Is A Cigar Just A Cigar, Tuesday, Period 3

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

"So last week, we discussed how sex is almost always symbolic of something else in literature," Cindy said. And they'd handled the discussion so well, too. Their reaction wasn't why she was continuing the theme--after all, it was on the syllabus--but it did make it all the more amusing. "Sex can stand in for rebellion, for life, for death, for power. Anything at all, except sex. But that's okay: everything else makes up for it. There's tons of sex in literature, it's just not always evident at first glance."

She leaned against the desk again. "Sex very rarely looks like sex when it's first introduced. We have two groups to thank for this: Sigmund Freud and his fellow psychoanalysts and the arbiters of good taste before the modern era, most specifically, the Victorians. In the Victorian age, honest, bald, unhidden sex was nearly impossible to find in polite literature. Shakespeare was edited, fairy tales Bowdlerized, and even chair and table legs were covered by draping fabric so no one would be sullied by the idea that furniture had limbs and so did people. Interestingly enough, with Thanksgiving either just past or around the corner, depending on your view, that's where we got the terms 'white' and 'dark' meat, because asking for a slice of chicken breast or a turkey leg was unsuitable for dinner. But just because sex was unmentionable doesn't mean it was unthinkable. Which is why pornography was so prevalent. But because people liked to pretend they didn't care about it, writers had to find ways to slip it in--" pun not intended "--in such a way that everyone could know what was going on and the censors could pretend it didn't count."

"This idea of sex-disguised as Other got a real jump after Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900 and introduced the idea of phallic imagery. Anything tall, long, and thing? Secretly a penis. Anything round, deep, or curving? A vagina." Look, kids, she was even using the proper terms here. If you were embarrassed, get over it. "Suddenly it puts things like the Arthurian mythos into a whole new perspective. What's the grail quest? A story about a young man equipped with a lance sent off to find a chalice, an empty vessel, and upon finding it, brings newfound fertility through a parched and famine-stricken land. You don't need a degree in psychology to figure out some of the symbolism there. Don't believe me? Watch this scene from the end of North by Northwest, produced under the Hayes Code of Hollywood. Please note how he refers to the actress--who'd been Eve Kendell throughout the film--as Mrs. Thornhill, his last name in that last scene."

"Still not enough? Let's talk about the basic plot of a famous short story often taught in school. It's about a young boy who wants to please his mother very much and 'he went about with a sort of stealth,' engaging in a constant, strenuous physical activity all by himself. It's rhythmic and frenetic--even frenzied. It makes his sisters and the adults in the house uncomfortable. When he's done, his eyes have a 'strange glare' in them and when he's done, when he 'gets there' as he calls it, he is transported for a moment before he sinks back down, exhausted. What does that sound like to all of you?" Cindy looked out at the students, eyebrow raised. She was curious if someone would be willing to say what most of them, at least, were thinking. "In this case, the boy, Paul, is riding his rocking-horse, but D.H. Lawrence--you remember him from last week, right?-- read Freud and consciously used a lot of psychoanalytic thinking in his stories."

"Now, writing disguised sex isn't so much about creating witty double-entendres or using or being so blatantly obvious about what you really mean that your average twelve year old can understand. It needs to take more an a nudge and a wink to get your point across. The easiest way is to chose a single metaphor and stick with it: food is often used, because not only is it the shared act of consuming, but it also opens up a world of suggestive vocabulary: gnawing, sucking, leering, slurping, licking, groaning. A properly-written meal can sound like something out of the back pages of a certain kind of magazine only read for the articles. Keys are also often used, as they're both phallic and suggestive of house and home. I'm sure you can all catch the symbolism behind a woman who won't let her husband toss his keys into the bowl her lover gave her, or a man singing about how his woman changed the locks on her door and now his key won't fit." She handed out the lyrics while Move It On Over began to play.

"For our class activity today, you're going to write a sex scene. One that contains no sex at all. Pick your metaphor and run with it. It doesn't have to be about two people--Paul's rocking-horse and Thorogood's keys certainly weren't. But you have to write something with sex as a central theme that doesn't explicitly mention sex anywhere. You may begin."

[All links should be SFW, though both the clip and the song have sound.]

Comments

Sign in #8

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

With something that doesn't look like sex but could be

Re: Sign in #8

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Dana Scully

Listen to the Lecture

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Stare. Gape. Take notes. Ask questions. Answer her question; just what does that boy sound like he's doing?

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[awakestheghosts]

This would be Chloe trying to sink down in her chair, yes.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[furnaceface]

... Jonothon loved this class.

Jonothon loved this class very much. He was already trying to come up with an apt metaphor to work with, here, and his mind was practically singing with suggestions.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

While Elphaba wouldn't be able to participate in the activity, she had no qualms with stating simply. "The boy is engaging in a sexual act, or at least that's the idea of what it's supposed to sound like. Otherwise you wouldn't mention it in the class."

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle ought to have been more into this class, really; she ought to have more than just a slightly quizzical expression on her face when the (thoroughly ridiculous, of course, it wasn't anything like that) visual symbolism you could assign to her staff and Xena's chakram hit her.

She should be having a lot of fun with this, but -- no word from Karla yet, and she was worried.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime was super-proud of himself for nodding along and keeping his blush under control during the lecture. See! He could totally be an adult about this kind of...

The assignment for the day was what?

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

That would be Scully looking very, very sardonic. And like she was getting a migraine.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[awesomebigsis.livejournal.com]

Ellie actually thought this sounded like an interesting assignment. She was already contemplating what to write.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall sighed and rolled his eyes. Whatever.

And maybe turned a tiny bit pink.

Class Activity: Write about sex

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

For our class activity today, you're going to write a sex scene. One that contains no sex at all. Pick your metaphor and run with it. It doesn't have to be about two people--Paul's rocking-horse and Thorogood's keys certainly weren't. But you have to write something with sex as a central theme that doesn't explicitly mention sex anywhere. Remember, this has to get by the censors, so subtlety is key.




[As always, class activities are purely opt-in.]

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully... was not thrilled about this. And yet. She had an idea. Remembering a tattoo that no longer existed.

She might have been drawing the Ouroboros (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Scullyouroboros.jpg) on her page, and then biting her lip, and writing.

She lay down, cushioned her head on her hands, and tried not to flinch as the needle buzzed against her skin. Her fingers clenched around her new friend's....

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Jonas...was pretty sure he couldn't do this. He hadn't gotten close to achieving the actual act himself so writing about it, even without making it sound like sex, was going to be a challenge.

He scrawled and then crossed out several things while he pondered the assignment.

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[awakestheghosts]

You would think that with as many bad scenes that she had seen in movies or read in scripts that this assignment would be a breeze.

You would think wrong.

Chloe spent a great deal of time staring at her paper and trying to figure out what to write.

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[furnaceface]

Oh, lord, Jonothon was going to have fun with this. He considered for a moment, plotting where he was going to go with this, before nodding and putting his pen to his paper.

She watched, breath held without her even realizing, as his fingers played along the strings of his guitar, creating music the likes of which she'd never been interested in before. But there was something in the way he played, something in the way he took the edge off of notes that would have otherwise struck her as sharp and wild, and made them into something softer, milder. Changed them into something welcoming, instead.

She closed her eyes, letting the music carry her away, and didn't open them again until the song had ended. The two of them sat, embracing the silence, reflecting on the melody that he'd shared with her. And then, finally, she tossed a coin into his open guitar case and she spoke.

"Do you take requests?"

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba would just be sitting there, her head buried in her arms on her desk. There was no way she'd be able to do this assignment.

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime was blushing. In fact, he was pretty sure that he was doing enough blushing to raise the temperature of the entire room by at least a few degrees. He thought his hair might catch on fire any minute now. Still... he didn't want to disappoint Ms. Perrault.

So he gritted his teeth, stared resolutely at his desk so that he could pretend no one else was in the room, and started writing. Very, very slowly. (He almost went for a story about a dentist, but then realized that then he'd never be able to do actual dentistry without thinking about it. And that would be awkward.)

He looked up at her for a moment, studying her face, trying to read the thoughts behind her eyes. She gave him an encouraging little smile, and a nod.

He smiled back a bit awkwardly, then looked back down. He gripped his pen lightly, trying to keep his hand from shaking, and gently pressed the tip against the page. One stroke. Two. Three. Beginning slowly, but picking up both speed and confidence as he found the proper rhythm. And then he was done, the pen thrusting forward to dot the final period.

He leaned back with a deep breath, and looked up at her again. Hope and satisfaction both dancing in his eyes. And she smiled back. "Excellent work."

That was all he needed to hear.

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

There was a guy.

He thrust his sword into an opponent repeatedly.

When it was over, he was sweaty and tired.


A literary master, Squall wasn't. At least he'd a) understood the assignment and b) actually bothered to do it?

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

He might have been anyone as he walked down the street. She found her way next to him, and brushed an arm down the sleeve of his leather jacket.

His body slipped to the ground, gasping for breath, heart racing. His back arched in desperate panic.

His soul was no longer in his body. His soul twined ethereal fingers through her own, as she lead him through a dark, quiet alleyway. Away from all of this.

In a field, his soul saw the most beautiful lights he had ever seen. He followed willingly as the lights swallowed him up. Far away, his body stiffened, empty, spent, and alone.

Only she remained.

If anyone asked, George was going to say she had a bizarre imagination and a morbid fixation on death.

Re: Class Activity: Write about sex

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

Sookie was a bit embarrassed to be writing about this, of course, but the idea occurred to her that she could easily make this less embarrassing by making this not about her.

What a shocking concept.

So she wrote something she'd observed many, many times at home, and thanks to her gift, she knew that the sex part wasn't purely metaphorical: it was always at the forefront of the participants' minds.

She bent across the table, her breathing heavy as she peeked over her shoulder, shooting him a small, nervous smile. "Like this?"

He shook his head slightly, slipping a hand around the narrow curve of her waist, and leaned against her back. She could feel him behind her -- the steadiness, the weight of him, his masculine smell of sweat and cheap aftershave making her head light. He reached, with his other hand, to adjust her grip, shifting against her to twist her hips, change her stance.

He pulled back, his lips grazing her cheek as her back arched beneath him, his hips against her as the pole was adjusted. "Remember, you're stripes," he said gruffly, setting the shot up for her. Their bodies remained together as she worked to sink a ball, and when she was successful, their elation was palpable and exhausting.

Talk to the TA

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Hope he's not about to implode.

Re: Talk to the TA

[weldedtomyspine]

Sorry to dash your hopes, BUT HE IS.

At least if the uncomfortable set to his shoulders and the bright red color of his face were anything to go by.

Talk to "Professor Perrault"

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

She's here to help!

OOC

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Paid account equals more icons, yay!

Re: OOC

[furnaceface]

I looooove this lesson. Perhaps to an unhealthy degree. And I want to write a billionty more no-sex sex scenes now, but I refrain only because I'm going to have to leave for class in twenty minutes.

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ONE FOR WEEKS, NU.