Sex and Violence In Film

This kind of article would have been good for my dissertation last year detailing a discussion between whether sex and violence in cinema should be deemed taboo. Sex columnist Tracey Clark-Flory details the scepticism between classification in America; stricter rules towards taboos against sex in film yet less stricter rules against sex and violence.

It seems like the public can't accept the visualisation of pleasure in humans. Perhaps porn is responsible for this; though porn is created in order to arouse it's audience, where as in film sex is used to represent. I made the point within my essay, why does there have to be so much control over the consequences in film? I mean we see murder scenes, drug taking, torture within film and television and only age warnings come about that (have they missed that ideas towards impending violence on others could occur?!); but when it comes to sex on our screens any element seems to be shunned just incase the audience gets any pleasure from it themselves. There seems to be a concern with self control, or even how much control such societies can have over us in order to avoid risk taking responsibility themselves for our actions. Does it all come from paranoia and issues (like the extreme procedures towards health and safety as well) caused by angry members of the public? I admire how Tracey ends her words:

'Sometimes I really have to wonder who we're most trying to protect by restricting sexual imagery.'

She is right! I do wonder whether those in control of viewing such material are more concerned about the consequences towards going against the social norm? I say lets give it a go and see what happens. Surely you would rather the audience have a larger knowledge of sexual pleasure, than sexual pain and physcial violence caused! I don't see any shame in that.

Made In Chelsea

Usually a sentence like 'I am ashamed to admit, my guilty TV choice is 'Made In Chelsea', yet for me I have no guilt. I really enjoy it!

I feel drawn to programmes like these because of their desire for its demographic to endure an idea of ones lifestyle. We all desire to learn what is different from our own. Increasingly throughout the series, FINALLY the editing has got fairly better and some of the shots are beautifully captured.

Getting passed the conventions and structured scenes of 'Chelsea', I would like to focus on the particular lifestyles and attitudes shown within the programme. Of course we have to take everything with a pinch of salt, hours of endless editing exists to construct a storyline and exchanged glances across the table to create drama. All bitchiness aside, I find it interesting to examine the general attitudes across each character. 

Without mentioning names, I feel that though these people may be seen as to 'have it easy', a large part of me thinks they have their priorities in the right place. Their current day to day generally seems based on sourcing pleasure. They seek when to have the next best social event or together occasion. They thrive from being around others and enjoying themselves. Sure, we all assume that the rich are delusional towards what 'living' really is, though deep down we know that if there were a choice for ourselves-as if we would turn down the lavish lifestyle. 

To have a piece of 'what shall I do today, because I can', instead of 'what shall we do in two weeks because we have to save'...I am glad to see these people enjoying themselves and making the most of what they have got. If we saw people of the such moaning all the time (all personal dramas aside) and not going out at all-I am sure we would hold grudges about the programme even more!

Fear In The Apprentice

Again I become amazed by the fact that the underperformance lies in pretty much all of them showing signs of panic. Panic, fear and desperation is among many faces and they don't make any sales. I think we forget that it is even within the tiniest things, such as the tone of our voice which gives indications of ones lack of personal faith.

The fear forms a cloud. It is a shame that it paralises our ability to perform. Stress is slowly killing us, and not always in the most obvious forms.

Putting the message across

I have a background in documentary film and here is a link a film I made relevant to the postings I have made today.

http://www.vimeo.com/12487891

then password:

cancergene

Any feedback would be truly appreciated. The film was made to kick those up the arse who were scared of the topic, for people to become less scared and to check themselves out instead of sticking their heads in the sand. We wanted to represent cancer in a different light and show that making jokes isn't a bad thing. There are so many sides to everything, the film making process was a grace as so much was learned about the subjects; the process of taking part in the film also helped them with their experiences as well. Time is precious, so lets not waste it.