Sex in film: Encyclopedia II - Sex in film - Attitudes by region

Sex in film - Attitudes by region

Sex in film - Asia

A movie filmed by former Malaysia Airlines flight attendants as sex servers proved to be controversial. Since filming of actual Malaysia Airlines airplanes were used for this movie, the airline sued the producers.

Many erotically charged films have been produced in the Philippines, much to the chagrin of feminists in that country.

Sex in film - Europe

European movies are famous for their erotic scenes, particularly those from France and Germany. Pedro Almodovar of Spain is a prolific director that includes eroticism as a central part of many of his movies.

Sex in film - North America

In Mexico, many comedy movies are based around sex, typically portraying men as unstoppable sex-seeking creatures and women as willing targets. Although the numbers of such Mexican film comedies somewhat waned during the 1990s, nevertheless, domestic servants, bar workers, dancers and neighbors' wifes continue being depicted as potentially willing sexual partners, usually persuaded by drunken men.

The Hollywood industry has adhered for decades to the saying that sex (in this case nudity or partial nudity) sells. Major Hollywood studios have persuaded both men and women to appear in erotically and/or sexually charged scenes. Many times, a body double is used in place of the star supposed to be naked in a scene: stars sometimes ask for extra money to show their privates, or are ashamed of their privates enough to request for them not to be shown in the particular scene. Hollywood movies, because they are the ones that enjoy the most exposure worldwide, are more often targeted by religious or conservative groups than those produced by other cinematographic industries.

As social standards of acceptable public exposure have changed, cinema has changed as well, often pushing at the boundaries. For example, the famous scene in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, in which Marilyn Monroe stands over a sidewalk ventilation grate and her skirt is blown upward, although it showed no "private parts" or even her underpants, was clearly intended to be erotic, and was considered overly suggestive by some.

Phoebe Cates' scene in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High in which she shows off her naked upper torso, a scene in 1987's Lethal Weapon in which Mel Gibson's buttocks are shown prominently, and the scene in 1992's Basic Instinct in which Sharon Stone spreads her legs, were all controversial examples of film-makers seeing how much sexual content they could "get away with" and use to attract film-goers.

The 1980s Porky's film trilogy, the 2000s American Pie films and recent films like Wedding Crashers and The 40-Year-Old Virgin deliberately went to the boundaries of what the US MPAA would permit in a film receiving an "R" rating.

Movies with sexual content can be of any rating (G, PG, PG-13, R or NC-17). Some manufacturers of DVD players have implemented a subscription-based censor function into their players which allows users to cut out scenes of nudity, offensive language, or racism. Film directors such as Steven Spielberg are fighting this alteration of their work in court.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Attitudes by region", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki