Cannes sex films question role of porn, Internet

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Cannes sex films question role of porn, Internet

Postby sam » Wed May 24, 2006 11:31 am

Cannes sex films question role of porn, Internet

By Kerstin Gehmlich and Mike Collett-White

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Directors at the Cannes film festival this year say they are using radical images of sex to challenge mainstream pornography and its widespread availability on the Internet.
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A series of filmmakers say Internet porn alone now shapes many young people's perception of sex and, in many cases, replaces the experience of real physical relationships.

"There are kids who have seen pornography from a very early age, before they are ever gonna have sex," said Larry Clark, one of the directors of the eccentric "Destricted" -- a compilation of explicit sex-centered stories.

In his own short film, Clark interviews young men about their sexual preferences and then allows one candidate to appear with his favorite porn-star.

"When I was a kid noone told me nothing. Now you can go onto the Internet and find out anything ... (Young people) are looking at pornography and they are thinking that this is the way to have sex," Clark said, noting his film was educational.

U.S. director John Cameron Mitchell, who has brought "Shortbus" to Cannes, agrees that young people are increasingly using the Internet to replace real sex.

In Shortbus, he has collected an ensemble of non-professional actors who engage in real on-screen sex and masturbation in an attempt to de-mystify the subject. He does not consider his film to be pornography.

He said that the United States had a puritanical view of sex which turned it into an issue in young people's minds. In one particularly provocative scene in his film, three gay men engage in a sex session while singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"I really believe our country specifically needs to take a look at that stuff. You crush something, it pops up somewhere else, it comes back to haunt you," he said.

UNEROTIC SEX

Journalists watching the film generally agreed that Mitchell had succeeded in taking much of the eroticism out of the sex.

Film critics in Cannes say risque images, which would be considered distasteful by many were they to be shown in a mainstream movie theater, are unlikely to shock a film festival audience, and in any case are not necessarily new.

Michael Winterbottom used real sex, for example, in his 2004 film "9 Songs."

"When you have run the whole gamut of sexual positions, you've lost the power to shock," Screen magazine wrote.

Danish director Anders Morgenthaler reverted to animation to hit out at the porn industry in his film "Princess," which disturbed some by portraying child abuse and violence.

Morgenthaler tells the story of a priest who is determined to destroy all films of his deceased porn star sister and to take care of her five-year old daughter, a traumatized child.

"I chose animation for the obvious reason that if I had made it a live action piece you would have probably left the theater. It would have been too terrifying to see a girl go through that," Morgenthaler told Reuters.

"I decided to make a film about porn influence in society because I saw porn seeking its way into everything, into clothes or toys. There is a 'porn way' of selling things because it sells very well. I got very angry at the role of porn."

Digital sex will feature in the British-Norwegian co-production "Free Jimmy," while ex-porn star HPG shows a porn actor trying to get into regular films in "We Should Not Exist."
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Postby CoolAunt » Wed May 24, 2006 12:54 pm

Fighting porn with porn?
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Postby MaddyH » Wed May 24, 2006 1:48 pm

I don't know if this is hurting or helping.
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl." ~Shirley Chisholm
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Postby SaltyC » Wed May 24, 2006 6:34 pm

Isn't that the Larry Clark who made "Kids"? He's always pushing his stuff as "good for us" because he supposedly is examining things that are usually overlooked.

But it's really child porn IMHO, and he's a sick pup. I read an interview with him in the New Yorker when Kids came out, where he talked nostalgically of his wild youth when him and his buds went out and did things like "a little rape". That phrase "a little rape" burned in my mind. Bell Hooks did some interesting critiquing of one of the rape scenes in Kids.
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Postby MaddyH » Thu May 25, 2006 9:16 am

It doesn't sit right with me either. It just feels icky. Can we do some research on this guy and possibly get an action going? Anyone...?
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl." ~Shirley Chisholm
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Postby oneangrygirl » Thu May 25, 2006 12:24 pm

Larry Clark is creepy. Did you see Kids? I remember leaving that movie and never wanting to touch another human being again.
I guess some slavery feels like freedom.
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Postby MaddyH » Thu May 25, 2006 12:58 pm

I haven't - I'll take your word for it though. Remeber "Clockwork Orange?" That rape scene still scrambles my brain. I take issue with this being seen as art. Especially receiving awards as being one of the most creative men in the industry. Why? Because he can be so violent and make it seem so real. That's because it is real. Creepy and disturbing is the only thing I came away with from that one. I don't think I can see "Kids" if it is any worse than that.
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl." ~Shirley Chisholm
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