Score: 10
"The Cruelties Of Psychosexuality"
date: November 22, 2009
I've been meaning to review this for a long time now. I've taken so long to get around to it because I didn't know if I could devote the time necessary to give this movie the thoughtful and articulate review it so deserves. That, and it's not easy dealing with the emotions this movie conjures up in me. (Furthermore, my characters are limited so I've had to edit this review greatly to say what I wanted and make it fit.)
I'd like to say I've watched all your other movies and read all the reviews people have written, as I was curious what others thought and what you had to say. Many of your other movies have a similar theme, a theme of sexuality pushed to the extreme and of sexual self-destruction. You claim to have no real intention behind your movies, no message to spread, no intellectualization of what you create. Regardless of your intentions, your movies do have an impact on some people, a different impact to different people, and they do have an important message to send. I think because the types of movies you make are less conventional and more extreme, they'll have more of a variable affect on people compared to more conventional art.
Now, on to the movie itself. Well, there's this story about males who castrate themselves in a book titled "Best Sex Writing 2008". The book gives one example of a male that was masturbating 5 times everyday and I guess he got fed up of his relentless libido and so castrated himself. When I watch your movie, WoodenSneakers, I'll tell you what I see. I see a similar man, he just finished jacking off for... he can't even keep track anymore, maybe that was his seventh time for the day. He was fed up, but unlike the former male I spoke of, he didn't want to bother living the rest of his life tortured over his sexuality, trying to cope with it through sexual self-abuse and psychological struggles. He just had a smoke to calm his nerves, and ended it right there.
Is it really that the male libido is just so overpowering that males feel the only way they can cope with it is by abusing themselves sexually? I mean, if you look at the contents of bmevideo, it's something like 99% males abusing themselves, only a small minority of females. I think there's something more to it than just having an overpowering libido. I just don't think having a strong libido, by itself, is anything to make someone want to harm themselves. I have personal experience with such struggles, by the way, so I'm not just speculating from the outside. We think of females as more sexually repressed in America, so if it's something to do with self-hatred, shouldn't women have all the more reason to hate themselves for their sexual feelings and want to harm themselves for it!? Catobleper left a review for Dolores Rides Again that relates when he said, "It. Is. Beautiful. I have to admit: I laughed. I cried. A truly tragic story of how the modern society pressures young men into desperate acts of love. And of hate." You see, both males and females experience sexual repression in America (some more than others), but females are more likely to experience more of a passive repression (where sexuality is simply ignored) while males are more likely to experience an active repression (where they're told they're bad for wanting sex). Furthermore, who do you think of when the phrases "sexual predator" or "child molester". Most likely men come to mind, all the more reason men have to hate themselves if they have sexual feelings they feel are even just a little bit deviant.
I'll just let you know, I've suffered horribly from my sexuality and have done things similar to what you display in your movies (burst the capillaries open in my penis, cut my scrotum open, stuck needles through my testes, etcetera.) I can't say confidently I'll never harm myself sexually again, but this movie connected with me. As EmpyreanDeft said in Requiem For Cat Anal Sex, "That was incredible. I think now I understand-- now I understand life."
10 hours ago
Author's Response:
I don't really think any "author's response" I could leave would do your review justice, so I wanted to send a message thanking you for such an honest/thoughtful/cogent review, however, your private messages are disabled, so here it is:
I hadn't thought about the latent socio-cognitive effect of my work expressing male sexual repression. I can both empathize and totally agree with your review and interpretation of my flash animation; though I had never thought about it in a consequential manner. I had no idea this short animation could have such an impact on someone, or how one could so honestly relate to it. I really mean it when I say, "this doesn't mean any thing".
To save philosophizing art, or something that is equally bullshit, I will say, succinctly, that I create art for the sake of art, anything it means is after the fact. It's funny that [M. Barat's] frown was a catalyst (maybe) for your interpretation, because I debated whether or not, when he cums on his face, he should smile or frown. I eventually made him frown, but that decision was quite arbitrary. Anyway, I think now I have an interpretation of this movie, and if you would like to hear my interpretation I would be glad to tell you. Thank you again.
