Unpop Culture

The only thing that shocked most people in the film industry about the Harvey Weinstein story was that suddenly, for some reason, people seemed to care. That knowledge alone allowed a lot of us to breathe for the first time in ages. These are the heartbreaking words of writer/actor/director Sarah Polley in her New York Times piece The Men You Meet Making Movies . Polley continues: I’ve grown up in this industry, surrounded by predatory behavior, and the idea of making people care about it seemed as distant an ambition as pulling the sun out of the sky. Polley’s testimony, among countless others, has saddened and sickened me, though it also gives me hope. It appears that we as a society may be growing more serious about dealing with sexual violence. Open secrets are becoming more open and less secret, and that is good. I applaud the bravery of women (and men) who have shared their #MeToo stories in an effort to affect change. At the same time, we must focus on more ...

In this blog series, I’ve been assuming the detrimental nature of porn. The similarities between the sex acts in mainstream entertainment and the sex acts in porn are dangerous only if porn itself is dangerous. So, in order to reach the largest possible audience I can, I want to end this series by briefly putting aside religious considerations and looking at how science-based research alone can help us see porn as a serious “public health issue.” According to Fight the New Drug , porn’s damaging effects can be felt in three spheres. First, porn use damages our minds. Porn use is addictive . Just like alcohol, drugs, nicotine, and the like, sexually charged media triggers a release of dopamine into the brain. Over time, this chemical response trains our brain to seek more and more enjoyment from whatever caused it. That being the case, porn physically changes our brain . It actually rewires—and damages—our brain so that we need more and more stimuli in order to receive the s...

“ Every year, thousands of children swarm Hollywood in search of fame, but what they often find under the surface is a deep and disturbing underbelly of manipulation and abuse.” So reads part of the description of An Open Secret , a new documentary set to premiere at DOC NY this year. The film is helmed by Amy Berg, the Oscar-nominated director of another documentary that deals with the theme of sexual abuse. An Open Secret is “a sobering look at the lives of children who were exploited and assaulted by some of Hollywood’s most powerful players.” The film’s title suggests that these secret crimes weren’t so much secret as they were ignored or glossed over. If the content of the movie is true, it’s a scathing indictment of the culture in which much of moviemaking takes place. It reminds me of my blog post Hollywood’s Secret Rape Culture , in which I talk about the many ways actors—especially women—are abused and mistreated in the process of filming scenes that require nu...

In recent online discussions related to Hollywood’s secret rape culture , I’ve come into contact with some delightfully likeminded individuals like E. Stephen Burnett , Editor at Speculative Faith . While we may not see eye to eye on all the related issues, we are still, as Stephen has said, “allied on what really matters.” Because the pornification of mainstream entertainment involves principles and practices that really do matter, I wanted to share a recent conversation I had with Stephen. Or, more honestly, this is a conversation in which Stephen said a lot of great things, and I wanted to share them with my audience. I’m still mulling over some of what he said, and my approach to questionable entertainment may still likely differ from his own. Nevertheless, I genuinely appreciate the integrity of his beliefs: how he desires to apply Biblical wisdom to controversial topics like this, and how his convictions have encouraged and challenged me. Below is a segment of our online co...

The conversation I overheard took place between three Christian men. Maybe that’s why I found it so disturbing. Their words revealed a flippant attitude toward sexual manipulation—in this case, of underage girls. What’s worse, it was excused on the grounds of entertainment. The shocking callousness has stayed with me to this day. The topic? A popular television series they had all been watching. Here’s what I heard them say. (The names I’ve used are not real.) LEO: I’ve watched the first 5 seasons. I attempted to start season 6 the other day, but I just couldn’t take it. I made it only twenty minutes into the first episode before the hyper-sexualization of everything, including 15-year-old girls, did me in. So Nate, give me your best judgment: is there enough of a payoff in terms of storyline development to make another go at it worthwhile? NATE: Orson would be the best judge of that. I stopped during season three. ORSON: The finale of the latest season is, for me, qu...

It’s true that some actors perform nude and/or sex scenes without any form of coercion. Indeed, there are those who almost seem to relish the opportunity to undress for the camera. As Christian patrons, that shouldn’t provide us with any comfort. When we financially support films with degrading sex and nudity, we support a subculture that abuses those actors who do have a problem with publicly disrobing and sexually acting out. Maybe it would help to look at it in this way. Consider, if you will, two pertinent groups in this discussion. In the first group are plenty of actors—many of whom are not professing Christians—who experience serious reservations about exposing themselves to the public at large. It’s not because they are trying to glorify God with their bodies, their words, or their actions. It’s not necessarily because they subscribe to a Christian sexual ethic. Still, their consciences bother them when it comes to nudity and sex scenes. That’s the first group of p...

Last week, we looked at Hollywood’s underground culture of sexual abuse : how actors are routinely coerced into violating their consciences by performing nude scenes and/or sex acts on screen. While audiences have grown comfortable with watching such scenes, actors are often uncomfortable (or worse) with filming them. Isn’t it true, though, that some actors willingly undress for the camera? The simple answer is, of course, yes. But it’s an answer that requires at least two clarifications. And since women are the majority of the victims in these circumstances, we’ll focus on women for the rest of the article. First, it’s not as easy as you might think to discern the difference between willing and unwilling performances. Take just one example (or, rather, an example in several parts) from recent history, all involving a “willing participant.” Actress Margot Robbie recounts how her audition went for the movie The Wolf of Wall Street . She showed up for the audition in her us...

Several years ago, Kate Beckinsale was conned into signing a movie contract that required nudity—something she didn’t want to do. With her acting career in jeopardy, she found herself browbeaten by the director. “I was really disturbed and I was sobbing and begging,” she said . At long last, she gave in to intimidation and performed the nude scene, which made her feel “violated and horrible.” Afterwards, she secretly urinated in the director’s thermos in revenge. In the realm of television, actress Ruta Gedmintas faced her first sex scene for the HBO show The Tudors . “I was absolutely terrified and had no idea what was going on,” she later said . “I cried afterwards because I was thinking, ‘This isn't acting, what am I doing? My mum's going to see this.’” Would you believe me if I told you that stories like these are numerous? Sadly, it’s true. The amount of pressure and intimidation Hollywood places on actors—especially women—to undress for the camera is commonplace...