Sex

On A History of Violence and Darwinian Masculinity

“I am a complete Darwinian,” - David Cronenberg For many people, 2005's A History of Violence marked a turning point in David Cronenberg's career. The Oscar-nominated drama seemed a world away from the director's earlier films, offering a (deceptively) straightforward story about crime and hidden identities in bucolic Americana. Yet beneath the surface of the…Read more On A History of Violence and Darwinian Masculinity

Film Review: Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 (2014)

If the Marquis De Sade was reincarnated as a portly, haggard Danish filmmaker, he would take the form of Lars Von Trier. With his sexually charged, thematically polarizing films, the cinematic provocateur rivals the notorious French libertine in terms of brutal pessimism. That being said, one must admire his gusto. In Nymphomaniac Vol. 1, Trier…Read more Film Review: Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 (2014)

Philosophy of the Bedroom: On The Insights and Limitations of Sade’s Dialectic

In his day the Marquis de Sade was a social pariah, an embarrassment to his family and a lecher whose pornographic sensibilities attracted the derision of Napoleon himself. However, in the roughly 200 years since his rather unremarkable death at the Charenton Asylum, Sade's life and work have been the subject of a revival and…Read more Philosophy of the Bedroom: On The Insights and Limitations of Sade’s Dialectic

You Have to Lose Yourself in People: On the Anti-porn Agenda and Myopic Gaze of Don Jon

Joesph Gordon Levitt is an enormously accomplished actor, that much seems certain. He is natural and assured whether he is appearing in the monstrous epics of Christopher Nolan or in small indies, such as Brick or Mysterious Skin. His new film and directorial debut Don Jon is similarly confident, parsing the different ways that one's…Read more You Have to Lose Yourself in People: On the Anti-porn Agenda and Myopic Gaze of Don Jon

We Can’t Stop: On Cyrus, Spears, Aguilera and the Forgetful Nature of Our Cultural Consciousness

When one compares Miley Cyrus with those who've come before her, or places her in the context of modern-day pop-music, then the national revulsion following her performance at the VMA's (or any of her recent behavior for that matter) suddenly becomes difficult to understand. The collective outcry has been so vociferous, so incredulous, that you…Read more We Can’t Stop: On Cyrus, Spears, Aguilera and the Forgetful Nature of Our Cultural Consciousness

Film Review: Shame (2011)

After capturing the gruesome implications of the 1981 IRA hunger strike in his breakout 2008 film Hunger, Steve R. McQueen shifted gears with 2011's Shame. Like Hunger, Shame stars the now seemingly omnipresent Michael Fassbender in a performance so intense that it threatens to blow everything else off the screen. The film concerns itself with the story…Read more Film Review: Shame (2011)