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Rants, Raves and Reviews — By Adele on 19 June, 2006 10:09 pmApparently, munchkins, people who make movies with budgets and cinema releases and actual trained actors and all that, are making another kinky movie, called “The Pet”. Oh, please, no. Please. It will end in tears, and not the nice sort of tears that one cries after being hit with a cane 50 times, either.
Yes, I really am that pessimistic about the prospects of getting a good kink-friendly film any time soon, even if the film-makers wanted to be kink-friendly. Because, you know, mainstream plots require conflict and complex characters, and complex characters are going to be screwed up in one way or another. Screwed up kinky characters do not a kink-friendly movie make, just ask Lee Holloway.
Problem is, overall wholesome characters do not a movie make *at all*.
I like what Mistress Matisse (on whose blog I’ve found the link) has to say about what is known about “The Pet” for now:
I mean, a global sex-slave market that runs around kidnapping kinky women from rich guys? Please. Such an organization would have to beat off applicants with a stick, pun intended. If there weren’t tons of people who liked the idea of giving up control to a strict and repressive overlord, we wouldn’t have the current presidential administration.
Okay, that’s a joke, sort of. But really, the trick for such an organization would be finding appropriately wealthy owners with the pictured lavish estates and tons of free time. Cute little muffins who’d want to be slaves to such people are a dime a dozen.
All of this doesn’t mean that I won’t watch the news about this film with a lot of interest, or that I won’t go and see it. Of course I will. I’m that sort of a masochist.
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10 Comments
What What??
You mean there is to be another movie made in the mainstream cinema with a possible air of BDSM in it? I shall alert Parliament immediately!
Activate and send out the armed response units at once!!
This BDSM rubbish must be quelled once and for all.
You know, I wish our films and vids got the kind of press and media attention that this movie and others like it such as 9 weeks and The Secratary did. We’d be on our way in a horse and carriage to the Oscars and the European Film awards.
Wouldn’t that be nice
Razor
oh
my
god
If anyone can resist the strong urge to punch the director right in the throat after listening to his commentary then I commend that person. His basic implication (as far as I could tell) was that there is this sick sick world out there where people give up power to another, and that he and his producers/crew etc are just /heroes/ for showing this HORROR to the world. I’m sorry, but does anyone else think he just bleeds “self righteous prick”?.
The trailer for the movie itself opens up wonderfully, but of course they had to go for the “dark criminal underground” thing. And really, to associate bdsm with the actual human slave trade? The director seems to actually imply that someone wanting to be a total power exchange slave isn’t capable of consent. There are “slaves” in bdsm (I put it in quotation marks only to accentuate what I’m getting at here) and there are /slaves/. There are those with “no choice” and there are those with NO CHOICE. To try and correlate the two as he does is simply rotten.
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Phoenix
Very sad and my favourite personal bugbear. As a kinky person and a budding film-maker I have just finished my first “proper” short which is about submission and guess what? None of my main characters are screwed up or come from a horrific background. A point which I had to battle at great length over with my script editor (who is famous, successful and very respected in the industry). He told me, and I quote, “But all kinky people must have a psychological problem and screwed up somewhere along the line. Otherwise everyone would be kinky, but only some people are kinky, so they must all be troubled” Cue a 10 minute all out war, and I think the establishment cleaners may still be trying to scrape small pieces of him off the walls and ceilings….
Razor: Keep dreaming about that Oscar.
Phoenix: Well said. You’ve also kept it far more polite than I would have been able to, good job :)
Lucy: Hey! Have you graduated yet? I’m dead curious about your short; when’s the premiere? At least they let you make a film about whatever the hell you liked, which is already a good sign – even if you had to fight for characters with their heads firmly on. :)
Next friday I am finished hon – almost there and on the home straight. Totally exhausted in way possible but it’s been interesting. The screening for this one is internal however and I don’t think there is an external one – unless we organise our own in my front room – but hey there’s still my next project to look forward to!
Why, you think there’s any chance of anybody who comes into your house not starting to ask to be shown the film? It’s going to be even more popular than your wedding video ;)
Eeek! I think I might hide ;-) On another note, have you seen this?
Adele Is Naughty And Must Be Punished
Automagically generates your punishment lines for you! How super cool is that?!!!
I do have to wonder if there will be any kind of backlash from the community over this film? I have to worry that there won’t be, for serveral reasons.
1) The community is too fractured to be able to mount anything against this.
2) For many many kinky people, protesting this film would probably end up outing them to those that they would rather not know the details of their personal lives. (being labled “perverts” “sick” at work school etc)
3) That somehow that might be playing into the director’s hand a bit. You have to wonder whether he’s just waiting for people to rail against it so he can point and say “oh those poor brainwashed people, fighting for the very masters that oppress them!” (missing the point of course).
On the other hand, it would be a very good thing for the community to try and show that this movie is fiction in its purest form and not even close to reality. Raise awareness one might say? But again that would be particularly problematic for those who don’t want to be public with their kinkiness. Such a problematic situation, having to fight for something so important to you but often being in a situation that would make fighting for it extremely difficult or disastrous. The question is, in such a case do we rely on the very vocal members in the community who are out to the vanillas and quite happy with being out or does this sort of thing require us to “rise up”?.
And Adele, just as a note, I do enjoy your blog very much. A blog from the point of view of a spanking model was long overdue and not only is your writing a pleasure to read, and the photographs lovely, but you bring up many issues and ideas that I have not seen anywhere else.
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phoenix
Phoenix, I really don’t think there’s any point in raising a row because of this film.
Firstly, it just isn’t going to carry any weight. It may not even get a general release. And even if it does – it’s probably more of a silly thriller than an ideological statement from an anti-BDSM group. Protesting against minor works of fiction doesn’t do much good. (Seen the “Da Vinci Code” protesters? Have they been getting a lot of sympathy? No, actually, they look like complete tits, firing at sparrows from great big cannon.)
Secondly, protesting against anything “as a community” is unfeasible insofar as members of a community aren’t going to have the same opinion about it. I don’t know that I trust other people to express my opinion for me. :) (And then, of course, there’s what you’ve already said about the community being fractured to the point of not existing at all.)
The only thing that could help the image of kinky folk to ever get rid of the “sick pervert” sheen would be the rise of kink-positive arts. Kink-positive movies that are at least just as good as the familiar demonising cliches, kink-positive literature that entertains rather than preach. Things like that.
Though it looks like I’m preaching now, so I’ll shut up :)
Lucy, the lines thing is awesome! I think, it needs to go into a separate post :)