filkertom: (Default)
[personal profile] filkertom
So I got my Amazon referral e-mail this morning. Buncha stuff I'd likely be interested in. Mark Waid Fantastic Four collection (one I already have). The Illusionist (probably will see at some point). Adam Sandler's Click. The Lady In The Water (O M. Night, wherefore art thou?) --

Whoa.

Adam Sandler's Click!?

Look, there has always been a market for sex in SF/fantasy. Wish fulfillment, Heroines in peril, strong and gorgeous and incredibly sexually liberated women who think you're sexy for some reason, all that. But why is it so frequently not merely offensive but stupid?

I remember the ads for Click. Adam Sandler's character has a remote with power over everything. So, naturally, he uses it for things like punching his boss and hurting a child (the one playing catch with his son).

Reminded me of Bruce Almighty. Jim Carrey's character is involved with a character played by Jennifer Aniston -- a reasonably hot lady, one might happily argue -- and, given the power of God, he... gives her bigger boobs.

I can think of at least two movies (both seen on MST3K, Warrior of the Lost World and Puma Man) with the villainous Donald Pleasance getting the gorgeous heroine under mind-control, and the only thing he can think of doing with a gorgeous heroine under mind-control is ordering her to kill the hero... which might theoretically make some sense if it was a devious plot to take out the hero when he's vulnerable, rather than when Pleasance and his fully-armed minions are in the same room and the hero's already helpless.

Samantha Stevens. Pretty much unlimited power... but she doesn't want to make her husband unhappy by using it. Even for his benefit. Because he thinks it's abnormal or something. Which is why he married her. Or something.

Jeannie. The ultimate in wish fulfillment, literally: Barbara Eden in a harem costume, in love with Master and, oh yeah, she is ready and willing to do anything he wants. So he hides her and tells her to act normal. Not for a few days, while he figures things out, but for years and years.

AF709. My Living Doll. A Julie Newmar-shaped robot. Fully functional, as they say. (And Tasha Yar sure as hell knew what to do with a fully-functional robot. Data may have been the first sex toy with commendations for valor from Starfleet.) Bob Cummings is woefully underqualified at the task of teaching her to be "the perfect woman", and concentrates on her cooking and cleaning skills and manners. Sorry, but I've known a number of women who were close to perfect, and they're all incredibly smart, well-read, creative, funny, caring, and really good kissers.

Now, I do realize that all this is caught up in the repression of powerful women, or perhaps the intimation that there are no powerful women except for the ones in ludicrous fantasies where the man still believes he has some control and therefore the woman lets him have that control, not to mention the general societal taboo against, y'know, following all those hard-wired sexual impulses we've had for tens of thousands of years -- I mean, who among us, given absolute control over a Julie Newmar robot, has not thought of cooking and cleaning? -- but cah-mon. When Dana (Sigourney Weaver) asks Dr. Venkman (Bill Murray), "Do you want this body?" he very reasonably asks, "Is that a trick question?" And he doesn't just utterly take advantage of her, but he sure gets a hot kiss before he starts Doing The Right Thing.

So. What are some of your favorite examples of really dumb sexually-based escapades in SF/fantasy movies or TV? And what are some of the ones that work? (For instance, I think pretty much all the stuff they present in the movie Logan's Run makes sense, given the society they've set up. And I'm actually very fond of the scene in Hell Comes to Frogtown when Roddy Piper is embarassed, watching Sandahl Bergman attempt to court him using Standard Army Seduction Techniques. [Also, the lovemaking montage with Sandahl and Ahh-Nult in Conan the Barbarian is decently hot and really sweet.])

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkerdave.livejournal.com
Anyone but me remember Galaxina? ;)

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Ah-yup. I think a number of us dragged ourselves through a very special part of puberty, thinking about a Dorothy Stratten robot....

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] drzarron.livejournal.com
Ah yes.. "Porno, Porno, Porno Patrol, Any old port in the storm, any old Hole"

"BLUE STAR"
"Ahh AHHH!"

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ionicaq.livejournal.com
Not related to the sex (well, mostly not): watch The Illusionist. It was really good, even better than expected.

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:39 pm (UTC)
ext_32976: (Default)
From: [identity profile] twfarlan.livejournal.com
Really dumb sex in skiffy? Need I mention Barbarella?

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Oh, absolutely dumb. But also fun, and they made, er, no bones about the fact that sex was the point of the exercise.

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Date: 2007-02-19 04:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] warinbear.livejournal.com
That was actually the first thing that came to mind, even before I checked behind the cut. <g>

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eleri.livejournal.com
Weird Science.

And for the love of God...Ice Pirates.

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Date: 2007-02-19 02:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkerdave.livejournal.com
Oh! Ice Pirates!

Damn, I wonder if that's on DVD?

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Date: 2007-02-19 10:22 pm (UTC)
kengr: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kengr
Actually, Weird Science is a counter example. Horny teens confronted with a real woman and being too scared/inhibited to take advantage of it.
(sort of like the dog chasing the car "Ok, now that I caught it, what do I *do* with it?")

And by the time the shock wears off, they know what sort of powers she has. Which has gotta make you at least a bit wary. :-)

Then again, I *was* those two geeks, but without a Lisa...

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Date: 2007-02-19 03:05 pm (UTC)
ext_4831: My Headshot (Geekissexy)
From: [identity profile] hughcasey.livejournal.com
Flesh Gordon.

Oh, COME ON! Don't even PRETEND like you never saw it!

(I still giggle everytime I think of the Penisaurus...)

And I actually liked "Tripping The Rift". (Never mind BSG... TTR had the REAL "Six"! *grin*)

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Date: 2007-02-19 03:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] markbernstein.livejournal.com
Well, there is that little point that, in the situations where the man has absolute power, sex would be Not A Nice Thing At All.

This, by the way, is an excellent week for DVDs, with the release of both "The Prestige" and "Flushed Away".

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Date: 2007-02-19 03:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
... I'm suddenly interested. Okay, not "suddenly", but you know what I mean. Or perhaps you don't. Because I'm not sure of what you mean.

Yes, indeed, a man with absolute power forcing a woman into sex is bad. Rape. Nasty. But let's look past the fantasy-rape thing at a hypothetical situation.

Jeannie.

The implication from many genie stories (and implied once or twice during the series, as I recall) is that Jeannie has had not-good masters in the past. But she really really likes Tony Nelson... who happens, reluctantly, to have absolute power over her. (Although it's not that absolute. I remember a couple of episodes where she got really ticked off at him. But I digress.)

Is it really Not A Nice Thing At All if the beautiful blonde over whom you happen to have absolute power is throwing herself at you of her own volition?

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From: [identity profile] catalana.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-02-19 04:03 pm (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] cktraveler.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-02-19 04:31 pm (UTC) - Expand

Ok, I'll correct you.

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Date: 2007-02-19 03:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyrephox.livejournal.com
I always figured that the point of the beautiful-woman-enslaved-to-clueless-guy plot was that the guy /has/ to be clueless, or else the male viewers get resentful. They're supposed to be able to feel superior, as they can think of much better uses to put the female-object to, and can fantasize about taking her away from the clueless male. Whereas, if the male was actually doing everything they'd WANT to do, then it would just be cause for resentment and disconnection on the part of the male viewer.

It's much the same dynamic as you see in anime with pretty, pretty boys. If a canonical female character actually /gets/ the guy, then the female fanbase usually hates and reviles her to a nearly pathological degree. Because she's done what they can't do.

Ah-ha! Speaking of dumb fantasy sexual escapades: Magically enforced, life-long romantic bonds between two people who barely know each other. Is there ANY place in the real world where this would not end in murder-suicide within a year or two?

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Date: 2007-02-19 04:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
One of the worst and dumbest clichés ever. And its primary variant, mentioned in its proper context in Peter's Evil Overlord List (http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html):
98. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if circumstance have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.

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Date: 2007-02-19 04:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cktraveler.livejournal.com
For a second I saw the title Click! and was thinking of Milo Manara's, not Adam Sandler's.

It would be relevant, as it's the single most disgusting example of the male power over women fantasy I've ever seen. It's basically a remote control; point it at a woman (initially a specific woman, later in the series Manara forgot and it became any woman) and she'd turn into a sex maniac, completely unable to control herself. In other words, it was a rape gun.

Robert Crumb had some pretty messed-up ideas, but at least he acknowledged the fact, and his attitude towards women in his work seems more bewildered than predatory. Dave Sim, at least through "Jaka's Story," seemed to acknowledge that he would never understand women but showed himself a thoughtful observer.

I never got either sense from Manara, not with that book anyway ...

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Date: 2007-02-19 04:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] valarltd.livejournal.com
Flash Gordon The Earth folks are wholesome and clean cut. The Mongo people are all decadent sybarites. Dale Arden is forced into Ming's harem and then into marriage. Kala wanders through the whole think in a black catsuit, faceframe and whip. Princess Aura... oh yeah... even though Flash heroically resists her

And I will not get into how many sexual fantasies Max von Sydow as Ming inspired in my perfervid early teen imagination. Sam Jones was a total hottie, esp when they tripped him down to leather shorts and bondage. Add in Timothy Dalton...

Damn. Now I need to go watch it again.

I loved Barbarella (dated a guy who looked like Pygar for a while, no wings, sadly. dated a girl who looked rather like the Tyrant too)

And Ice Pirates. My favorite line is where Karina turns the gun on the captain and asks if he's too stupid to know when he's in danger or just thinks he's too cute for the galaxy to survive without. He opts for the latter. I loved it because men were as much sex objects as women, felt free to admit it, and used their bodies as shameless bribes.


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Date: 2007-02-19 05:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com
You may have seen this before, but I only stumbled across it recently: Superman and Big Barda forced into porn (http://livingbetweenwednesdays.blogspot.com/2007/01/hot-action-comics.html). Because, of course, she's unable to stop from letting loose her inner whore, but Superman won't do anything he doesn't want to. Clearly, women are all weak and also sex-crazed.

And I can't believe no one's brought up Leia in the gold bikini yet. I mean, sure, it's not mind control, but c'mon.

As for my favorite, I'm gonna have to go with Farscape. John and Aeryn have such hot chemistry (even when they're not playing off each other and are, in fact, on an entirely different show). Additionally, the show doesn't exploit Chiana. She could have easily been crazy-space-wench on another show, but instead she kicks ass and has sex.

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Date: 2007-02-19 05:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Slave Leia is definitely exploitative. (He said, casting a fond glance at his Star Wars Extreme action figure.) On the other hand, she was trying not to, er, blow her cover, and when push came to shove, she was the one who took Jabba down. Ultimately, it was mostly about Lucas and the fanboys getting to see Carrie Fisher in something hot. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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Date: 2007-02-19 06:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lizreay.livejournal.com
"Earth Girls are Easy." Pretty much the entire film, really.

Oh, and go grab "The Illusionist" now. Right now. Loved that film.

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Date: 2007-02-19 06:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] peachtales.livejournal.com
That's the one I was thinking of through this whole list! :) And since I never managed to see The Illusionist, I may have to do that now.

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Date: 2007-02-19 07:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tony-goldmark.livejournal.com
Not too many people know this, but "I Dream of Jeannie" was never filmed. Back in the sixties they found a sexually-repressed, socially maladjusted, resentful, woman-hating, thirty-seven-year-old virgin (even more so in the days before the internet) and without his knowledge or consent, they recorded his dreams every night, edited them for time and occasional content and shoved them on the airwaves. (I think the guy's name was Lloyd, but don't quote me on THAT part)

And another thing - if you look carefully at both movies, you'll find that "Click" IS "Bruce Almighty" - they took a print of BA, Photoshopped Sandler's face over Carrey's, called it "Click" and hoped nobody would notice. Don't believe me? Check the writing credits - both films were penned by "Mark O'Keefe & Steve Koren." Neither of whom actually exist.

And I know this all to be true, because I read it in my own blog.

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Date: 2007-02-19 09:54 pm (UTC)

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Date: 2007-02-19 10:43 pm (UTC)
kengr: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kengr
Mars Needs Women!

And all the others where the aliens are interested in Terran Females.

And have you noticed that (outside of Japanese tentacle porn) when aliens are interested in our *women* they are always monsters, but when they are interested in our men, they look like lovely women.

Not movies or TV, but the whole genre of "unexpected sex change" fiction is full of guys getting turned into women and then after a few *minutes* of shock, going out to "test drive" the new body.

Knowing some FtM TSes, and the sorts of nightmares a few of them have had (waking up to find themselves in the "wrong" body), I rather expect that the guys will be way too messed up to do anything like that for some time.

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Date: 2007-02-20 01:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eruvanna.livejournal.com
On the bright side, at least it wasn't Adam Sandler doing Milo Manera's Click!

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Date: 2007-02-20 04:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] johno.livejournal.com
I don't believe no one has brought up Cherry 2000 about a guy with a sex bot who also does the dishes. It's about his quest to find a replacement after she goes on the fritz.

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Date: 2007-02-20 06:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kinsfire.livejournal.com
Somebody other than me remembers that that film existed? *laugh*

Good for some T&A, but story? Gimme a break!

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From: [identity profile] ionicaq.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-02-20 09:50 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Date: 2007-02-20 05:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] signy1.livejournal.com
I remember a rather horrible kids show from the eighties-- 'Small Wonder' or somesuch-- about a family that had a robot daughter. There were human kids, too-- a son, I think-- who were treated, well, like humans. And then there was the robodaughter, superstrong, supersmart, and completely devoid of affect, who was kept in a box when they didn't feel like dealing with her.

In retrospect, that has to be one of the creepiest shows that ever made the airwaves.

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