5 ms·

I am a fan of hbo, and have been for a long time, but I do miss the adult content: sexo urbano, showgirls: glitz and angst, taxicab confessions, etc. I vote to

I am a fan of hbo, and have been for a long time, but I do miss the adult content: sexo urbano, showgirls: glitz and angst, taxicab confessions, etc. I vote to bring that back.

echelon 4y ago
Twitter and Reddit have shown that the population doesn't care if porn is mixed in with everything else. It's fine, it's fun, and it's harmless. The American WASP prudishness needs to die. We love our violence in film and drama. We should love our sexuality too. Game of Thrones was better for it.
- afavour 4y ago
  You’ve also explained why it won’t come back, though: the internet. I remember taxicab confessions being compelling because it was a rare example of people talking openly about adult things. These days that’s everywhere online.
  - echelon 4y ago
    Both Netflix and HBO are showing full frontal nudity. Male and female. And the shows that do are incredibly popular. Worrying about it is a generational thing.
- searealist 4y ago
  Not everyone has made their sexual fetish their identity and wants to see porn all over the place. edit: The parent comment originally advocated putting hardcore porn into all content, but was edited.
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    TV shows are about human life and sexuality is as much part of life as anything. A lot more than violence. I do also wish this wasn't such a taboo. But the US is far from the only country that's so sensitive about it. Pornography in China is forbidden, in India is very iffy. In Islamic countries it can be extremely illegal. Even in the Netherlands where I'm from movies have become a lot more prudish since the 70s/80s.
    - fleddr 4y ago
      In the 80s/90s, on Dutch TV we'd have daytime deodorant commercials on public channels featuring naked women applying the product. Wasn't even considered sexual content, and in no way shielded from kids either. The context isn't sexual, and it's a perfectly normal body part. The sexualization of the human body is nothing but a cultural invention.
      - bogomipz 4y ago
        I'm curious why and when did those go away exactly on Dutch TV?
        fleddr 4y ago
        I only have speculative answers on offer... Somehow the sexual revolution of the 60s/70s running out of steam, and a correction taking place. A growing influence of American culture as well as Muslim immigrants, both more conservative. And perhaps feminism changing course.
        bogomipz 4y ago
        Interesting. I think those are all very plausible and yet oddly we also now live in a hyper-sexualized mainstream advertising culture in the West.
        dagw 4y ago
        now live in a hyper-sexualized mainstream advertising culture I don't know. I feel that advertising is a lot less sexualized now, compared to the 80s and 90s when I was growing up in Scandinavia and the UK.
        wkat4242 4y ago
        Yeah I remember an ad for crispbread with a boat full of naked Swedish ladies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeqBUtR9E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeqBUtR9E (NSFW obviously) This would really not fly in this day and age.
- funstuff007 4y ago
  > the population doesn't care if porn is mixed in with everything else Good luck bringing that up at the water cooler at work.
- pstuart 4y ago
  Game of Thrones got a little too "rapey" for many (myself included).
  - PrufferFrish 4y ago
    It especially sucked because none of those major rape scenes were in the books. They were added by the show runners. Drago didn't rape Daenerys; he seduced her. Ramsey Bolton never raped Sansa (and also never married her, that was a different character entirely, cut from the show). Jaime never raped Cercei.
- majormajor 4y ago
  "WASP prudishness" doesn't explain why there's less "purely sexual" TV and film content now than in the 90s.
  - echelon 4y ago
    There was a ton of nudity in 80's movies. The internet stole the show and actors started pushing back against it because it was still culturally taboo. Only now are we starting to see a big reversion and normalization of nudity in the arts. Netflix and HBO are dialing up on nudity and sex. Millennials and Gen Z like it, and they have the metrics to show for it. https://sea.mashable.com/culture/17369/heres-why-youve-been-seeing-more-and-more-dicks-on-tv https://sea.mashable.com/culture/17369/heres-why-youve-been-...
    - majormajor 4y ago
      80s, 90s, not sure we need to make a big difference there. Since then I think what you're seeing is more of a fracturing than an overall increase or decrease in prudishness. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/the-sex-scene-is-dead-long-live-the-sex-scene https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/t... This talks about the small-screen stuff (and indie film) and dicks like you link out; but also points out the shift in mainstream cinema. There's no more dicks or even breasts in tentpole blockbusters or the increasingly-adult-embraced "kids" films than there used to be. Even your R-rated stuff tends to have less of the sort of "coincidental" not-central-to-the-plot sex scenes than you would've seen a few decades ago. But what's left blockbuster film has found a place in "prestige TV" and by being moved less front-and-center, take-the-family-to-the-theater, it's been able to be amplified since entertainment as a whole is more fractured and it's less one-size-fits-all.
      - stcroixx 4y ago
        I assume this is to sanitize the big blockbusters for the Chinese market.
paxys 4y ago
It's mostly a generational gap. A lot of us grew up in an environment where it would be a national scandal and the FCC would open an investigation if someone said a bad word on TV. The main allure of the shows you mention was their taboo nature. Ask anyone under 30 today if they want the same, and they'll shrug and go "if it makes sense in the script, sure".
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

I am a fan of hbo, and have been for a long time, but I do miss the adult content: sexo urbano, showgirls: glitz and angst, taxicab confessions, etc. I vote to bring that back.

echelon 4y ago

Twitter and Reddit have shown that the population doesn't care if porn is mixed in with everything else. It's fine, it's fun, and it's harmless. The American WASP prudishness needs to die. We love our violence in film and drama. We should love our sexuality too. Game of Thrones was better for it.

afavour 4y ago
You’ve also explained why it won’t come back, though: the internet. I remember taxicab confessions being compelling because it was a rare example of people talking openly about adult things. These days that’s everywhere online.
- echelon 4y ago
  Both Netflix and HBO are showing full frontal nudity. Male and female. And the shows that do are incredibly popular. Worrying about it is a generational thing.
searealist 4y ago
Not everyone has made their sexual fetish their identity and wants to see porn all over the place. edit: The parent comment originally advocated putting hardcore porn into all content, but was edited.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  TV shows are about human life and sexuality is as much part of life as anything. A lot more than violence. I do also wish this wasn't such a taboo. But the US is far from the only country that's so sensitive about it. Pornography in China is forbidden, in India is very iffy. In Islamic countries it can be extremely illegal. Even in the Netherlands where I'm from movies have become a lot more prudish since the 70s/80s.
  - fleddr 4y ago
    In the 80s/90s, on Dutch TV we'd have daytime deodorant commercials on public channels featuring naked women applying the product. Wasn't even considered sexual content, and in no way shielded from kids either. The context isn't sexual, and it's a perfectly normal body part. The sexualization of the human body is nothing but a cultural invention.
    - bogomipz 4y ago
      I'm curious why and when did those go away exactly on Dutch TV?
      - fleddr 4y ago
        I only have speculative answers on offer... Somehow the sexual revolution of the 60s/70s running out of steam, and a correction taking place. A growing influence of American culture as well as Muslim immigrants, both more conservative. And perhaps feminism changing course.
        bogomipz 4y ago
        Interesting. I think those are all very plausible and yet oddly we also now live in a hyper-sexualized mainstream advertising culture in the West.
        dagw 4y ago
        now live in a hyper-sexualized mainstream advertising culture I don't know. I feel that advertising is a lot less sexualized now, compared to the 80s and 90s when I was growing up in Scandinavia and the UK.
        wkat4242 4y ago
        Yeah I remember an ad for crispbread with a boat full of naked Swedish ladies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeqBUtR9E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeqBUtR9E (NSFW obviously) This would really not fly in this day and age.
funstuff007 4y ago
> the population doesn't care if porn is mixed in with everything else Good luck bringing that up at the water cooler at work.
pstuart 4y ago
Game of Thrones got a little too "rapey" for many (myself included).
- PrufferFrish 4y ago
  It especially sucked because none of those major rape scenes were in the books. They were added by the show runners. Drago didn't rape Daenerys; he seduced her. Ramsey Bolton never raped Sansa (and also never married her, that was a different character entirely, cut from the show). Jaime never raped Cercei.
majormajor 4y ago
"WASP prudishness" doesn't explain why there's less "purely sexual" TV and film content now than in the 90s.
- echelon 4y ago
  There was a ton of nudity in 80's movies. The internet stole the show and actors started pushing back against it because it was still culturally taboo. Only now are we starting to see a big reversion and normalization of nudity in the arts. Netflix and HBO are dialing up on nudity and sex. Millennials and Gen Z like it, and they have the metrics to show for it. https://sea.mashable.com/culture/17369/heres-why-youve-been-seeing-more-and-more-dicks-on-tv https://sea.mashable.com/culture/17369/heres-why-youve-been-...
  - majormajor 4y ago
    80s, 90s, not sure we need to make a big difference there. Since then I think what you're seeing is more of a fracturing than an overall increase or decrease in prudishness. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/the-sex-scene-is-dead-long-live-the-sex-scene https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/t... This talks about the small-screen stuff (and indie film) and dicks like you link out; but also points out the shift in mainstream cinema. There's no more dicks or even breasts in tentpole blockbusters or the increasingly-adult-embraced "kids" films than there used to be. Even your R-rated stuff tends to have less of the sort of "coincidental" not-central-to-the-plot sex scenes than you would've seen a few decades ago. But what's left blockbuster film has found a place in "prestige TV" and by being moved less front-and-center, take-the-family-to-the-theater, it's been able to be amplified since entertainment as a whole is more fractured and it's less one-size-fits-all.
    - stcroixx 4y ago
      I assume this is to sanitize the big blockbusters for the Chinese market.

paxys 4y ago

It's mostly a generational gap. A lot of us grew up in an environment where it would be a national scandal and the FCC would open an investigation if someone said a bad word on TV. The main allure of the shows you mention was their taboo nature. Ask anyone under 30 today if they want the same, and they'll shrug and go "if it makes sense in the script, sure".

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]