Monday, February 14, 2011

The Sexualization of Violence

Increasingly so, violence has been combined with a sexual element from tv, horror movies, and adult films. Such horrific happenings like rape and assault happen all the time on television and movies such as "Hostel," one of Quentin Tarantino's more realistic/non-sarcastic films (it does say it's based on true events, although we know what Hollywood is capable of), play upon the sick fantasies of human beings (most people who would never admit having such notions).


Pretty gross stuff, but I bet all of you get some sort of thrill from the combination of the hot babes (or guys) and the gruesome torture. I'm not going to lie and say I don't, but I do feel pretty disgusted for feeling that thrill.

It's a topic most people don't like to bring up because the idea of sex already is so taboo in our society. But, are these images and ideas really beneficial to the community? We are constantly bombarded with these scenes through the media and it makes it seem like it is okay. In the adult movie industry, women are being objectified as sex toys and men are being taught that "No" really means "Yes." Many ex-porn stars have come out to say that the industry is so animalistic and brutal, that they must be constantly high and drunk just to get through the scenes.

Therefore, is it simply a coincidence sex trafficking is thriving and incidences of sexual assault, pedophilia, rape are becoming more and more prominent? The United States claims to be this great industrialized, modern nation, but we have so many human rights violations and sickening events that we overlook and are numb to in our very own communities. I don't know if I would ever want my kids to grow up in this kind of world.

3 comments:

  1. It is sad that there is such an infatuation with torture, rape, pedophilia, dismemberment, and all the other gruesome acts performed in Hostel. But I guess that's just human nature. It's our (as mentioned before) animalistic nature to see someone perish because (fundamentally speaking) it means that we survived and they did not. This individualistic mentality is sad but the majority of people have ventured away from this archaic mode of thinking and have adapted to loving each other.
    On a different note this film completely ruined the term hostel (a clever semi-homophone with 'hostile') for travelers like myself. Whenever I travel abroad now and see a "Backpacker's Hostel" and immediately my thoughts run to a scene in the movie known only as 'The Cutting Scene'. But its an irrational fear no doubt.

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  2. These kind of movies are sometimes referred to as "torture porn." I think that is a funny phrase.

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  3. I think Hostel was the original "torture porn" movie. Since then, extremely violent and sadistic splatter films have gone mainstream and raked in millions of dollars. I can think of two reasons why we love to hate this genre.
    1) As potential victims, we are relieved that we are not being viciously slaughtered. It's like watching someone get cut in order to feel something ourselves.
    2) We are terrified of the violent mass murderer, but we want to identify with his power.

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