Elle is for Love

It is a truth universally acknowledged that what is supposed to be holy is now sold for cheap thrills and dirty old professors.

I love a good scene filled with sexual tension as much as the next girl, because everyone wants Edward Norton to just kiss Liv Tyler in The Incredible Hulk.  I laugh at the innuendoes, no matter how wrong I feel afterward for having done so, but everything can be made light of in the movies.  I critique the awkwardness of sex scenes; for example: the award of worst, most uncomfortably awkward sex scene goes, hands down, to the makers of Watchmen and the glorification of the world’s only impotent superhero, Night Owl.  The scene is complete with an “oh, um, hold on, I think I need a minute”, followed by all heads in the audience turning to whoever they came with and whispering, What?  He needs a minute?  What is this? However, there is something wrong in the world.

I believe that sex is an agreement between a man and a woman and God to love each other forever and is an unbreakable commitment.  You may not feel that way, and I do not hold that against you at all.  However, I think we can all agree that sex is a symbol for passionate love, for great love, for committed love, for the expression of a feeling words cannot even touch (as an English major it pains me to admit this).  We can also agree, I hope, that sex is not a means of pain, a means of sensationalist media, a means of control, a means for the expression of nothing but pure lust (unless uncontrollable lust is exactly what it means at the time).  This is why there is something wrong in the world.

We no longer care what a woman’s body is, what a man’s body is, it’s all exposed in the media.  We no longer care what it means to whisper sweet words in your love’s ear because you want them to know exactly how much you love them.  We no longer care that what occurs behind closed doors is not open to the public.  Get it, closed doors, not open…closed doors, not open.  We no longer care what sex means, what anything sexual means, what the passionate expression of love means.

Today, in one of my classes, we watched our typical music video of the day.  It was Shakira’s “She-Wolf”, which my friend pointed out to me is synonymous with “whore” in her native language, just thought I’d throw that in there, although it is one of my favorite clubbin’ tunes.  I was watching the rather suggestive, scantily clad video when I noticed that my old professor’s typical descriptions of the connections to the topics we are learning were missing.  I looked towards the front of the lecture hall and realized…everyone in the room was just staring at the video.  Okay, ew.  Do you get my point?

Class then continued with a trip to an online article on the sexiest werewolves from movies and he talked about that in detail, particularly the female ones.  The words “rated R”, “soft porn”, “SEXual”, “sex”, “riding” and I’m sure you can think of others are used quite often, and too often in my opinion.  There are other ways to describe things, but this particular vernacular appeals to people.  My point is that everything is used to shock, to try and stir up some sort of attention, to try and be “current”.  Do you get my point now?

I want to reclaim the sanctity of love, of sex, which is not a dirty thing.  It makes me cringe to read literature where all sexual acts are thrown in like spare parts because there is no reason not to put them in there.  There is also no reason to put them in there.  Why is there a completely explicit sex scene between two girls in a novel about royal society when it was already written three times before between the first six chapters where nothing happens but a very graphic description?  The relationship was established.  The characters were included in the exposition, and the first time revealed anything needed for the extra connection emotionally.  No reason.  Why is there a less explicit but still pretty graphic sex scene between two men in Another Country when it was already written about three times previously? To better expose the emotional connection through the inner monologue of the characters during intercourse.  It is not a sensationalist tactic.  Valid reason.  I am an English major, I can tell the difference.

It is the same case in Coppola’s “Dracula”.  The movie is sex (does not occur in the novel), sex (not this time either), sex (still no), bestiality (no, and Dracula isn’t a werewolf last time I checked), girls running in the rain and kissing each other (no clue why, it’s a very weird scene), feigned hypnotic orgasm (um, yeah), constant exposing of one breast in nightgown (cannot do more and keep it R), more feigned hypnotic orgasm (nope, still awkward), I do not even want to think about it anymore, so end of list.  Why? There is no sex in Dracula.  There are subtle, underlying sexual themes, but none of those.  The sexuality of a vampire representing eternal love can be fought for, but none of those events prove that.

Maybe I am biased.  Since I now know what it feels like to be completely in love with someone, maybe I am overly sensitive because those things should be private and represent a bond between the two people.  Maybe I am just a prude.  Who knows?  I do know one thing though; sex is symbolic and involves intense passion and LOVE.  I do not care if the story is about star-crossed lovers who should not be in love having sex, if it is the consummation of a marriage, if it is a last attempt to regain the passion between a couple that is slowly extinguishing, if it is between ugly people who are in love, if it is explicit (usually), or if it is a one-night stand, even.  If it has a purpose in the movie, in the book, in the painting, in the whatever, it is totally fine and available for artistic expression.  Do not…do not…do not give me sensationalist sex because the ratings will go up.

I don’t know about you, but listening to the glorification of a movie that is filled with random sex is not sexy.  Listening to apathetic speeches about explicit sex scenes is not sexy.  Being in love is sexy.  Seeing other people madly in love is sexy.  Love in general is sexy.  Be empathetic, not apathetic.  Rid the world of sexual apathy, let us show true love in other ways.  Be classy, Elizabeth and Darcy were, and they are the sexiest couple I know.

“I never saw a more promising inclination; he was growing quite inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her. Every time they met, it was more decided and remarkable. At his own ball he offended two or three young ladies, by not asking them to dance; and I spoke to him twice myself, without receiving an answer. Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?” (Jane Austen, Chapter 25)