Credit: Netflix
Entertainment
Stand-ins, CGI and intimacy co-ordinators: what’s the future of the sex scene?
2 years ago
4 min read
Jonah Hill and Lauren London’s snog in You People was reportedly rendered using CGI, while Lindsay Lohan used a stand-in for kisses in rom-com Falling For Christmas. Is intimacy on screen in danger?
The handprint on a steamed-up car window in Titanic. The rawness of Blue Valentine, or the explosive chemistry in Carol. Sex scenes like these have provided some of the most memorable and talked-about moments in screen history. Whether they are romantic or titillating, earnest or played for laughs, they have always been a significant, often powerful part of the cinematic experience.
Or so it seemed. Recently, the on-screen sex scene has been up for debate. You star Penn Badgley made headlines earlier this month, revealing that he had asked the Netflix show’s creator if he could “do no more intimacy scenes” – citing “fidelity” to wife Domino Kirke as a major factor in his decision. The end result, Badgley noted, was “a phenomenal reduction” in on-screen sex, making You’s fourth season a comparatively chaste one.
His comments opened the floodgates for online conversations around eroticism. Words like “gratuitous” and “uncomfortable” cropped up over and over again; some commentators, it seemed, would prefer that storytellers bypass intimacy altogether. “I hate nudity in TV shows,” one Twitter user wrote. “Nothing more awkward than feeling like you walked into a room of people having sex. It never propels the story forward and it’s uncomfortable whether you’re with your parents, boyfriend, or friends.”
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