Sponsor PFCOne
(7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)
Loading ...
Cinema is Sex
Cinema is now over a hundred years old and since it’s inception it has slowly but surely metamorphosed from entertainment to the opium for the masses with due apologies to Karl Marx. One question however vexes both those who strive to create it as well as those who breathlessly ingest it week after week.
Is Filmmaking an art or a science ? You could argue both sides of the argument till Gabriel blows his horn and I don’t feel I can add something more to this debate. What I can do however, is advocate a counter opinion. I propose that filmmaking is in fact a sport. Like Sex.
All form of sport have one absolutely undisputed axiom. The more you practice the better you get. Like Sex. Sex is a sport whether you admit it or not. I will leave the pondering of your sexuality and beliefs to yourself. I’m frankly not interested in your take on that matter. I have mine and quite happy with them. Let us instead examine my hypothesis of cinema being sex.
The first time around we generally make the most unholy mess of things but gradually the self consciousness fades and it becomes as second nature as breathing. Of course there will be those who find the G-spot or hit a century at Lords the first time out to bat but those cases are few and far between.
Even if one did arrive with a bang, the failure to adequately hone your skills with relentless practice will lead to one’s gifts and talents to sadly become vestigial. Of course luck has to play a big part in it as well. Which brings me to the second indisputable sporting axiom. The more I practice the luckier I get.
It’s pretty much impossible to create anything out of a vacuum and that’s the reason the greatest sportsmen have two overriding characteristics.
1) They are keen students of their chosen sport and have committed to memory all the various permutations and combinations that have ever arisen. Vishwanathan Anand can glimpse at a chessboard in mid-game and tell you which game it’s from and who were the players.
2) They are constantly innovating and changing their game. Age catches up and while the bodies can’t sustain their earlier physicality they circumvent that with a mixture of experience and guile.
Any of this sound familiar ? Like sex ? Like Filmmaking ?
But hark…filmmaking is an team game no matter what the auteurs claim. What about singles tennis ? Or cycling ? Or sex for that matter ? Doesn’t my hypothesis fall flat in the wake of these inconsistencies ?
Well two people make a team folks. What do you call one person having sex ? Not sex where I come from. Also any sport only truly becomes sport when it’s done in competition. Otherwise it’s just practice. Unless there is a prize at stake it don’t really become a sport.
For every Orson Welles who made his magnum opus with his debut there is a Tony Gilroy who started off writing “Armageddon” and ended this year having written “The Bourne Supremacy” and “Michael Clayton”. For every prodigy like Kaka there is a Flamini who took years to reach the top of his game.
I propose that’s the reason why some of the most acclaimed feature filmmakers in the recent years have come from the arena of commercials, music videos and documentaries. They shoot day and day out so much that conventional narrative becomes second nature to them and they constantly seek to push the envelope.
Names like David Fincher, Mark Romanek, Anton Corbijn, Johnathan Glazer, Michel Gondry, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Tony Kaye, Spike Jonze, Fernando Meirelles etc were superstars in their respective arenas before they took the plunge in feature films and basically changed cinematic grammar forever.
Of course any hypothesis can only talk in terms of generalities and not address each and every case. They are also masters like Terence Malick who has made a massive 4 films in a career spanning almost 4 decades. Every film I have ever worked on has made me just a little bit better. Every script I have ever tried to write has made a little less culpable to exposition.
Every setup I have ever tried to light has made a little more confident of my abilities.
Just like sport. Just like sex.
In part two of this article I will profile some of my favorite directors who have worked solely in features and exemplify this approach while making the stuff off dreams aka cinema.
16 Responses to “Cinema is Sex”
Leave a Reply
Our Comments Policy : The following kinds of comments are troll capped, blocked and/or commenter's identity reported publicly: Verbal abuse, personal attacks, hate statements, spam, trolls, advertising. Please assist us in keeping the comments clean. Use the contact form to let us know if you find unwarranted comments on PFC. Thank you.
- Himesh Bhai ka Karz
- Christopher Nolan and Batman - The Phenomenon
- The Torture Series 3: Bhavani Junction
- Truth is getting stranger than fiction
- Sorry State of Affairs
- The Torture Series 3: Bhavani Junction
- Comedy Films Today
- Truth is getting stranger than fiction
- Building the Perfect Beast
- Announcing PFCOne 2008 : Call for Entries
Recent Posts:
Hottest Today:
- sex can be cinema = Porn films / blue films;)
- Cinema is not = sex
- 80% Hollywood cinema deals with sex, they have to show Intercourse and everybody tries to show it like nobody has done it before. they try to do mastery in it. Like eating they try to show sex on screen. Its required or not but its included and shown on screen very frequently.
- sex can be sport (in physical term) for some but not for all. if yes then there will be factor of loosing and winning. Sex=sport throws light only on physical part of act. Mental part is ignored in this hypothesis.
Filmmaking = filmmaking
rest any writer can bring any kind of similies.
One, who likes cooking, can say Filmmaking = cooking a dish, where several ingredients are mixed to prepare a good meal.
One, who is a scientist, may say its like writing a research paper, which is based on conducting research work, care about past research done by others, and then producing something which looks his own….
etc etc… :)
Cinema is not sex.. Cinema is sensuality.. And everything in cinema can be made sensual.. Intimacy, compassion, pain, strength, vulnerability.. Sensuality may not be explicitly related to sex…
Even violence can be made sensual for that matter. But when making an effort at inducing sensuality within abstract attributes one should always keep it tasteful..
The shooting sequence of Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” is painful on the exterior.. But the composition is beautiful and almost sensual.. That is the key:)
hey ram
east and west
two different obsessions
east is obsessed with death
west is obsessed with sex
all the religion, sansar, janam mrityu, mukti, whole concern for the east was death. and how to escape it.
west is obsessed with sex. science is the outcome.
buddha can appear in a climate like india. buddha can not apper in west
eistien needs a western climate.
i have no problem with this theory, go on.
west ki bas yahi pareshani hai. ghuma phira ke wahin ghused dete hain.
~X(
@Vishrant,
Budha can be in west, though perhaps cant be in western attitude and culture.
George Gurdieff……
—
Einstein should not have anything to do with East or West. He needs only proper scientific facilities. But yes when East was burdened with low level facets of West then it was not possible. But before when East was simply east, many such scientific minds flourished.
—
suppose if all that someone talk about is food. talking car he uses food metaphor. talking politics he uses food metaphor.
what the inference you will derive from that.
obliviously - he think too much about food.
what will be the right suggestion for him. that he should eat whatever he wants. and how much he wants. but eat and be finished be it.
go on a ‘fucking’ rampage.
and be done with it.
>:)
RK
i want to point out the difference in orientation.
eistien in east can very easily be a buddha.
because whole climate helps you to go in.
nagarjun, basubandhu, dignabh, kund kund. any one of them can very easily be a eistien. but they became mystic. because they were born in india.
and you will agree to that, that climate matters.
@};-
in animal world. there is a specific time of the year when they are in heat. rest of the year they live a sex free life. man is the only animal who is 24×7 in heat.
in man sex is not genital, it has gone to head.
once a patient came to frued. freud put some ink in a blotting paper and ask the man to see and tell what this remind of to him. man replied the blot reminded him of sex. than freud pull out a hankerchief and ask the man what this reminds you. again man said that this reminds him of sex. a bird was on the window. freud ask him that seeing that bird what comes to your mind. man said that bird remind him of sex.
freud said how can three different things can remind you of sex. man said that it has nothing to do with the things. in my mind there is only sex.
%-(
@Vishrant,
Certainly overall atmosphere matters.
and this Devbhumi provides suitable atmosphere to any kind of species to take birth here. Good or bad hardly matters, all are generated but there has always been opportunities for bad to become good.
This vibrant nature of atmosphere has to be saved. Inspite of all kinds of outside harms Nature is still most natural in the land.
Mithun..while I agree with you on most counts, practice makes the PROCESS correct. It brings ease of operation to the chosen profession (or sex as you would like to put it!). But does it bring a great idea or a great moment to the table. I don’t know. I would not like to hazard a guess too.
I make theme entertainments happen in my profession. If it was just practice, I would be having the fortune of so many talents at hand’s length. The understanding is there but IDEAS are far and between to many good people too!!
Yes, the guys you mention, Fincher, Ridley Scott, Tony Kaye, etc. have had the character, guile, process and talent to get what they demand from their teams! Cinema as an art form demands newer directions and if they have been able to branch out in new directions, it is a culmination of all the above charcteristics. Narratives involve so many people - studio, Production ensemble, actors, DOP & team, Post people and the big man’s vision. Only and only if they manage to carry on with the same team/crew will Practice be the over riding characteristic in their success!!
In India, Bimal Roy used to have a standard crew for a long time. Look what he did!!
I think even K Balachandar from Tamil Nadu also did have the same crew for a long time.
@RK
What mental thought during sex ? What am I missing here ? :d
No but seriously when athletes are in the zone there is a meld between mind and body which makes conscious mental thought almost redundant. I would argue the same for someone who is proficient in both sex and making films.
As far as the winning/losing mentality I believe that is present in every facet of our existence be it victory over others or ourselves. The stakes might be trivial but it’s present.
@Sreehari
How can one get more proficient by sensuality ? I was lauding the virtues of being prolific.
@Vishrant
I fail to see the relevance in invoking religion or religious figures every time the word sex is mentioned.
And this entire east vs west argument is sooo cliched it’s gone beyond boring and without merit.
Japan is in the east and have by far the most kinky sexual practices in the world. Britain is in the west and are prudish beyond belief and it’s the remnants of their Victorian morality which accounts for our own prudery.
I think we should really stop judging another cultures values and moralities by our own as long as they infringe upon basic human rights.
You might feel that pre-marital sex or polygamy is degenerate behavior. Now put the shoe on the other foot and consider how the rest of the world views countries like ours in which arranged marriages still take place.
I have learned long ago not to be judgemental about other people’s thoughts and beliefs and it would behove you to do the same.
@Indraneel
Agreed. A stable team is a huge huge factor. Our cricket team mostly excels when the selectors stop playing their favorite game of musical chairs.
This must be the most boring article about sex Ive had the pleasure of reading.
Nice article
Mithunda!
I’m sitting in a library near your house. You must be at school. If not call me. lets find a Happy Hour Bar & discuss sex & films in the Real world. I ‘m avoiding driving back to my house at this peak traffic time.
cheers
@ mithun
yeah, you are right i should grow down to pfc level.
what’s the point in being too airy fairy.
its just that, roots of your article was so visible that i can not stop myself comenting upon them.
but its done. no more east west. and i will try to follow what you have suggested.
aaaah, just one thing. your post shows that you have a well formed impression of me. so much for not being judgmental.
‘knowledge is knowing something, wisdom is doing it.’ - nick nolte, peaceful warrior
as for me.
sreehari naild it.
‘cinema is sensuality’
b-)
Cinema is Cinema … nothing else
Other thoughts:
- Cinema is gamble, for producer/distributor - they can make money or can loose
- Roji roti for many in mumbai
- Time pass for many
- Time and money waste for parents
And
- is Maa of Cine :)
- is our passion :)
BUT sorry Mithun - it is not sex.