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fandomhigh2012-02-08 12:03 pm
steel-not-glass.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2012-02-08 12:03 pm
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Is A Cigar Just A Cigar, Wednesday, Period 3
Today, class met back in the regular classroom, though Cindy brought in some pastries and a carafe of coffee. Some things were cruel to deny the students after all. "Today is more of a discussion-oriented class," Cindy said once the bell rang. "Mostly because coming up with an appropriate activity was rather difficult. But then, today's topic is contentious like that."
"Sex acts in literature basically fall under two categories: pornography and not. Pornography--or, if we want to be tasteful, erotica, which colloquially means 'porn that turns me on'--is sex that serves no further purpose than to arouse and titillate. This doesn't mean that it can't be tasteful, well-done, or interesting, mind. When I say 'pornography,' I'm not limiting it to certain kinds of magazines or movies. But sex for sex's own sake, no matter how beautifully written or how much it's celebrating the love between people or what-have-you, is pornography. The important point to remember here is that pornography is just a word and carries no inherent judgment, at least not in this class. Pornography is not necessarily obscene. For our purposes, pornography is simply any sex act written that carries no deeper meaning, and does not further the plot in any significant way, save "Character A and Character B got together."
She perched on the edge of her desk, sipping her coffee. "There's nothing wrong with sex that serves as sex in literature. Sex is a huge part of life and healthy, adult relationships. As a society, we're obsessed with sex: who's having it, with whom, should they, how, when, where, and how often? It's no surprise and certainly nothing to be ashamed of, to read or write books that have sex in them because we're interested in and enjoy sex and sexuality. However, even in real life, sex has many different functions and roles: love, hate, anger, politics, greed, revenge, power, pleasure, dominance, submission, sacrifice, rebellion, enlightenment, et cetera and ad infinitum. Human beings are complicated creatures, so it's no surprise that the most intimate acts that we can share are equally complicated."
"For example, D.H. Lawrence's novel, Lady Chatterly's Lover was banned for many years after its printing because of its frank, open depictions of sex and the use of then-unprintable words. But, though it is filled with sometimes even graphic depictions of sex and sexuality, the reason behind those acts stem from something other than the desire to arouse or titillate. In fact, considering Lawrence was dying from tuberculosis as he was writing it, it's possible that desire and titillation were the furthest things from his mind. So then why did he--a man who didn't actually approve of strong language or promiscuity--create a novel that focused on both? For one thing, Lawrence believed in the primacy of relationships; individual regeneration can be found only through the relationship between two people. Love and personal relationships are the threads that bind this novel together. There's the brutal, bullying relationship between Mellors and his wife Bertha, who punishes him by preventing his pleasure; Tommy Dukes, who has no relationship because he cannot find a woman whom he respects intellectually and, at the same time, finds desirable; Clifford and Mrs. Bolton, which is a perverse, maternal relationship based on need, hate, and an odd fawning respect; as well as the titular relationship between Connie and Mellors, who together find the balance between the intellectual and the sensual. In this novel, while the sex can be arousing, perhaps, it also serves the plot and illustrates just what each character is looking for, or unconsciously missing from their own lives."
"So the question becomes, what point does sex in literature serve? Does it need to shown, or can it be skimmed over and elided? If it is shown, does it need to have a purpose, or is it okay to just be enjoyed? In the books you've read and the movies you've seen, has there been sex that meant more than 'just sex'? Let's talk."
"Sex acts in literature basically fall under two categories: pornography and not. Pornography--or, if we want to be tasteful, erotica, which colloquially means 'porn that turns me on'--is sex that serves no further purpose than to arouse and titillate. This doesn't mean that it can't be tasteful, well-done, or interesting, mind. When I say 'pornography,' I'm not limiting it to certain kinds of magazines or movies. But sex for sex's own sake, no matter how beautifully written or how much it's celebrating the love between people or what-have-you, is pornography. The important point to remember here is that pornography is just a word and carries no inherent judgment, at least not in this class. Pornography is not necessarily obscene. For our purposes, pornography is simply any sex act written that carries no deeper meaning, and does not further the plot in any significant way, save "Character A and Character B got together."
She perched on the edge of her desk, sipping her coffee. "There's nothing wrong with sex that serves as sex in literature. Sex is a huge part of life and healthy, adult relationships. As a society, we're obsessed with sex: who's having it, with whom, should they, how, when, where, and how often? It's no surprise and certainly nothing to be ashamed of, to read or write books that have sex in them because we're interested in and enjoy sex and sexuality. However, even in real life, sex has many different functions and roles: love, hate, anger, politics, greed, revenge, power, pleasure, dominance, submission, sacrifice, rebellion, enlightenment, et cetera and ad infinitum. Human beings are complicated creatures, so it's no surprise that the most intimate acts that we can share are equally complicated."
"For example, D.H. Lawrence's novel, Lady Chatterly's Lover was banned for many years after its printing because of its frank, open depictions of sex and the use of then-unprintable words. But, though it is filled with sometimes even graphic depictions of sex and sexuality, the reason behind those acts stem from something other than the desire to arouse or titillate. In fact, considering Lawrence was dying from tuberculosis as he was writing it, it's possible that desire and titillation were the furthest things from his mind. So then why did he--a man who didn't actually approve of strong language or promiscuity--create a novel that focused on both? For one thing, Lawrence believed in the primacy of relationships; individual regeneration can be found only through the relationship between two people. Love and personal relationships are the threads that bind this novel together. There's the brutal, bullying relationship between Mellors and his wife Bertha, who punishes him by preventing his pleasure; Tommy Dukes, who has no relationship because he cannot find a woman whom he respects intellectually and, at the same time, finds desirable; Clifford and Mrs. Bolton, which is a perverse, maternal relationship based on need, hate, and an odd fawning respect; as well as the titular relationship between Connie and Mellors, who together find the balance between the intellectual and the sensual. In this novel, while the sex can be arousing, perhaps, it also serves the plot and illustrates just what each character is looking for, or unconsciously missing from their own lives."
"So the question becomes, what point does sex in literature serve? Does it need to shown, or can it be skimmed over and elided? If it is shown, does it need to have a purpose, or is it okay to just be enjoyed? In the books you've read and the movies you've seen, has there been sex that meant more than 'just sex'? Let's talk."
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