Sex has been a part of the film industry from its inception. In the early years of the 20th century " before the establishment of a regulatory code " sex and sensuality frequently featured in silent movies. Few had explicit content but there were enough films with nudity and suggestive behaviour to warrant an outcry from the Roman Catholic Church at least.

The first pornographic film, known as a "stag film', was made as early as 1915. With graphic sex scenes (1)  it was, sadly, the first of many movies to sell sex as entertainment. Voyeurism and exploitation had gained a new medium.

The introduction of a film industry production code, known as the Hays Code, in America in the early 1930s sought to regulate against the promulgation of offensive material in film. Violence, nudity, ill treatment of children, sensuality and profane language were among the behaviours targeted by the code. The Hays Code was replaced in the 1960s by the first of several ratings systems. Today most countries have formulated their own ratings and classification systems. (2) 

But despite the restrictions provided by film classifiers, explicit sex is no longer solely the domain of x-rated or unrated movies. Over the last few decades filmmakers have tested the boundaries of censorship. And in the sex-obsessed West, nudity, graphic sex and alternative sexualities have become accepted material for mainstream movies and television.

Sexuality in 2006

The 2006 Oscars have put matters of sexuality back on the agenda for filmmakers and audiences.

Filmgoers have been exposed to positive portrayals of adultery and promiscuity for generations. Narratives that justify or validate unfaithful behaviour have become normal box office fodder. But heterosexual extra-marital sex is now sharing the spotlight as films depicting homosexual relationships become more popular.

Receiving the most attention is the Ang Lee directed Western, Brokeback Mountain. Based on a short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx, the film traces the doomed relationship of cowboys Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist.

Winning a swag of awards including the Oscars for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score, Brokeback Mountain has been lauded by mainstream critics as much for its depiction of gay lovers as for the quality of its production. But it's hardly the first major film to depict homosexuals in a positive way. Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as a gay lawyer in Philadelphia in 1993. Why has this film gained so much publicity?

According to Michael Taylor, chair of the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television, the film has a message that can reach both homosexuals and heterosexuals.

"The polls seem to indicate that most of the country does have a greater tolerance for homosexuality. Brokeback Mountain attains a sort of grand Romeo and Juliet level of tragedy that we don't see very often in contemporary movies. If it does nothing else than convey that love transcends any gender bias, it may turn out to be a seminal film."

Despite its positive reception, Brokeback Mountain was not a story Hollywood rushed to tell. Major studios were reluctant to get involved, directors dropped out " though not for moral reasons. Would audiences be interested in seeing a movie about a pair of gay cowboys? Would it recoup the money spent making it?

The critical and box office success of the film has proved that it has been commercially viable but some are surprised that after all its plaudits it failed to collect the Best Picture Oscar.

While some Christians see the success of Brokeback as part of a political agenda, ironically screenwriter Larry McMurtry, who adapted Proulx's story for the screen, believes that the Best Picture Oscar was withheld for moral reasons.

"Perhaps the truth really is, Americans don’t want cowboys to be gay," he said after the Awards ceremony.

Or maybe the Academy just didn’t like it that much.

Also missing out at the Oscars was Felicity Huffman, nominated for her turn in Transamerica. Transamerica tells the story of Bree (Huffman), formerly Stanley. Bree is about to complete her physical transformation from male to female. Just prior to her final operation she learns that she fathered a son during her sole sexual encounter some sixteen years ago. The son has been arrested in New York for hustling " ie selling sex to men. Bree's therapist withholds her consent for the surgery until Bree acknowledges and meets her son.

Independently made, Transamerica would have most likely been an art house flick relegated to a select few cinemas. However the presence of Felicity Huffman in the lead role and her sudden success in Desperate Housewives projected the film into the mainstream.

While there is plenty for viewers to be offended by " nudity, language, violence, sexual themes " the film is surprisingly moving largely due to Huffman's performance. Bree is far removed from the stereotype of a transgendered person. Without a shred of camp or overt sexuality, she is a quiet, troubled soul who is repulsed by her physical form and confused by her appearance.

England’s contribution is the lesbian chick flick Imagine Me and You . A film governed by expedience and superficiality, it contains all the mechanics and clichés of a standard romantic comedy with one distinction - the idealised relationship is between two women.

What can be (and should be) read as a tale of betrayal has been manipulated into a frothy British comedy in the style of Notting Hill or Love Actually. Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Luce (Lena Headey) are the two lovers destined for each other. The requisite object blocking their union? Rachel is married to Hugh Grant wannabe Heck (Matthew Goode). In fact the two women meet at Rachel and Heck’s wedding.

Putting aside the moral issues, this contrived film is deeply flawed. It is so desperate for everyone to have a happy ending, and for Rachel’s betrayal to seem less awful than it is, that it loses any credibility it might hope to claim. (Even romantic comedies need a little credibility.)

In Imagine Me and You love is an unstoppable force. There is no question of honouring vows, making difficult choices, fleeing temptation - one must follow one’s heart. 

Changing depictions of homosexuality

According to Vito Russo in his opus on homosexuality in cinema, The Celluloid Closet, homosexuals have been a part of movie culture for years.

"Gay visibility has never really been an issue in the movies. Gays have always been visible. It's how they have been visible that has remained offensive for almost a century." (3)

Russo was objecting to the trend in the 1950s and 1960s of depicting homosexuals as either “sissies” (his term) or dangerous sociopaths.

I wonder what he would make of the gay stereotype in recent comedies and American sitcoms. From Monster-in-Law to Bridget Jones’ Diary, no single gal is complete without a sparky gay friend. These are usually poorly drawn two-dimensional characters inserted into a script for comic value.

Eschewing the urban and cultured stereotypes, the lovers in Brokeback Mountain are two young, uneducated country blokes. The mountain ranges of Wyoming are a world away from the mincing cabaret of The Birdcage and The Producers.

RIP Friendship

In When Harry Met Sally, Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) famously explained to Sally (Meg Ryan) that men and women could not be friends. The reason? The sex bit always gets in the way.

Friendship between people of the same sex also seems to be heading for cinematic extinction. In a sex-obsessed media the concept of a deep and loving sexless relationship is becoming an enigma.

Numerous jokes have been made about the Lord of the Rings claiming Frodo and Sam’s intense friendship was really a homosexual one. An entire scene in Transamerica sees Bree’s son explain, in fairly crude terms, why LOTR is really a gay film.

Have we forgotten how to be friends or how to depict friendship?

In Brokeback Ennis and Jack knew both hardship and loneliness. Ennis was orphaned at a young age. Jack lived with a cold and unapproachable father. These two young men, both fatherless in their own way, found in each other a friendship, a companionship that had thus far eluded them. Then they became lovers. It was at this point - when sex and obsession took over from friendship - that things began to go sour.

In our entertainment and popular media we are experiencing a sexualising of all manner of relationships. Sex is widely endorsed as something to experience with a variety of partners in a variety of contexts. The greatest sin, it seems, is to deny yourself.

Seeing is Believing

Debate has raged for decades over whether cinema has an influence on culture. While many " especially those within the film industry " would argue that film reflects the values and principles of society, others are convinced that entertainment must take responsibility for changes in social norms.

There is a sense in which film can track the way cultures change and shift. Movies record alterations in our attitudes to race, sexism and family. Yet they are more than a mirror. It is disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Film and television play a significant role in shaping our attitudes, changing our minds, altering our perspectives. Seeing, all too often, is believing.

Commentators in the US have remarked " perhaps facetiously " that the prospect of a female President is more likely since the airing of the popular new American drama series, Commander and Chief. Since they have seen Geena Davis leading the nation " albeit in fiction " the notion of a woman as President is more palatable. The West Wing’s Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) was recently voted preferred president over George W. Bush.

It is not only political views that are shaped by entertainment. We humans are suggestible beings and our attitudes to morality are readily manipulated. Movies not only appeal to our emotions, they are adept at manipulating them.

Consider Brokeback Mountain. The relationship between Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist develops as they work and live as shepherds on the beautiful, if hostile mountain. A rousing score, a natural environment and excellent cinematography provide an idyllic backdrop.

In contrast, home and marriage is within cramped quarters. Crying babies, difficult in-laws, claustrophobic homes and demanding wives can hardly compete with camping, swimming, horse-riding and the glorious natural environment.

Then there is the matter of characters. According to American film reviewer Jeffrey Overstreet the depiction of male characters in the film is central to its message.

The film sways our sympathies in favor of the two cowboys by making every other man in the film either pathetic or despicable or both. Each man in the movie is homosexual and kind, or hard-hearted and hateful toward gays. There is no heterosexual male portrayed as decent. (There's a shopkeeper who seems nice, but later he's shown as weak-willed.) This reinforces a false dichotomy that is quite in vogue today "” that people either approve of homosexual behavior or else they're bigoted idiots. (4)

In Imagine Me and You, everyone is nice but the men are hardly trailblazers. Heck is funny but clueless and rather bland. Heck’s best friend Coop is a stereotypical womaniser, his boss is a sleaze and Rachel’s father is witty but insipid. It’s the women who have the drive and the verve.

But the greater deception is in both the spousal and familial reaction to Rachel’s relationship with Luce. Heck is understanding and despite being a little bit crushed he just wants his wife of two seconds to be happy. Besides splitting up will give him the chance to write that travel book he’s always dreamed of. After a moment’s disbelief Rachel’s parents embrace her newfound status as long as grandchildren can be had somehow, somewhere along the line.

Homosexual men and women wish to see positive representations of themselves in film. They are, understandably, disconcerted by the stereotypes that provide the usual depictions of gays and lesbians.

But this small minority in our society is not the only group that feels badly done by. Christians are regularly depicted as bigoted, narrow-minded, ignorant, racist, misogynistic killjoys. They are one of the most derided figures in entertainment, often hypocritical, unloving and utterly dull. Filmmaker Bill Bennett once said he’d prefer to spend time with a killer than a Christian. I suspect he has never met either. In Brokeback Mountain Ennis’ wife Alma wants him to come to church with her. He dismisses her request having no desire to meet with people he believes will condemn him. In Transamerica Bree’s mother blames her transexuality on her failure to come to church. In both films Christians are depicted as harsh and judgemental. Grace does not enter the picture.

While we do not surely wish to return to the homophobia of the past how ought we respond to behaviour that is so at odds with Christian teaching? What should Christians make of films that endorse what the Bible calls sin?

Most behaviour depicted in films is at odds with Biblical standards be it sexual or otherwise. Movie characters lie, steal, commit adultery, are unloving and selfish. And most of the time we audiences overlook these trangressions. We have been effectively moulded to accept all manner of wrongdoing and in our hearts lessen the seriousness of sin. If we are appalled at movies showing a gay relationship, ought we not we appalled by pre-marital sex or infidelity?

The challenge is to approach film with our eyes open and our minds steeped in the teaching of Christ. It is a dangerous thing to treat our entertainment as something separate to our Christian life, what we justify in others we can justify in ourselves.

ENDNOTES:
1.  Tim Dirks, "Sexual or Erotic Films", Greatest Films (www.filmsite.org)

2.  To read the guidelines for the classification of films in Australia visit the website of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (www.oflc.gov.au)

3.  Russo Vito, The Celluloid Closet (Harper and Row, 1981)

4.  Jeffrey Overstreet, "Brokeback Mountain" Looking Closer (www.lookingcloser.org)