What are the consequences of living in a world where sex is just a mouse click away but it's still an act kept behind closed doors? This is the question Steve McQueen asks in Shame, a movie about a man named Brandon (played by Michael Fassbender) who can't get enough sexual stimulation. On the outside, he appears to live the perfect life: extraordinarily handsome, cushy marketing job, and a beautiful Brooklyn apartment. But in the great American tradition of corrupt wealthy men like Don Draper and Jay Gatsby, Brandon has secret. Beneath the impeccably clean exterior of his white-waled home, his personal life is entirely dominated by an insatiable addiction to pornography and prostitutes. He can't even go a day at work without watching porn on his computer and making several trips to the bathroom to masturbate. Things are complicated even more when his emotionally needy sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) asks to stay with him. His life is further thrown into disarray when he tries to form an actual sexual relationship with a co-worker; their first date is painfully awkward, and he ejaculates in his pants far before even taking them off. Frustrated by his social inadequacies and his inability to forge a close human relationship, he resorts to even more sexual indulgence, going so far as to hit on women with boyfriends and receive oral sex from men at gay bars. Meanwhile, his sister attempts suicide after he threatens to kick her out of the house. After going to visit her at the hospital, Brandon walks into a downpour and breaks into tears, the first genuine sign of emotional despair he has shown through the whole film.
The type of sex-crazed madness that Shame deals with is called hypersexuality, a uniquely modern problem that remains a taboo subject. The condition was thrusted into the public consciousness when Tiger Woods professed that he was addicted to sex and receiving treatment. But hypersexuality's status as a psychiatric disorder in the same way as drug addiction or alcoholism has been repeatedly rejected by the American Psychiatric Association, and it is not included in the DSM. Although a craving for sex can become something that takes away from a person's life much in the same way substance abuse can, there is uncertainty among psychiatrists as to whether it actually affects the brain chemistry in the way that a true pathological addiction does. The film itself leaves this question open ended. Brandon's uncomfortable relationship with his sister seems to suggest some level of sexual tension between them, either from childhood abuse or taboo incestual feelings that are impossible to act upon. The theme of brother/sister incest has been a popular film art that was seen in the first book we read in class, The Power of Symapthy, between the two protaganists, Harry and Harriot, whose elicit desire for eachother is the root of their demise. Are Brandon's intense sexual urges are a result of his internalized feelings for his sister? The film doesn't offer any clear-cut answers as to what the "Shame" in the title could be.
The film further parallels The Power of Sympathy in the fact that it is a typical seduction narrative. Despite being a relatively art-house film with an NC-17 rating preventing it from becoming a mainstream sensation, Shame seems to idealize the values of a "normal", heteronormative relationship rather than those that challenge convention and shows sex as a source of societal dysfunction that can even lead to death, as was the case in The Power of Sympathy when Harriot realizes she had been seduced by her brother. Sex is shown as a crippling problem rather than a natural act of humanity. Brandon seems to receive no pleasure from the sexual acts in which he takes part; his face always appears to be in a state of pain or apathy. It is a routine part of his life that has dulled his senses and enjoyment of anything else. However, despite his need for sexual release, he still seems to hold on to heteronormative conceptions of the sanctity and importance of marriage. After his sister sleeps with his boss, he chastises for failing to notice that he was wearing a wedding ring. While in the subway, we also see women with marriage and engagement rings on making suggestive looks at him. His face appears reluctant to approach them, suggesting that he values monogamy in spite of his overpowered sex drive. The life that he seems to desire is a working family relationship, hinted at by the ambiguous nature of his own familial history as well as by the scene where his boss David confronts him about the porn on his hard drive while simultaneously video chatting with his son. In addition to holding conventional views on marriage and family life, the film also portrays of homosexuality as a foreign, viscious 'other', as it shown as a desperate last resort for Brandon after his failure to have a working, heterosexual relationship. The gay bar is depicted as a black underworld of red neon lights and anonymous men preforming sex acts in the dark.
Although McQueen hates it being brought it up, it is also worth mentioning that he is of African descent, a rarity among movie directors. The three movies that he has made have all dealt with slavery of some sort: whether it be literally in this year's successful 12 Years a Slave or 2008's Hunger, about the imprisonment and hunger strike of IRA member Bobby Sands. McQueen has repeatedly insisted that race is not a major factor in his work, but it is interesting to note that he is a member of a minority group that still receive unequal treatment and prejudice in many parts of the world. His cinematic focus on struggling to overcome adversity could be interpreted as related to his own ethnicity's struggle to achieve fair treatment in the Western world - but this would be a subject for an entirely different blog post. Shame, although backed by a somewhat problematic moral agenda, is still a marvelous and powerful piece of moviemaking that reflects on the over-sexed nature of our times.
Works Cited:
This YouTube video contains some comments from Steve McQueen on the issue of race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4ytB4z-WE
No comments:
Post a Comment