Hot and Bothered

For people who engage or at least see the popular discourse of the moment, the mere mention of sex scenes fills one up with dread. Tweet’s about the most unnecessary sex scenes abound, with some like the sex scenes in Oppenheimer and Squid Games being common targets. One can say online discourse and discussion about media has in general become tribalistic, but this feels like an especially egregious example of it. I remember slightly pushing back on a Facebook mutuals post on sex scenes, and while I don’t think I strongly changed his stance we were able to discuss it without throwing out accusations of prudishness or perverseness. But someone else angry reacted my initial comment, which felt unnecessary to me. This discussion online seems to bring out the worst in people and I don’t believe it has to be this way.

Now before I get to my main point, it is important to emphasize that no one should be pressured or tricked to do nude/sex scenes. And it is important to keep in mind during the era when nudity and sex scenes were more common, it is likely at least part of it came from male directors/producers feeling ownership of actresses and their bodies. Nudity has become more gender neutral in the last couple of years, but it cannot be ignored how for a long time this was expected of actresses far more. 

But even with actors, I think some people haven’t exactly reacted well to them stating boundaries around these types of scenes. When Penn Badgley talked about fidelity being important to him and wanting to do fewer sex scenes, it felt like a lot of people on the pro-sex scene side used him as a strawman and denigrated him for his stance. He was speaking from his own personal perspective, and it got sucked into the sex scene discourse. His mention of “You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept” seemed to be completely ignored.

Henry Cavil commented “There are circumstances where a sex scene actually is beneficial to a movie” but followed it up by saying that he thinks sometimes they are overused. This of course got absorbed into the general discourse. Reportedly one of the reasons he clashed with the Witcher showrunner was due to being asked to do sex scenes he didn’t feel fit the story. While I haven’t seen this confirmed Cavil did speak to SyFy Wire about him and co-star Chalotra changing a sex scene at the end of season 2 to something they believed was more emotional. Cavil also accidentally getting too excited filming a sex scene for the Tudors makes it likely he was speaking from a personal perspective.

Filmmaking is all about collaboration, and regarding intimate scenes, everyone needs to be on the same page for it to be a comfortable experience for all. I believe if an actor and the people behind the camera cannot come to an agreement about this, it is okay for them to part ways so that the writer/director/showrunner can find someone who shares their full vision. The standardization of intimacy coordinators ensures the people baring their bodies for art are protected, and if further measures are needed–such as nudity riders extending through editing, –I welcome them.

If everyone involved is comfortable and the final scene matches what the actors expected it to be then intimate scenes don’t need to be treated as a moral panic. I don’t believe we are so awash in sex and nudity that it needs to be talked about as this inescapable crisis of morality we need a new Hays Code to deal with. I also think modern viewers sometimes forget scenes can exist to deepen character dynamics and themes rather than getting from plot point A to B. 

By that same token, sex scenes are a cinematic technique, and like with all art whether the intended effect carries is subjective. A filmmaker can firmly believe a sex scene is making a statement on where the characters are emotionally or making a grand statement on the human condition, but that doesn’t mean every viewer will agree and that is ok.

I think there is room to discuss which sex scenes truly worked for people and which came out as completely gratuitous. And I don’t need the other person to completely agree to have a fruitful, fulfilling conversation about it. But what I most often saw on Twitter(because I refuse to call it X) were people dismissing the artistic potential of sex scenes in general, or talking about them as if they have become unavoidable. Now it is likely some of said posts were just to rile people up, but I don’t think that fully explains how often this topic came up in declarative statements like this. 

I believe this doesn’t need to be such a divisive topic where people feel compelled to insult each other. I admit when I first saw this coming up, I may have fallen into the trap of seeing everyone I disagree with as puritans trying to censor art for everyone else. Of course, those people exist, but if others don’t resort to personal insults against me or those who are more open to sex scenes/nudity as a cinematic technique I try to keep myself open to discussion. And maybe if we can all give people room for differing views, this topic doesn’t have to always result in people getting so hot and bothered.