Sex Doesn't Sell--in movies

According to a "ground-breaking" article by CNN, they've discovered that sex doesn't necessarily sell when it comes to movies. This is one of those few articles that is missing an appropriate "no duh" at the end of it.

This is an example of one of those stories that gets written because someone has taken a slogan and then decided that the evidence doesn't match the wordage of the slogan itself, mainly because the slogan is just that, a slogan. Also, the slogan is appropriate to a completely different vehicle, and the reporters are trying to play the game of "lookie what we found!" when in reality they found that their lack of research equates to a stupid story.

So, why do people say "sex sells" if it doesn't sell in movies? Because it sells in advertising. That's where the wordage gets the most play. Beer commercials are a great example. Guys drink beer, girls show up wearing almost no clothing, and then profit! Girl wears sexy lingerie, other women watching the commercial see it and then go out and buy lingerie expecting to be as sexy as she is, and then profit! Okay, the second example is an example of misleading advertising (as was the first) mainly because I think most of those commercials are designed for guys who then turn to their girlfriends/wives and then try to get them to wear the sexy lingerie, and then somehow profit entails, but the results don't somehow come out the same.

And that's the beauty of sex sells advertisement. Almost always it creates a fantasy that is unattainable for all but women who happen to be sexy lingerie models. Guys aren't going to end up with her. Sorry, but she's dating some rock star that makes gazillions of dollars and wouldn't give you the time of day. Average women aren't going to look like her; let's face it...there's a reason she makes millions of dollars to pose in her underwear.

Which brings us back to the original topic, and that's sex sells imagination in movies. When does it ever sell? Well, I can think of a few examples. "Mr and Mrs Smith" was a movie that was definitely a sex sells kind of movie. It had two of the hottest stars in movies, both sexy to people of practically both genders interchangeably, and that sold that movie well. I'd venture that Transformers benefited from several sexy stars, although I personally never liked the movie or the stars of it, but I'm commenting on movie trends, not on my own wants and desires. If this was about my own wants and desires, every movie would have Shania Twain running around in lingerie. Come to think of it, every movie with Shania Twain in it regardless would improve 90 percent of the movies regardless of what she was wearing. And she could sing the soundtrack, too. Hmm, must consider this for a future post and column.

But I digress....


Some other movies that do well with sex selling in their movies are, well, for simplicity, porn. I mean, let's face it. If you are interested in sex in movies, then you really can't go any simpler than that. So, why don't more guys just watch porn instead of watch movies that are sexually suggestive? Well, if the guy wants to get his girlfriend/wife to watch it, well, that's about as close as he's going to get.

But the point is that this article that CNN wrote is more about trying to dislodge a theory that no one is making. I haven't gone to a movie yet because I was interested in a sexual theme of the movie, ever. I've seen some pretty damn sexy movies over the years, but I went to see them because of some other reason. So the idea that sex sells is really limited to advertising and porn. I think the enlightened people just don't want to admit it. To make a movie that is nothing but sex is really either making a porn movie or a soft porn movie, and anyone who has watched the latter has begged for that two hours back in their life.

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