With every generation comes a moral panic about sex.
(Theyve even earned the nickname puriteens.)
According to one study, theres been a 40 percentdecreasein sex scenes in films since the millennium.
Niko Tavernise/Amazon MGM Studios; Liam Daniel/HBO; Niko Tavernise/A24
But the TV shows and movies of the last 12 months or so definitively buck that trend.
In simple terms, 2024 has been a very horny year onscreen.
Most notably, its not all about sex for its own sake.
In all of these works, sex is a vehicle for talking about power: Who has it?
And to what end?
TakeQueer, Luca Guadagninos latest film, based on the 1985 William S. Burroughs novella of the same name.
Both men represent a contrasting side of Tashis desires.
He considers the films inextricably linked.
Actually, the deepest intimacy that those characters ever share together is on the tennis court.
To me, he says, that feels like a deep well of repression and eroticism.
Who has the power here?
But Allerton has the ultimate trump card: youth, sex appeal, and being tantalizingly out of reach.
(It was actuallycake batter.)
When these shows were discussed in the media, there was an emphasis on the important role ofintimacy coordinators.
Both of those were pathways to success in a rigid male hierarchy.
And why might we actuallywantthem to?
Romy is well-versed in the language of the post-#MeToo era.
She knows what shes doing is wrong, because she is in a position of power over Samuel.
Sex is about power.
InBabygirl, Samuel is sadistic but also genuinely cares for Romy.
Its seductive to be as cynical as thinking that sex is always about power, Kuritzkes notes.
Its a line of reasoning that is clear and simple, but people are not that simple.
