Sex and Storytelling in Modern Cinema
Subtitle: Explicit Sex, Performance and Cinematic Technique
Publisher: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781780766409
Subjects: Cinema; Sex and gender studies; Sex in motion pictures; Erotic films; Film criticism; Motion pictures, history
Description: With full-frontal genitalia, erections, even actual sex featuring increasingly in films, this explicitness in presentation has caused critical consternation and accusations that such film narratives are pornographic. This book explores how, rather than being pornographic, explicit sex can be an essential element of cinematic storytelling today. Offering detailed analysis of how choices are made in the presentation of explicit sex in often very controversial films, such as 'Shame', 'Baise-Moi', 'Antichrist', 'Dogtooth' and 'Lust, Caution', the expert contributors - including Barbara Creed, Jacob Held and Linda Ruth Williams - show how sexual content can aid characterisation, highlight themes, and provide events that serve to develop plot. The impact of explicit sex as an element of a film's narrative is also revealed to be assisted by effective, nuanced performances and the incisive deployment of directorial technique.