Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Trouble With Movies

Lately, I haven't written about as many movies as I'd like to. I've seen some good, bad, and bizarre movies, but none that really had anything to do with asexuality. And even that is very broad in my mind-- movies that relates somehow to an asexual experience, movies that talk about relationships in an uncommon way, and movies with possibly-ace characters are all relevant. While some movies about gay characters (The Celluloid Closet, Maurice) seem relevant, most don't. Even though the characters may be queer, the relationships portrayed are conventional. However, a film like Amelie, which is about straight people, seems oddly asexual, probably because Amelie's ways of going about relationships are so unusual.

And then you have the issue of an asexual film versus one that's just chaste or family-friendly. It would take a lot for me to call any movie with a G or PG rating asexual. Many people talk about asexual themes in WALL-E, but the movie is rated G and is about robots. How much sexual content could that film contain, under any circumstances? However, a movie like Withnail and I, which could contain overtly sexual content but does not, can be called wildly asexual.

I think it's the same reason why it can be harder to know you're ace than to know you're gay or straight. Noticing something that doesn't exist (in this case, your sex drive) isn't always easy. In the case of films, I'm looking for asexy content, and I still have a hard time finding it. I seem to write about a lot more books, because it seems like they can be more "out there" than movies and cover more obscure topics. I also never thought I'd say this, but it's easier for me to read a book (where I can read a page at a time whenever I have a minute) than to watch a movie these days. But, I still have a crazy love of movies, and the more plotless the better. It's sort of annoying to look for asexual themes in every movie I see, but I just can't help myself.

12 comments:

ACH said...

[Wall-E] is rated G and is about robots. How much sexual content could that film contain, under any circumstances?

The G-Rated part is important, but regarding the robot part, I have this feeling that somewhere out there, someone has made robo-porn. However, I'm not going to do a google search for fear of actually finding it.

Ily said...

True...I know in "AI" Jude Law played a prostitute robot. Creepy!!!

Ily said...

I suppose that if they had been humans, there would have been a kiss or something-- that's what I was getting at.

Gemma said...

Have you seen "Finding Neverland"? It was while watching this movie that I had the thought that J.M. Barrie might have been asexual. It is mentioned in some biographies of him, but it doesn't seem that anyone knows for sure if he was truly asexual or impotent/physically immature/emotionally scarred/incapable of passion etc.

Fellmama said...

They do kiss, though! It sparks!

>.>

Sorry. I loved Wall-E.

Ily said...

I have seen "Finding Neverland", but I don't remember it all that well. I actually haven't seen "WALL-E" yet-- from what people were saying, it sounded like there was nothing really physical between the two robots. Ah well...I maintain though, that it's really hard to tell if a G movie is asexual.

Anonymous said...

I think the reason I identify with WALL.E so much is because most people wouldn't necessarily think to create a romance between robots where the robots stay asexual. Robots tend to be portrayed as either incapable of love or acting as a sexual human would (or equivalently) in order to express it. It's one of those things where it's assumed that in order to feel love you need to feel it this way. WALL.E may not have the potential to contain sexual content because it's a G movie, but I feel like it's still putting that idea, that there are other ways to express love, out there.

Ily said...

Maybe I should get some guest writers to write about movies...since what we relate to varies based on all of our experiences. I'm sure there's plenty of things out there I don't relate to that a lot of aces would, and vice versa. If anyone would be interested in doing that, lemme know...

Anonymous said...

Christopher McCandless from "Into the Wild" was (according to the book, although the theme is not explored fully in the movie) what sounded like an asexual.
Also, the movie "The Year of the Dog" has a character who seems to be asexual. He turns down moves made on him by Molly Shannon's character and says he's not gay either so I'm pretty sure he was asexual. Actually it's funny because watching that movie led to me seeing if someone could be like that character and indirectly led to me discovering my asexuality. It's a very good movie, I recommend you see it.
Also I have vague suspicions about seth and evan from "Superbad" being very closeted asexuals.
And I also think that Liz Lemon from the TV show 30 Rock is asexual, or at least has a very very low libido. She never has sex and says her ideal relationship is one where you can skip 15 years into it when you can just climb into bed with someone and not have either of them try any funny business. (that was a paraphrase btw)
if i think of more i'll be back...

mz

Anonymous said...

Have you seen Under the Tuscan Sun? I saw it today for the first time, and was struck by its blatant asexyness.

Ily said...

Thanks y'all, I actually did write about "Into the Wild" here awhile ago! And I have seen "Under the Tuscan Sun", although I can't remember much about it besides that it was...sunny...

Anonymous said...

Check out "Tato Jones: Whatever Happened to a Kiss Goodbye" to watch my asexual (or is it) short animated film about a Potato and the Fry that couldn't resist.

Link: TatoJones.info