US Politics |OT|

[Jumpin]

sundin13 said:

Jumpin said:

If Paul Verhoeven-like films aren't being made anymore, then there's a problem. His films have always been controversial, but that was the beauty of the 80s and 90s - controversial media was permitted, and widely distributed without having to worry about being extinguished by the puritanical movements. Now even streaming services are falling victim.

What do you think couldn't be done about Verhoeven films today? Like, the social commentary? Social commentary is in everything these days. The violence? Verhoeven's violence was a bit cartoony which we don't really see much anymore, but thats because movies have generally moved towards realism, not because they moved away from violence. The nudity? Poor Things was criticized for being "pornographic" and that won several Oscars.

Perhaps if you didn't edit stuff out of my post, you'd have known my main point is that horseshoe theory has proven true, and there are a lot of puritanical leftists now on top of the puritanical right. You also would have caught which elements of Verhoeven films I was referring to. Instead, you made this about me somehow thinking that Paul Verhoeven films couldn't be done today, which isn't what I said. You'd have also picked up that I was exaggerating when I said they aren't being made today if you (again) didn't edit that part out of my post before responding, this line: "I don't generally fashion myself a slippery slope thinker, so five to ten years down the road, I don't want to ask the question of how long until new films featuring nudity and sex will only be viewable on sites like pornhub?" The trends of less sex and nudity are obvious (outside of horror and indie dark comedy flicks). Streaming picked up the slack and had a golden age in the 2010s, but in the past few years there has been a rapid decline of all these things.

I wouldn't say the points your trying to make about Verhoeven vs today's cinema are accurate either. Paul Verhoeven is hyperbolic, yes; visceral, yes. But saying he's cartoony and this isn't around anymore, and that films today are all about realism, doesn't reflect reality. The current top 4 films are a Ghostbusters film, a Dune film, a Godzilla vs King Kong film, and Kung Fu Panda.

OK, I'll give you the Mars atmosphere (from Total Recall) and the Ed 209 scenes :D

Still fun :D

His inspiration is the childhood experiences of wandering around during WW2 and the aftermath, where he saw a lot of sexual stuff and extreme violence.