# Dear Hollywood: Why do you think sex is the standard response to pretty much every human emotion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167 "2015-08-06T16:34:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/21 "2015-08-06T20:41:49Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > people consumed by grief who respond by fucking. > people paralyzed by fear who deal with it by fucking. > people blazing with anger who only know how to express it by fucking. > people in crushing depression who share it with others by fucking. Consider the alternatives: Uncontrollable weeping Hiding in a corner Smashing stuff Committing suicide Personally, I think fucking is a heckuva lot more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/22 "2015-08-06T20:45:23Z")
If I’m not getting any, at least the make-believe people in the movie are. More power to them. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/23 "2015-08-06T21:04:25Z")
I’m not saying the fucking is all onscreen at all, often is just the big smooch that you know leads to fucking. It’s just the fact that they have people behaving this way, whether they actually show it or not. I happened to watch one today in a British TV show called The Last Enemy, but that’s too obscure. So two BIG examples that aren’t ideal because the couples are pre-existing, but the situation in which the fucking occurs is goddamn nuts!! (and is actually very similar in both instances…) GoT Spoiler: Jamie and his cunt sister next to the body of their dead child. Whether the TV rape or the book consensual: OH GO AWAY… Sons of Anarchy spoiler: Yeah, Jax and Tara had been bubbling with sexual tension every second of every day since she came back… but fucking next to the bloody body of the guy they just killed? WTF? Jax, ok, TARA? No fucking way. PUHlease. when I can think of more I’ll share… ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/24 "2015-08-06T21:29:26Z")
Kind of tangential… I recently watched _Three Days of the Condor_ for the first time. I didn’t know much about it. So I’m looking at the synopsis and thinking, “OK, you have the early-70s versions of Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway in a movie. They kind of have to have sex at some point.” And they did. And it was _awful_. The movie just did a terrible job with their interaction, the dialogue leading up to the sex was stilted and ridiculous, and them having sex at that point in the movie made no sense. And the scene itself was just a mess. It was basically a lot of shots of Faye Dunaway jerking her head side-to-side while Redford kind of rubbed his face on her cheek and bad music played. Just terrible. The rest of the movie was OK. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/25 "2015-08-06T21:33:22Z")
[All The Single Ladies: Why Movies Need More Platonic Pairings Sure, love stories are lovely, but it’s a relief when films acknowledge that romance isn’t the inevitable option for a man and woman.](http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonwillmore/all-the-single-ladies#.cw9lPyR0J) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/26 "2015-08-07T18:55:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Please explain. It pokes fun at the trope(s) that we are discussing here, and it is done purposefully, IMO. No actual sex occurs, just the discussion of future sex, should they survive. I thought it was a mildly subversive perversion of the normal trope; it makes me chuckle every time I watch the film. There’s a similar scene in _Big Trouble In Little China_, where Jack Burton grabs Gracie Law and kisses her after they escape from the bad guy’s lair; it also makes me chuckle every time I see it. Heck, that movie contains a few scenes that are subversive of the whole romantic entanglement tropes that go with action movies, like the ending. “God, aren’t you even gonna kiss her goodbye?” “Nope.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/27 "2015-08-07T18:56:48Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It pokes fun at the trope(s) that we are discussing here, and it is done purposefully, IMO. No actual sex occurs, just the discussion of future sex, should they survive. I thought it was a mildly subversive perversion of the normal trope; it makes me chuckle every time I watch the film. When I click on that link I get a Sixto Rodriquez music video. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/28 "2015-08-07T19:12:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > When I click on that link I get a Sixto Rodriquez music video. Well that would certainly make it difficult to understand what I meant by bringing up the clip from _Serenity_. 😛 Sorry about that; here’s the correct link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohIqCoGRBX0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohIqCoGRBX0) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/29 "2015-08-07T19:16:53Z")
Although, it is common for people to act out sexually when they’re under stress or emotional trauma, and there have been depictions of that: the “make fee feel good” scene in **Monsters Ball** (which, for some reason, was subject to much derision). A small movie but with an A list cast from the 80’s was **The Stone Boy** , which included Frederick Forrest’s character’s sexual irresponsibility as part of the entire family’s coming apart. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/30 "2015-08-07T19:28:07Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Well that would certainly make it difficult to understand what I meant by bringing up the clip from _Serenity_. 😛 > > Sorry about that; here’s the correct link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohIqCoGRBX0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohIqCoGRBX0) Ok, now it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/31 "2015-08-08T01:41:37Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > There was subversion of America’s youth by other means. 46 seconds in: [Two male robins sharing a nest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLkp_Dx6VdI) I’m not enough a birder to tell a cock robin from a hen robin, but those are American robins. Ostensibly in England. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/32 "2015-08-08T03:36:28Z")
I can see how our human mating rituals could seem peculiar to outsiders. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/33 "2015-08-08T03:45:52Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > [All The Single Ladies: Why Movies Need More Platonic Pairings > Sure, love stories are lovely, but it’s a relief when films acknowledge that romance isn’t the inevitable option for a man and woman.](http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonwillmore/all-the-single-ladies#.cw9lPyR0J) Hey, just wanted to say thanks for linking this. It was a really good article and buzzed isn’t one of my regular places to visit, so I wouldn’t have seen it without you and the Dope. I thought it was interesting because I also noticed (and was thankful for) the lack of any romantic story or sexual tension involving Max and Furiosa. I did think it was very humanizing the way that the relationship between Nuxx and Capable developed… and then I loved that gritty realism triumphed over Hollywood schmaltz. Not every movie needs a love story. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/34 "2015-08-08T06:16:14Z")
Forget sex, I’m sick of movies having a mandatory love plot where two people fall in love and find the love of their life and commitment worth dieing for within hours or days! This can make sense and work, see The Terminator where it didn’t bug me at all but often it is just ridiculous and a waste of screen time. Even in movies mocking the trope like Frozen, it still ends up playing it straight in the end! You don’t fall in love and find the love of your life in six hours of in movie time. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/35 "2015-08-08T06:16:51Z")
I haven’t noticed all that much sex in Hollywood movies, not even in romantic comedies. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167/36 "2015-08-08T22:15:42Z")
I think most people are: not asexual, highly motivated by sex, and will generally take sex when they can get it. Add to that the fantasy element of Hollywood and fictionalized stories that eliminate most of the real world obstacles and messiness, and I think sex is probably under-represented, if anything, in non-porn movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-hollywood-why-do-you-think-sex-is-the-standard-response-to-pretty-much-every-human-emotion/727167.md?page=1)