Not only Gen Z, me too (I'm 50). I find it such a waste of time; it so rarely it adds anything outside cheap film minutes. When it does, you don't notice it (which is obviously how it should be; an integral part). Now I often just press forward to get through pointless scenes with wet dildo's etc that are not porn, but something i'm supposed to watch with the (albeit) adult family. If it would add something to the story then sure, but it's just filler.
I feel the same way, and I'm in my mid-40's. I always end up wondering why am I watching this stylized sexual encounter (which doesn't match almost anyone's experience almost any time) and often with people I don't really want to watch it with (teenage and adult children). If some light foreplay shows something about the characters, that's fine, or if something actually happened during the act that was important, that's also fine, but otherwise it's just gratuitous and annoying.
If I want to watch porn, I'll watch porn, I'm sure as hell not going to opt for some scene in a regular movie. Then again, maybe it's for people that refuse to watch porn for one reason or another and this is as close as they get?
I find it worse than a waste of time; I find it distracts from the plot.
I'm no prude, and I have no problem with porn. But for the most part, I find the mandatory sex scene is a huge distraction from the plot. Why not hint at it, like they used to?
I re-watched Don't Look Back the other night; the sex scene in that movie is fine, because it really is part of the plot. But chucking in a long, sweaty sex scene just because you've cast a pretty actress is stupid. I treat it like an ad-break - I either fast-forward, or I go to make a cup of tea.
I remember reading an article on how movies and TV today are not quite able to make meaningful and interesting sex scenes that are actually well made and add to the story. I think this was specifically for western movies. But I can't find it now.
One thing my SO noticed first and I could only agree: every comedy MUST have a puke scene. I guess like the sex, some big data guy noticed a slight increase in audience at sex and puking scenes (not together, luckily) so the producers mandate them now everywhere. I also feel the average movie has gotten way bloodier over time but last time I mentioned this it didn't go down well with this crowd.
Same here (Millenial), the scenes are usually just dishonest and uncomfortable padding of runtime, adding nothing to the plot or the vibe. There must be some market research that prompts its inclusion, I can't understand why they do it.
This is how I feel, but I also find that it’s overused as a device to inject manufactured gravity.
Some stand up comics use something similar. It’s easier to make someone laugh because they’re uncomfortable than it is to make them laugh by being funny, so some comics will be obscene and get their laughs that way.
In the same vein, it’s easier to make a story feel serious by putting in a sex scene than it is to write an engaging plot.
My theory is the wide availability of porn makes cheesecake in mainstream movies much less interesting than it was back when porn was heavily suppressed.
An example of how suppressed it was a friend told me her first husband (1960's) was a sleazy truck driver that made extra cash on the side transporting 16mm porn movies. Same way other more sleazy truckers transported drugs.
Good, I’m not alone. Even in my youth sex scenes annoyed the hell out of me. It’s essentially dead air and bad clichés, bringing momentum of the movie to a screeching halt. Heavens help us if there are multiple sex scenes in one film.
Totally agree. I've been thinking about this a lot for several years, so I pay attention to how often it's actually at all useful to the plot - I'd guess one in a hundred.
Just to be clear: this is not a comparison with previous generations.
The headline and intro led me to believe this is a dip -- e.g. that young people 5 or 10 or 20 years ago liked the amount of sex, but young people today don't.
But that's not what the survey shows. All it shows is that people aged 13-24 today want less of it.
It may very well be the case that this isn't anything specific to Gen Z at this age, and that this was equally the case of 13-24 year olds 20 and 30 years ago. TV and film has been pretty sexualized for a long time. There is zero evidence in this study to indicate anything new.
I would say though that us Millenials are complete hypocrites who binged on the absolute worst kinds of content (MTV reality/dating shows) in our teens and twenties and now want to police the hell out of everything.
As with the comment above yours, it just rarely adds anything. And by erotic standards most of it is shit in that department. I love and enjoy adult entertainment and if I want to be titillated, I'll go watch some of that. A few minutes of the softest softcore imaginable is basically just filler.
I don't hate it, and when it's part of a plot of course it makes sense, but a number of the ones in Game of Thrones I recall were just pointlessly long, sometimes disturbing excuses to get the pearl clutchers riled up and get hate shares on social media. It's tiresome. If your art can't stand on it's own don't make it.
This seems like a manufactured moral panic. I don't think we're entering a new age of prudery. Even if the survey is reflective of a broader change, taste in media ebbs and flows.
I highly recommend listening to You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth's movie history podcast. Specifically, the most recent two seasons have been about sex in movies in the 80s and 90s. She does a lot to ground changes in depictions of sex in movies in their political and cultural moment. The episodes vary in quality, but the best have been enlightening. I think she's sympathetic to the narrative that "Gen Z is prude" because she's a big fan of nuanced depictions of sex in movies, and sees a decline. And yet, listening to the podcast you can't help but see these trends as somewhat cyclical, which is why I'm not worried.
> I don't think we're entering a new age of prudery.
It's possible it's actually the opposite. They don't note the people surveyed as feeling morally repulsed, just that's it's somewhat awkward. It's possible that a wider acceptance and availability of porn means that less people feel the need for pseudo-porn in their mainstream movies. I'm not Gen-Z (far from it) but I also find these scenes feel out of place and gratuitous in movies unless they add to the story in some way. I can easily find something far more arousing if I want, so why am I forced to deal with some scene that doesn't really add much to the story most times?
I don’t think people mind the sex because of moral. What is bothering me is that I feel they use sex as a filler. To me it is one of the indicators that the story is probably lacking. Sort of like with the old Deathstalker movies where sex was used to try to distract you from how bad the movie was. People get that they are being distracted and react against it.
This seems like a weak survey that they are trying to turn into a Social Trend. Specifically, they found that "51.5% expressed a desire for more content centered around friendships and platonic relationships." That doesn't seem strong enough to conclude anything important.
On Netflix (probably other platforms too, but definitely on the latest Netflix shows) just about every episode about high school students is about sex. Shows like “Sex Education” beat kids over the head that sex is almost a requirement and there are some definite Weinstein vibes about how obsessed older producers and directors seem so insistent on having minors talk about anal and other sexual topics under the guise of “wow we are so progressive, look how open and free these 15 year olds talk about sex”
I think it’s great to have open communication but at a certain point it seems like perverted old men getting off to making young actors and actresses obsess over sex and tell other other young people that is the behavior to follow.
Sex Education explores sex positivity, which includes consent, respect, and just not having any. It also deals with the subject of sex crimes and reporting sex crimes. Anathema to Wenstein types. But you say it's "definite".
Assuming adults are watching in general for the purpose of being titillated by teen sexuality or, worse, that its producers have the ulterior motive of "grooming" teens en masse is cynical as shit.
I'm 38 and I agree, but I don't think it's that attitudes are changing. I think writing has just been on a general slow downhill slide for a long time, and badly written sexuality just naturally stands out more (it's more "cringey").
Part of bad writing is the mis-use or over-use of sex - if the cause of the trend is an increase in bad writing, then it doesn't mean we intrinsically dislike sex scenes now more than before.
Exactly. I'm not sure how it is in others regions, but here in Central Europe Netflix has lots of good Korean and Japanese TV dramas.
It is funny how some of them have a great first season, then they get lots of money following their success, after which they try to emulate Holywood and make pretty bad season 2 (it is "too American" as my wife says - you know the whole plot after first 5 minutes, and there definitely have to be certain obligatory copy/pasted plot themes, like previously mentioned sex scenes etc).
Of course, it's not just Holywood and American dramas that have bad elements. I find many Japanese dramas focus to much on the "internal conflict" in their characters. But overall both Japanese and Korean productions are light years ahead. I don't remember last time I saw a good American drama.
I’d prefer less violence. It’s crazy that showing one breast will immediately make something pg13, but showing guns, people dying and all sorts of violence is considered appropriate for all ages
or worse, showing people getting shot/stabbed and keep going like they only stepped on a lego. That contributes to people having cavalier attitudes towards guns, instead of deadly weapons that can make you turn limp before you even hit the ground.
There's no real consistency in any of it. Sometimes breasts are PG-13 (Titanic) but usually any breasts are an automatic R (most other modern movies, except for those with sufficient "art cred"). In movies from the 1980s or earlier, breasts could be in a PG movie (Airplane, Logan's Run.)
The PG-13 rating was created in response to violence in PG movies (somebody getting their heart ripped out in Temple of Doom), not nudity.
The problem with a UCLA-sponsored survey of teens is always going to be response bias.
For example:
>Very few adolescents prefer aspirational content. The majority favor original content over IP-based content. Also, the majority prefer binge releases over weekly releases.
A quick search of the top Youtubers shows that Gen Z in fact loves aspirational content, they just don't like the image that comes into their head when they hear the term.
A quick scan of the box office shows that they also love IP-based content, unless all the viewers of Spiderman, Barbie, Mario, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast X, and The Little Mermaid were over 25 (Hell, even Oppenheimer was technically IP-based).
I wouldn't mind the sex in TV and Movies if it wasn't so BAD. Then they wedge it into the plot with zero relationship to the story. It's like "Oh we're learning magic? Oh two fit people are having vanilla sex... More learning magic okay I guess?"
In addition, the number of blatant rape scenes are just so depressing.
Looks like we made sex and porn so ubiquitous and accessible to the point that even horny teenagers don't need to look for it and can have it on-demand.
Teenagers just aren't that horny anymore. They're having less sex now than previous generations. It'd make sense that they're bored or sex in film when they're not even interested in sex even with each other.
Lots of books too. I couldn’t finish Atlas Shrugged (page 1000/1200 before I abandoned it) for multiple reasons, but the god awful sex scenes were probably at the top.
Or otherwise good novels with a solitary graphic sex scene, where the author’s talents are clearly not in writing smut. Sometimes just hinting at it is enough and doesn’t jar you out of the story.
I want more sex in tv and movies and less violence. There is hardly any sex and eroticism now in tv and movies (or at least the ones I see). My girlfriend and I talk about this all the time. Nudity is even rare at the box office. If you watch movies from the 1980s or so it is so apparent. I'm not Gen Z though. I'm Gen X.
I don’t have any real data to back this up, and idk how you’d look at this, but I’d be curious if they wanted less sex or if the real issue is the gratuity. We’ve been in a period for a while (perhaps due to streaming services not having the same regulations and standards as TV) where being serious and “real”, being a “mature comedy”, etc is in, and a shortcut to that is to show sex and use curse words, so you see a lot of TV shows especially doing that instead of making sure it fits well in the story. I feel like nearly every Netflix show I've checked out has let the F bombs fly to the degree that it sticks out to me, someone who swears like a sailor
Just Gen Z? Sex that doesn't add to the plot detracts from the plot.
Older generations had a hard time getting porn, so sex sold in stories, but with porn and erotica wildly available, a good, interesting story is much more compelling.
Sex in movies and TV is so banal and boring and pointless. No one has wanted to watch that since they first got to explore it in the 70s, because they tapped out the possibilities then.
Go watch "Barbarella" and "Flesh Gordon" and tell me there's a less cringe, more worthy depiction of sex in a video form made since then.
It always been morality play crap. the fevered imaginings of what personal intimacy should be, sourced from celibates, perverts, and anybody besides normal people with normal doubts.
[+] [-] anonzzzies|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kbenson|2 years ago|reply
If I want to watch porn, I'll watch porn, I'm sure as hell not going to opt for some scene in a regular movie. Then again, maybe it's for people that refuse to watch porn for one reason or another and this is as close as they get?
[+] [-] denton-scratch|2 years ago|reply
I'm no prude, and I have no problem with porn. But for the most part, I find the mandatory sex scene is a huge distraction from the plot. Why not hint at it, like they used to?
I re-watched Don't Look Back the other night; the sex scene in that movie is fine, because it really is part of the plot. But chucking in a long, sweaty sex scene just because you've cast a pretty actress is stupid. I treat it like an ad-break - I either fast-forward, or I go to make a cup of tea.
[+] [-] martopix|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soco|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MrBuddyCasino|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] exsomet|2 years ago|reply
Some stand up comics use something similar. It’s easier to make someone laugh because they’re uncomfortable than it is to make them laugh by being funny, so some comics will be obscene and get their laughs that way.
In the same vein, it’s easier to make a story feel serious by putting in a sex scene than it is to write an engaging plot.
[+] [-] Gibbon1|2 years ago|reply
An example of how suppressed it was a friend told me her first husband (1960's) was a sleazy truck driver that made extra cash on the side transporting 16mm porn movies. Same way other more sleazy truckers transported drugs.
[+] [-] moribvndvs|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drcongo|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crazygringo|2 years ago|reply
The headline and intro led me to believe this is a dip -- e.g. that young people 5 or 10 or 20 years ago liked the amount of sex, but young people today don't.
But that's not what the survey shows. All it shows is that people aged 13-24 today want less of it.
It may very well be the case that this isn't anything specific to Gen Z at this age, and that this was equally the case of 13-24 year olds 20 and 30 years ago. TV and film has been pretty sexualized for a long time. There is zero evidence in this study to indicate anything new.
[+] [-] busterarm|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ToucanLoucan|2 years ago|reply
I don't hate it, and when it's part of a plot of course it makes sense, but a number of the ones in Game of Thrones I recall were just pointlessly long, sometimes disturbing excuses to get the pearl clutchers riled up and get hate shares on social media. It's tiresome. If your art can't stand on it's own don't make it.
[+] [-] throw4847285|2 years ago|reply
I highly recommend listening to You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth's movie history podcast. Specifically, the most recent two seasons have been about sex in movies in the 80s and 90s. She does a lot to ground changes in depictions of sex in movies in their political and cultural moment. The episodes vary in quality, but the best have been enlightening. I think she's sympathetic to the narrative that "Gen Z is prude" because she's a big fan of nuanced depictions of sex in movies, and sees a decline. And yet, listening to the podcast you can't help but see these trends as somewhat cyclical, which is why I'm not worried.
[+] [-] kbenson|2 years ago|reply
It's possible it's actually the opposite. They don't note the people surveyed as feeling morally repulsed, just that's it's somewhat awkward. It's possible that a wider acceptance and availability of porn means that less people feel the need for pseudo-porn in their mainstream movies. I'm not Gen-Z (far from it) but I also find these scenes feel out of place and gratuitous in movies unless they add to the story in some way. I can easily find something far more arousing if I want, so why am I forced to deal with some scene that doesn't really add much to the story most times?
[+] [-] johntdaly|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kens|2 years ago|reply
After multiple layers of press releases, I think the underlying study (which is more of an infographic) is https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/css-teens-and-screen...
[+] [-] the_only_law|2 years ago|reply
I tend to lean towards this whenever I see an [insert generation] [insert social trend] article.
[+] [-] iterateoften|2 years ago|reply
I think it’s great to have open communication but at a certain point it seems like perverted old men getting off to making young actors and actresses obsess over sex and tell other other young people that is the behavior to follow.
[+] [-] Clamchop|2 years ago|reply
Assuming adults are watching in general for the purpose of being titillated by teen sexuality or, worse, that its producers have the ulterior motive of "grooming" teens en masse is cynical as shit.
[+] [-] busterarm|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] happytoexplain|2 years ago|reply
Part of bad writing is the mis-use or over-use of sex - if the cause of the trend is an increase in bad writing, then it doesn't mean we intrinsically dislike sex scenes now more than before.
[+] [-] shams93|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kbenson|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RichardCA|2 years ago|reply
https://youtu.be/AecBtibhNoI
[+] [-] anonzzzies|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deelowe|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 65a|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drewcoo|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] strangesmells02|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RajT88|2 years ago|reply
She has literally said that making American adaptations would make it much more sex focused, and ruin the premise of these shows.
[+] [-] Roark66|2 years ago|reply
It is funny how some of them have a great first season, then they get lots of money following their success, after which they try to emulate Holywood and make pretty bad season 2 (it is "too American" as my wife says - you know the whole plot after first 5 minutes, and there definitely have to be certain obligatory copy/pasted plot themes, like previously mentioned sex scenes etc).
Of course, it's not just Holywood and American dramas that have bad elements. I find many Japanese dramas focus to much on the "internal conflict" in their characters. But overall both Japanese and Korean productions are light years ahead. I don't remember last time I saw a good American drama.
[+] [-] nico|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gosub100|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcpackieh|2 years ago|reply
The PG-13 rating was created in response to violence in PG movies (somebody getting their heart ripped out in Temple of Doom), not nudity.
[+] [-] RC_ITR|2 years ago|reply
For example:
>Very few adolescents prefer aspirational content. The majority favor original content over IP-based content. Also, the majority prefer binge releases over weekly releases.
A quick search of the top Youtubers shows that Gen Z in fact loves aspirational content, they just don't like the image that comes into their head when they hear the term.
A quick scan of the box office shows that they also love IP-based content, unless all the viewers of Spiderman, Barbie, Mario, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast X, and The Little Mermaid were over 25 (Hell, even Oppenheimer was technically IP-based).
I believe the binge watching thing though.
[+] [-] autoexec|2 years ago|reply
I think that says a lot more about what the industry is pushing than it does about what people want to watch.
[+] [-] foxyv|2 years ago|reply
In addition, the number of blatant rape scenes are just so depressing.
[+] [-] josefresco|2 years ago|reply
Source: https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/css-teens-and-screen...
[+] [-] mcpackieh|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rglullis|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] autoexec|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] theonlybutlet|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikrl|2 years ago|reply
Or otherwise good novels with a solitary graphic sex scene, where the author’s talents are clearly not in writing smut. Sometimes just hinting at it is enough and doesn’t jar you out of the story.
[+] [-] SamuelAdams|2 years ago|reply
Agreed. A good example of this is the sex scene in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Paolini. The whole scene is maybe one or two sentences.
[+] [-] Mistletoe|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] presbyterian|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] juancn|2 years ago|reply
Older generations had a hard time getting porn, so sex sold in stories, but with porn and erotica wildly available, a good, interesting story is much more compelling.
[+] [-] strangesmells02|2 years ago|reply
is literally just gratuitous clickbait.
May have been titillating before PornHub existed, but now it's just a hassle to watch.
[+] [-] h2odragon|2 years ago|reply
Go watch "Barbarella" and "Flesh Gordon" and tell me there's a less cringe, more worthy depiction of sex in a video form made since then.
It always been morality play crap. the fevered imaginings of what personal intimacy should be, sourced from celibates, perverts, and anybody besides normal people with normal doubts.