Byron Hathaway
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read

Nothing is immune, nothing is taboo…

Fiction about masked rangers with silver bullets and native American sidekicks, or caped crusaders with younger protegees, or any super hero buddy movie for that matter, all seem to have homoerotic undertones, some more subtle than others.

To see Bond’s leg being caressed by another man is creepy. Not because it’s a man caressing a man scene, but because Bond is captive.

If Bond were a captive woman agent, or a young woman held captive for plot reasons, the villain would immediately be seen as a sexual predator and those viewing the scene who are not into sub-dom role playing (it’s a movie don’t forget) would find the experience uncomfortable to say the least if not down right repugnant.

In movies, the best advertising is word of mouth. If the ads and trailers are limited as to what they can portray, then individual “shock scenes” need to be created so they can be talked about to generate buzz.

Take for example Alexandra Daddario’s character stripping totally nude then blowing Woody Harrelson in True Detective, or Molly Gordon’s teenage character telling her adult male lover “you like it when your dick’s in my mouth” in Animal Kingdom. And neither scene approaches the taboo aspect of the Lannister siblings being lovers (and parents of their own offspring) on Game of Thrones.

Twenty years ago none of these scenes would have been possible. Twenty years from now, they’ll seem tame as taboos are shattered for the sake of art (read box-office). And surprisingly, the above referenced scenes are on television. Think about what movies are going to offer as viewers become too jaded for the bucket of blood thrillers to continue to attract audiences.

If you google any 20 American celebrity actresses under the age of 35, you’ll find at least one or two who’ve performed fellatio on camera, albeit for a private filming (are they really that naive?) and taken a money shot to the face.

As more and more of these private celebrity moments are made available (hacked) for private consumption on tube channels of one description or another, the weakening resistance from mainstream media to add real sex acts to the films of the future will be too tempting as bars need to be lowered to keep audiences coming back for more and different. After all, you can’t really kill someone in a film, at least not yet. So all that’s left is real sex.

So the girl-on-girl stuff of Atomic Blonde is really tame compared to what’s playing on television right now and certainly inconsequential when stacked up against what’s coming in the next 3 to 5 years.

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