Space of Sex: The Porn Aesthetic in Contemporary Film and Television

The book "The Space of Sex" explores how the human body is transformed into a landscape and a building in film and television, influencing the design of the film or televisual shot. It focuses on how sex, gender, and sexuality are represented in recent films, such as "The Canyons," "Savages," "Magic Mike," "Nymphomaniac," and "Don Jon," examining the ways they have attempted to absorb pornography into their plot.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 304 pages
\n Publication date: 17 June 2021
\n Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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The ever-increasing focus of film and television on the pornographic gaze of the camera has led to a remarkable transformation of the human body, evolving into a landscape and a building, seamlessly integrated into an architectonic design that extends the eroticism of the body beyond its physical boundaries. This metamorphosis manifests as the central mise-en-scène of contemporary moving imagery. In his groundbreaking book, The Space of Sex, Shelton Waldrep establishes crucial tropes that shape the narrative. He explores the interplay between high and low art, emphasizing the centrality of the body, visual aesthetics, and framing. The book adopts a comprehensive intermedial and interdisciplinary approach, reflecting its overarching goal.

The second half of The Space of Sex delves into the representation of sex, gender, and sexuality in a selection of recent films. These films, ranging from mainstream blockbusters to independent masterpieces, are analyzed for their attempts to incorporate elements of pornography, if not the porn industry itself, into their narratives. Waldrep argues that the utopian ideals of seventies porn are intricately reworked in the twenty-first century, manifesting as a utopian impulse to re-eroticize sex as a positive and shame-free experience. However, this re-imagining is accompanied by a complex mix of feelings toward pornography, encompassing both a utopian desire and a dystopian perspective on the industry. In essence, sex in our contemporary world remains a subject of compromise, navigating the complexities of societal norms, cultural attitudes, and personal desires.

\n Weight: 594g\n
Dimension: 160 x 235 x 24 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781501333057\n \n