...

Sex scenes I do not much care about, but if I am watching movies tackling adult themes, I want them to not be afraid to show the darker sides of life.

Torture porn however, whilst it has its audience, I find to be childish.

[ravenmoon]

Remove sex and violence would erase the mcu from existence outside a handful of movies.

It's not as much sexual implications or fighting i'm talking about as much as when they show you heads split into , or bodies run over, or naked bodies with sexual acts taking place than say a kiss scene with obbvious implications it is leading to more, but the more not being shown.

- - - Updated - - -

What do you mean by "necessary"? They're a storytelling tool, and like all storytelling tools, they can be used well or badly.

I mean the extent of what is actually shown.

it's one thing if you are doing a historical drama to show the seriousness and gruesomenss of war and human curelty.. it's another thing if you're doing a fictional piece and showing a sword literally sliciing the body open with blood and guts gushing out.. is that really necessar.. same with showing passionate kiss to going ot full on man's naked but pressing against naked soman, boobs all out and doing raunchy sex.

it's one thing if your moviee is about the lewd or aggressive nature of sex in context to an industry or an event where the manner of it is necesary to show, it's a totally differnt thing if you're just throwing these extra graphic scenes in for kicks.

[aceperson]

i think death note is a good example of where sex and violence are and aren't needed. most of the show is about strategy and the most violent you get is when it comes to apprehending someone by the police (keeping it vague for spoiler reasons, the show is old but it's still a good show and don't want to spoil any twists). i love a good show that has a lot of strategy and mind games to it but sometimes i just wanna sit back and watch pacific rim and watch giant mechs fight giant monsters.

not everything needs sex and violence but only having one or the other is boring.

[iosdeveloper]

such scenes make your endocrine system respond with various mixes of hormones
it's all about hormones, bro

humans are hackable animals

[Rendark]

If something is made for adults then dumbing down the sex and violence is just lame.

[XDurionX]

Well, if you think Tarantino is shocking, i dont know what to tell you.

[ItsRainingMetal]

I dont care about sex scenes, they are usually pretty cringy. But, I want some brutality and gore in my movies and series.

[Kumorii]

Personally I'm glad we have movies for all kind of audiences... makes you able to pick and choose what you like and you also have plenty of flavors depending on what you want at the moment.

Everything there is just simply for entertainment and sometimes it tackles questions and deeper stuff, but even then they still do it in an entertaining way. Otherwise you would get bored and not watch it.

This just screams "I don't get or enjoy this, why does it exist?".

[Biomega]

I mean the extent of what is actually shown.

it's one thing if you are doing a historical drama to show the seriousness and gruesomenss of war and human curelty.. it's another thing if you're doing a fictional piece and showing a sword literally sliciing the body open with blood and guts gushing out.. is that really necessar.. same with showing passionate kiss to going ot full on man's naked but pressing against naked soman, boobs all out and doing raunchy sex.

it's one thing if your moviee is about the lewd or aggressive nature of sex in context to an industry or an event where the manner of it is necesary to show, it's a totally differnt thing if you're just throwing these extra graphic scenes in for kicks.

Is it really necessary to use attractive people? Is it really necessary to depict beauty? Is it really necessary to show love?

You're making a biased assumption that confuses what's NECESSARY with what's POPULAR.

Very few things are truly necessary, if your goal is merely to transmit information. But with most forms of artistic media, that's not the actual goal.

[McNeil]

I'd much rather have them take out most unnecesary romances which movies always seem to shove into. They take way to much time and we always know how they end up. At least sex scenes don't usually last more than 1-2 minutes.

[StillMcfuu]

It's not as much sexual implications or fighting i'm talking about as much as when they show you heads split into , or bodies run over, or naked bodies with sexual acts taking place than say a kiss scene with obbvious implications it is leading to more, but the more not being shown.

Ahh I got you.

Honestly I don't think it's as big of a problem as you believe. Extreme violence can be done in a way that works well with tone, Tarantino as you said in your OP is probably the forgone expert on it. But extreme violence is used to convey irony, I would say, in his movies, it's apart of the absurdity. Other genres such as Torture Porn I could do without, although there is a difference between say Saw (early Saw movies) which uses its violence to make the audience uncomfortable for the victim, enhancing the movie, versus Hostel or Human Centipede where it just makes you uncomfortable because you don't care about the characters.
Another good example of uses of violence and sex that add to the movie, Starship Troopers. It's over the top, but it's supposed to be, the movie would lose a little impact if the over the top story and world building had mundane action set pieces and normal human interaction.

Ultimately I believe you will find the extreme violence and sex are either going to be appropriate for the movie, and if they aren't and it feels tacked on, the movie has other real problems and is likely completely forgettable.

[ThatsOurEric]

Yes, because violence and sex are built into human nature.

[brbshower]

After reading through a few of your responses it really sounds like you have an issue with nudity in general. The human body is a beautiful thing(mostly), and sex is a beautiful act. Just b/c there are people out there who were raised as prudes, it doesn't mean sex/nudity shouldn't be shown in film/tv. It's natural, and the last thing we, our children, and future generations need is sex being hidden away in some dark hole and pretending it doesn't exist.

I watch several hundred films a year and I hardly ever see what I'd refer to as 'raunchy' sex. Most of it is fairly well done, tasteful, and most importantly...ACCURATE. I'm fine with that. If someone isn't, well the PG section is ----> that way.

As for violence, again it's a part of life and doesn't need to be sugar coated to pretend it's any less than what it is. In real life, you get stabbed and you bleed. I think it's important to show those things b/c it's something we don't see in our day to day, we just hear about it. If it's used as a storytelling tool, I have no issues. Even torture porn, while I'll agree is stupid, has it's place. It's made to be over the top, shocking, dumb fun.

Film is a business. Nobody wants to put out a film that makes 0 dollars. Sure, some directors/writers are more passionate than others and care more about the message than the bottom line...but studios are the ones funding films, and they want that $$$. So they are 100% in support of putting in things that will get people to show up. And the truth is, sex/violence sells.

I think your issue is more in line with your personal beliefs towards sex/violence than what's actually being portrayed. For someone who obviously has issues seeing nudity and feels that sex is 'raunchy'(which it almost never is), it doesn't matter how little a film shows said nudity/violence...you're going to have an issue with it. My advice, just blame your parents for bringing you up with outdated views and for keeping you from enjoying life...just like I do :P

[ravenmoon]

Yes, because violence and sex are built into human nature.

Maybe, but media makes them far more common than they are, making rare and unique occurrences every day. De-sensitisation is a thing, a serious thing, altho that's not the focus here...its a different level when we see so many explicit scenes, are they really necessary to convey the message ? I dont think they are, and most cases of them are cheap moves by producers to make their badly written work seem more authentic,

If it is as I suspect, then that's a really bad thing.