We sometimes have trouble in our patri(matri)archal political and social structures thinking outside of dualisms. For example, if a person is shamed and repressed by the archy, it often seems like the only way to freedom is through rebellion. Thus, in movies like "The People Versus Larry Flynt" and "Quills" we get sexual acting out, sexual excess and sexual abuse presented as sexual freedom. The archy loves this: It needs an "enemy" to continue thriving. The archy creates the conditions for rebellion to thrive. The archy also secretly likes to glorify this "rebellion." So, in movies like "The People" and "Quills", we also get stories glorifying pornography in such a way that strips it of its true ugliness and tragedy. These movies make pornography seem "cool." "The People" operates on the premise (even if it is supposed to be done with humor) that Larry Flynt, our flawed "hero," is standing up to sexually repressive American Christian Fundamentalists such as Jerry Fallwell. Flynt does this by exploiting and victimzing young women who are victims of the very system he is supposedly trying to "liberate" everyone from. I am all for more openness and less shame in the handling of sexual matters on a mass cultural level, but I do not see pornography and the exploitation of women's bodies as the best means of doing this. On the contrary, pornography is merely the flip side of sexual repression: It is sex seen as "dirty", tainted with the stink of patri(matri)archal shame. Hopefully, in time, we can all move beyond such dualistic ways of thinking and realize that true freedom lies in respecting everyone's needs and values from the time they are brought into this world and not getting lost in this eternal game of repress-rebel that has been responsible for so many of our world's ills over the last two thousand years. Long live empathy and compassion!
Review of The People vs. Larry Flynt
