Walking out of the theater after watching “Wuthering Heights,” my first thought was that it could not even arouse a pubescent teenage boy. Hollywood is playing it too safe: what happened to the sexy, sultry, vampy movies? Freak cinema has been in a major recession, and we are all victims. Flashy sex scenes — framed around breasts, exaggerated sounds, and isolated body parts — teach us that this is what sex is supposedly meant to look like. After another movie letdown, I decided to create the perfect recipe for a truly steamy, deliciously engaging movie. I introduce to you the Bourbon Cherry Chocolate Model, the recipe for true freak-cinema.
These chocolate bonbons are pretty simple: a dark, rich chocolate shell, filled with a fluffy, milk chocolate, fondant-adjacent cream, liquid bourbon and a bourbon-soaked maraschino cherry. Essentially, they taste like true heaven.
Let’s break down the delicious chocolate layer by layer!
The Chocolate Casing
Even the kinkiest, most erotic movies must establish their stories first, take Steven Shainberg’s “Secretary” (2002), for example. As John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” (2006) suggests, pornography makes sex the plot, whereas erotic cinema draws audiences in through its story. The title should lure the audience in and allude to the fact that it is an adult film. This trope is often seen in pornography; for example, with a more obscene title for a film featuring a similar dynamic: “Dominated by My Boss! My Boss F*cks Me Hard and Spanks My Big Ass!” (A pornographic film published by Emma Angel 7 starring Alexxx Shady); however, a film that’s plot-driven needs to disguise its later sensuality. The dark chocolate shell represents a strong, character-driven plot that draws us in before the sexuality emerges.
Soft Milk Chocolate Filling
This softer layer builds tension, binding the movie together. It pulls the whole movie together. It tastes almost like the casing, but it melts in your mouth; it is softer, acting as the glue of the movie as intimacy rises from scripts and natural physical cues. Clothes must stay on: the audience should wait as the pressure increases.
Bourbon
Then comes the bourbon: you expect the cherry to deliver the pop of flavor — wrong! The bourbon has a warm, spicy zing. This is the best part, the foreplay. Licking, biting, talking and laughing — you can get completely lost in it. Foreplay is the meat of the movie, and we cannot rely simply on the actors’ attractiveness or diving straight into sex based on poorly fleshed-out tropes. Just because there is a secretary and a boss does not mean that they should have moments of intimacy.
Cherry
Finally, the cherry: It is sweet and tangy; its fleeting presence leaves a lasting taste — the sex itself! In a symphony with the other flavors and complementing the sweet touch of the bourbon, it is different and gentle: the taste is soaked up. The scene can even be uncomfortable to watch because of just how natural it is. It should feel raw and exposed.
What Needs to Change?
Major studios play it safe with sequels, and when they include sex scenes, they often fail at making them appealing. According to a study by ABC, the number of major movies in the 20th century with sex scenes has dropped by almost 40%, simply because producers aren’t able to make the scenes responsive enough to the audience.Â
What switches can we make to go from these bland movies with unnecessary sex to true freak cinema? First, casting matters; casting conventionally attractive actors can allow for scriptwriters to assume that the sexuality of the film will solely rely on them. Less conventionally attractive casting will broaden representation, teaching audiences that sensuality does not have one look. The foreplay works best when it does not rely on sexual body parts to be sexy. Instead of breasts, backs, and arms, think of dim lighting over a pan of a woman’s knees, light jazz, sounds of people breathing and light laughter, and a man’s hand caressing up and down her leg: that is sensual to all parties involved without becoming pornographic. This requires a strong, sensual script and vision, and natural noises make everything even better! The aim of this genre should be to enhance fantasy, not to saturate and satirize it. Everything comes back to cultural scripts and a lack of widespread body positivity, and as soon as we lean into the beauty of what is natural, it will allow for tremendous positive cultural influence.Â
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