One of my favorite, if not my favorite movie genre is the romantic-comedy or dramady. I just love a good love story, especially one that has some depth and has well developed characters\u2014interesting characters with lives and issues outside of the will-they-or-won\u2019t-they-get-together hook. A movie that does that well is \u201cLove and Basketball.\u201d This movie wasn\u2019t just about the main characters\u2019 relationship, it also proffered the question of how Monica fit that relationship into her overall goals for her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But let\u2019s face it, a huge reason a lot of people watch romantic comedies is for the sex scenes. I remember when \u201cSex and the City,\u201d which is basically a romantic dramady in TV show form, ended and was going into syndication<\/strong> on TBS. Many women were in an uproar that they would be taking the \u201csex\u201d out of \u201cthe city\u201d to air it on that basic cable channel. Now the \u201ccleaned-up\u201d version airs on E! and it\u2019s no big deal that nudity revealing sex scenes and even some cuss words have been taken out. Come to think of it, there\u2019s probably a whole generation or two of women who\u2019ve only seen the basic cable version of the show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I started watching the show on HBO, but I didn\u2019t always have that channel, so I watched the majority of it on TBS when I lived in Atlanta. Although I didn\u2019t have cable while I lived there, basic or otherwise, TBS was free and available with an antenna, so I watched it. Even though I came to enjoy the TBS version better than the HBO version, for a show titled \u201cSex and the City,\u201d there wasn\u2019t as much sex as one may think. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few episodes with no sex at all like my current favorite \u201cA Woman\u2019s Right to Shoes,\u201d which is about old friends from school whose lives went on different paths once they grew up: one took a more traditional route and became a wife and a mother, and the other the main character Carrie, is single and childless. Tension arises when Carrie goes to a party at the mom friend\u2019s house and her shoes that she was made to take off upon entering, came up missing. There\u2019s more to the story, but I don\u2019t have time to try and come up with a way to describe it succinctly. But the point is, this was a sexless episode\u2026or so I think, it\u2019s been a minute since I\u2019ve seen it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, as a Christian, it raises questions about whether or not a show like this is appropriate viewing. For me the answer isn\u2019t so clear cut. I think it would depend on the person\u2026Or, maybe I\u2019m just saying that because I love the show so much and I want an excuse to watch it. In general, however, I would say it\u2019s probably not the best show for a Christian to consume. When I think about the lifestyle that God calls us to in the Bible, there are themes in that show that just don\u2019t align.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In every rom-com I write there are no sex scenes and no nudity. If I would ever be so blessed to have a movie I\u2019ve written playing in the theatres, my goal in telling the story is not to get people sexually aroused. We don\u2019t need to see people simulating the act to know that it happened. Furthermore, I don\u2019t want actors having to be naked to get a part. I believe it was Charlize Theron who once said in an interview that she doesn\u2019t do nudity because she\u2019s never seen an instance in a movie when it was necessary. I totally agree. You can tell the story just fine without it. That\u2019s not to say I won\u2019t tackle the themes of sex and even promiscuity, it just means that sex outside of how I believe God intended it to be (within marriage) won\u2019t be glorified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now if you read my movie scenes I love post on \u201cBoomerang\u201d you may be saying wait a minute, weren\u2019t you just touting Robin Givens character Jacqueline in that post? And yes, yes I was. But the thing is, I find that character fascinating and even admirable not because of her promiscuity or casualness with sex, but because of the anomaly that she is in cinema (at least the cinema that I\u2019ve seen). For the deviation that she is from the typical woman you see in the movies or in real life for that matter. You usually have the woman crying over a man, wanting a man that doesn\u2019t want her, wanting a man that doesn\u2019t treat her right, brokenhearted to the point it\u2019s effecting the quality of her life. I guess I admired the fact that she defied that stereotype. In defying that stereotype she defies the societal socialization of women in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The interesting thing to me about a character like that is what had to happen to her for her to be that way. That is something I explore a bit in one of the movie scripts I\u2019ve written. But to be clear, I don\u2019t think that Jacqueline\u2019s lifestyle is healthy for a woman or a man. Yet at the same time I don\u2019t want to be judgmental about it either. You can disagree with something, and even think something is wrong, without making a judgement on the person themselves. Basically, I\u2019m not out here trying to condemn nobody to hell. I just know that I won\u2019t be there. I remember Creflo Dollar once said when you get to Heaven you\u2019re going to look around and be surprised and some of the people that\u2019s there and surprised at some of the people that\u2019s not there. Nobody knows anyone else\u2019s relationship with the Lord. But as for me and my writing, you ain\u2019t gon find no nudity, no sex scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of my favorite, if not my favorite movie genre is the romantic-comedy or dramady. I just love a good love story, especially one that has some depth and has well developed characters\u2014interesting characters with lives and issues outside of…<\/p>\n