Went to dinner last night at MasalaWala in Lower East Side with a girl friend and quite enjoyed it. I always like supporting new, local, independent shops. And environmental with their recycled paper plates.
Turns out I decided to join her after to check out the movie, SHAME, with Michael Fassbender (X-MEN FIRST CLASS), Carey Mulligan (whom I really enjoyed in AN EDUCATION) and directed and written by Steve McQueen. All she told me was the main character is a sex addict and something about his sister having issues too. I was concerned it might be a downer but decided to check it out anyways (the BF was away and I decided to actually go out for once).
I have to say it was quite—interesting. No, of course it didn’t have a happy tale ending as I expected. Was it a cop-out as my girl friend suggested? Well, did I want to watch him keep doing his sex orgies, and online videos, and porn for another hour? No, not really. I find it brave that a man was brave enough to write a script on a topic that is either generally considered taboo or actually “normal” in our society. It’s expected that you will be having sex by the third date—at least in some circles. And am impressed that a man is sure enough in himself to take on that role. As much as it may seem like a “cool” or “hot” character to play—trust me—McQueen did not portray this character as happy with his addiction. It was an affliction. It ate up his energy every minute. It consumed him. I mean it is called SHAME after all.
Not all of the graphic images were necessary, and I definitely felt I needed to wash the images out of my head after—as it also brought up some not-so- good memories of my past life—but it was an interesting attempt to try to understand how our society has bred such fucked up humans. At my workshop last weekend on “sexism and male domination,” the leader also mentioned how it’s usually men under 40 something that are addicted to porn.
Any comments or thoughts from folks on all of this?
