Wiser movies and series? Race scenes down 40% in 25 years!

Western screenwriters, directors and distributors no longer fear the wrath of the censors. But according to The Economist, the topic of sex is being discussed again, this time in Hollywood circles. Recently, filmmakers, critics and viewers have started to debate the lack of sex on screen. Some believe that Hollywood has entered a puritanical era, blaming the #MeToo movement and the ubiquity of superhero movies for the need to appeal to broad audiences, including young people, as well as foreign markets.

However, others disagree and cite examples of very obvious scenes from recent films such as Fair Game, the sex-thriller starring Phoebe Dinevor (The Bridgertons) and Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), or the fantasy romantic drama Bad Creatures. which brought Emma Stone her last Oscar.

Stephen Follows, a film data analyst, has researched the 250 highest-grossing films in the United States every year since 2000. The film “Sex and Nudity” is rated on a scale of “none” to “severe”: found that the level of sexual content in films has dropped by almost 40%. In other words, screen abstinence is in vogue. In 2000, less than 20% of the top-grossing films had no sexual content. Today, almost half of them are missing.

Less sex, but more explicit race scenes

As The Economist explains, there may be fewer sex scenes on screen, but these days the scenes shown are more explicit than ever. In 1992, Sharon Stone’s quick shot of the heroine’s genitals in Basic Instinct shocked audiences and critics alike. But in 2023, the full-frontal female nudity seen in films like Joy Ride, Adele Lim’s comedy and The Challenge with Jennifer Lawrence didn’t cause a furore. Fair play And Saltburn — a premier video film starring Barry Keoghan and Jacob Ellord that drew a lot of attention for its steamy scenes — both released last year, went even further and featured characters performing oral sex on their partners with rules.

As for the erect male members, once strictly forbidden, they are now photographed using prosthetics and have appeared in films such as Todd Haynes’s December in May with Natalie Portman. Mary and George, the historical drama series about King James I of England, also strived for a certain gritty realism. And let’s not talk about teen dramas like Euphoria…

The role of intimacy coordinators: divided opinion

Intimacy coordinators play an important role in Hollywood these days. On set, they interact with the director and actors to choreograph the sex (and sexual assault) scenes. Ita O’Brien is an intimate relationship lead who has worked on series such as Normal People, which follows a young couple’s difficult relationship from high school to college – and which has featured rising stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescall – films such as Magic Mike: Last Dance . He likens his job to a stunt coordinator who wants to keep the actors safe while choreographing fights in the most exciting way possible. Sex can still be overt, he says, but “It serves character and narrative.“

As a result, these coordinators often ask the filmmakers to think about why the scene is important to the story, which therefore Ita O’BrienSometimes it results in a plot change or the removal of a sex scene.

Thus, some actors are not in favor of being on the set at all, for example, Jennifer Aniston or Sean Bean, who claimed that they were useless or stifled the spontaneity of sex scenes. For some, the fact that they’re almost ubiquitous on set suggests they’re more a symptom of the age of censorship.

Still, other actors praised them, saying their efforts helped them focus on their work. For example, Kristen Stewart said that the choreography of her character’s romantic moments in the romantic thriller Bleeding Love Lies helped her a lot: than it was “threw in“It helps actors be”I am less ashamed“, he explained.

An even more modest future?

Therefore, the fate of the sex scene, both on the small and big screens, belonged to the next generation, and according to The Economist, this less daring period may continue. The publication specifies that Generation Z is clearly cleaner than its elders. Young people not only have fewer relationships, but they also want to see less of the screen, according to a survey conducted last year by the Center for Researchers and Storytellers at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Indeed, when asked to name 19 topics they liked to watch in TV shows and movies, young people ranked “love and/or sex” in 13th place and “content that does not contain sex or romance” in seventh position… The future, it seems, could be Wiser and wiser…