Monday, August 08, 2005
I Want Your...
...Sex
Thank you George Michael.
There isn't a more succinct and evocative word: sex. With a single syllable people can be piqued or repulsed. Sometimes I think that saying it is even more shocking than seeing it simulated on the screen or stage. There is a danger and excitement and taboo all rolled up into the word that no presentation could quite replicate. When you see it, it becomes mundane, but to have the freedom of imagination when you hear it spoken, it becomes something far more than the act.
This visceral reaction to the letters S-E-X, is why our season is entitled "Sex Sells." We want to pique interest, prompt opposing ideas and prick a society that has on many levels regressed to a puritanical, quasi-Victorian sense of mores. Whether it's a fascination with the mammalian protruberance of an aging rock star flashed during a sporting event or the fear of a gay conspiracy trying to usurp the rights of heterosexuals. our society is obsessed with sex.
So why not join 'em?
We start the obsession with one of America's original provocateurs, Mae West. Ms. West knew what she was doing when she called her first play "Sex". She understood that it would set everyone atwitter just by talking about he show. She then went the extra mile and created a story that for 1927 was scandalous, the prostitute gets a happy ending! Can you imagine?
Well, that's just the beginning forward to bringing you sex all year.
Thank you George Michael.
There isn't a more succinct and evocative word: sex. With a single syllable people can be piqued or repulsed. Sometimes I think that saying it is even more shocking than seeing it simulated on the screen or stage. There is a danger and excitement and taboo all rolled up into the word that no presentation could quite replicate. When you see it, it becomes mundane, but to have the freedom of imagination when you hear it spoken, it becomes something far more than the act.
This visceral reaction to the letters S-E-X, is why our season is entitled "Sex Sells." We want to pique interest, prompt opposing ideas and prick a society that has on many levels regressed to a puritanical, quasi-Victorian sense of mores. Whether it's a fascination with the mammalian protruberance of an aging rock star flashed during a sporting event or the fear of a gay conspiracy trying to usurp the rights of heterosexuals. our society is obsessed with sex.
So why not join 'em?
We start the obsession with one of America's original provocateurs, Mae West. Ms. West knew what she was doing when she called her first play "Sex". She understood that it would set everyone atwitter just by talking about he show. She then went the extra mile and created a story that for 1927 was scandalous, the prostitute gets a happy ending! Can you imagine?
Well, that's just the beginning forward to bringing you sex all year.
