Rule #17: … Except Sex
December 5, 2016 How To Read Lit 1 comment mstrout17
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Chapter 17: …Except Sex
When authors write about other things, they really mean sex, and when they write about sex they really mean other things. When they’re writing about sex and mean sex, it’s pornography.
Often they are writing about politics of oppressive religions.
Examples: Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Ulysses, French Lieutenant’s Woman, Alexandria Quartet, Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, Clea, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, Nightwood, and Wise Children.
Foster said: “You just know that these scenes mean something more than what’s going on in them” and what the actually mean is sometimes limitless.
Terminator: In the Terminator the sex scene between Sarah Conner and Kyle Reese has a deeper meaning. It sets up a huge paradox where Reese is the father of John Conner, who’s about the same age of him, and if he was his father it’s impossible for him to has existed in the original timeline. Therefore it is not just about sex, but about much more.
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1 Comment
You summarized the rule very well. The one thing that I might add would be that sex can also be a representation of something within the character’s personal self, whether it be their path in life or even their thought process. An example of this could be found within Gilmore Girls, when Rory has sex for the first time without telling her mother. This showed the start of Rory beginning to make her own decisions, gradually relying less on her mother. It represents her transition into adulthood and her becoming more independent.