Sex Scenes
Severely Edited
Remember the orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut? Well, it was the
whole fuck. Turns out the original group sex extravaganza
was very risqué.
In order for it to stay in the movie, Warner Brothers
digitally added extras whose sole purpose was to block
out graphic content.
If your mission in life is to see the orgy in all its
un-edited glory, the DVD was released back in 2007
and has the full graphic content.
American Psycho features group sex between Patrick Bateman
and two prostitutes. It was so graphic that censors threatened
not to give the movie an R rating if it stayed in.
The scene ended up in the movie, but only after some careful
editing 18 seconds of sex ended up being chopped for the
final version.
When Hilary Swank brought Sevigny to orgasm in Boys
Don’t Cry. It almost didn’t make the cut because
apparently the censors thought it went on for too long.
God forbid a woman enjoy sex or more than two seconds.
Who’s ever been hurt by an orgasm that was too long?
It was totally about Lana’s pleasure. There’s something
about a woman’s orgasm that scaresa the censors.
Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham participated in an oral
sex scene that was almost cut from Two Girls and a Guy.
The censors required a whopping 10 edits before
finally letting the scene live in peace.
“I don’t think you’d be able to know the difference,”
director James Toback said. “The length of the shots
has been trimmed, but not a single shot was taken out.”
Censored Softcore Porn
Anyone who’s seen Sharon Stone’s Basic Instinct sex scene is
probably still lifting their jaw off the ground. It’s that intense.
So intense that the censors refused to give the film
a coveted R rating. Director Paul Verhoeven ended up
keeping the scene in after some light edits.
“Actually, I didn’t have to cut many things.
But I replaced things from different angles, made
it a little more elliptical, a bit less direct.”
Naturally, the director’s cut was released on DVD
and features the sex scene in its original glory.
Blue Valentine features an oral sex scene between Ryan Gosling
and Michelle Williams, which is extremely graphic and also
vital to the film’s realistic portrayal of a relationship.
(Side note: how often do we see depictions of men
performing oral sex on women during movies?
Not as often as we should thanks to sexism.)
The production company fought to keep the scene in.
Ryan Gosling’s thoughts on the matter: “There’s
plenty of oral sex scenes in a lot of movies, where
it’s a man receiving it from a woman.
They’re R-rated. Ours is reversed and somehow it’s
seen as pornographic.”
Academic Censorship
Drawing attention to the blurred line between
scholarship and obscenity a professor was
recently criticized for showing videos
that some considered pornographic.
Most agree that sexually explicit material
including videos, can be academically relevant
in sociology, gender studies and human sexuality courses.
The Puritans Strike Again
But questions arise when instructors show those videos without first alerting those students and when students complain to administrators about the content.
Jamie Price, a tenured professor of sociology at Appalachian State University, was suspended last month after showing a documentary about pornography in her introductory sociology class.
She’s fighting the charges, saying the university is attempting to punish her for exercising her right to free speech in the classroom.
Price was accused of engaging in “inappropriate speech and conduct in the classroom” after four students and some of their parents complained to administrators last month.
Among the charges were that she screened the film without properly warning students about the anti-porn documentary’s explicit content.
The film examines the unprecedented role that commercial pornography occupies in American popular culture. It explores what happens when images of sexual degradation are used for arousal.
Price said the film, which she checked out from the university library, was graphic at times but academically relevant to that week’s topic of gender and sexuality.
A Wheelock College professor who helped make the movie said it was “ludicrous” to discipline an instructor for showing the documentary.
The film is critical of the porn industry but also includes brief explicit scenes of porn.
Price’s case lends itself to a wider discussion of how professors present relevant but potentially objectionable course materials — and how colleges respond when students complain.
John DeLamater, a University of Wisconsin at Madison professor of sociology and past editor of The Journal of Sex Research, said he’s aired “The Price of Pleasure” in his own classes and believes it has academic value.
Pornography, Sexuality & Relationships
Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has emerged as one of the most visible and profitable sectors of cultural industries, assuming an unprecedented role in the mainstream of our popular culture at the same time that its content has become more extreme and harsh, more overtly sexist and racist.
This eye-opening and disturbing film tackles the complexity behind this seeming paradox, placing the voices of critics, producers, and performers alongside the observations of men and women as they candidly discuss the role pornography has played in shaping their sexual imaginations and relationships.
Honest and non-judgmental, The Price of Pleasure moves beyond the liberal versus conservative debates so common in the culture to paint a myth-busting and nuanced portrait of sex as a commodity.
It shows how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, liberty and responsibility have become intertwined in the most intimate area of our lives. An ideal tool for initiating classroom discussion about this notoriously difficult subject.
The DVD contains two version: an unexpurgated version (including explicit “hardcore” pornographic images) and a special “blurred” version edited for the classroom.
DVD extras include an interview with Noam Chomsky about how and why he accepted an interview with Hustler magazine in 2004, and his candid view on pornography.
Viewer discretion advised: contains violence, nudity, and sexual imagery.
