Cathbad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One problem is that an overt sexual element in any
> literary work can overshadow other more worthwhile
> aspects.

I agree fully with this. I personally enjoy sexually explicit material when it's 'appropriate' (an entirely subjective notion), but I can think of quite a few examples of stories and movies the enjoyment of which was diminished for me by too much emphasis on irrelevant dangly bits.

Examples would be the movies The Idiots and Ex Drummer, as well as some of the fiction of William S. Burroughs and Guy Davenport.

Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cathbad Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > One problem is that an overt sexual element in
> any
> > literary work can overshadow other more
> worthwhile
> > aspects.
>
> I agree fully with this. I personally enjoy
> sexually explicit material when it's 'appropriate'
> (an entirely subjective notion), but I can think
> of quite a few examples of stories and movies the
> enjoyment of which was diminished for me by too
> much emphasis on irrelevant dangly bits.

Actually, this is the conclusion I soon came to when trying to "get into" Game of Thrones, on TV: soft core porn masquerading as a dynastic melodrama.

But generally speaking, a lot of the women were so good-looking that I simply watched for that, alone, for quite a while.

Too, I got real tired of hearing about "white walkers", and privately amused myself by pretending that they were anachronistically referring to weekend strollers in NYC's Central Park.

They spoke of them with great dread and a sense of foreboding...

>
> Examples would be the movies The Idiots and Ex
> Drummer, as well as some of the fiction of William
> S. Burroughs and Guy Davenport.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last time explicit sexual passages in writing interested me was when I was, maybe, twelve years old. I'm bored by it.

I do have a libido, though I'm pretty old, but I'm bored by the explicit sex--everything but close ups--in modern cable television series. I liked Lovecraft Country on HBO pretty well except for the explicit sex things which made me roll my eyes.

Why is it that in movies and tv now people are always having sex standing up, the guy ramming into her while she's pinned against the wall. It always lasts for thirty seconds and supposedly she really likes this. It's stupid. It's supposed to depict mad passion but it's too unrealistic. Not that it never happens but if you believe these people it's every other sex act.

Don't get me started (me, a former television writer and screenwriter - eg, Deep Space Nine and the movie The Crow) about the deep cynicism regarding the public displayed by many TV producers, writers and studio heads. Of course if you watch "reality television" the cynicism becomes blatantly obvious.

I did have some explicit sex, somewhat, in my novels of the early 1980s, because people seemed to expect it and we all thought it was the daring new thing to do. I've since cut 90% of it for new editions. It just seems dopey.