MovieChat Forums > Tell Me You Love Me (2007) Discussion > YOU'VE ALL MISSED THE POINT. I FEEL SAD...

YOU'VE ALL MISSED THE POINT. I FEEL SAD FOR AMERICA

posted 17 years ago by Writer01603
66 replies | jump to latest

I feel sad for America even though I'm an American born and raised, because they can't help getting their minds over the fact that sex really isn't a big deal. God. This is not pornographic because it's not met to elicit your sexual arousal, it's meant to enlighten who the characters are. Here's a fact for you. You can know a person for fifty years and know more about them with one intimate moment of sex than that entire fifty years. Standing naked and bare has an honesty to it. The sex, yes, is graphic, and even if it was real (which it isn't) that shouldn't matter. God. This prudishness of sex is quite scary, because sex is a major part of life. Sex is a major defining point in many people's life. Who we choose to sleep with and how we choose to have sex, plays a large role, in my opinion, in our own social development. So grow up, all you people out there in the world who go, Oh MY GOD There's a fake penis on the show and it's shooting a liquid. If that's all you saw in the first episode, you missed the searching emotion and the want to try and deepen an understanding into each other. Maybe you'll say I'm reading too much into it.

All I know is that this is the first show that I've watched in a long time that I look at it and can say that it has an emotional honesty and is not afraid to be real. It's better than Californication, it's truer to relationship than--I'd be hardpressed to be disproven and I welcome dissent--anything out there on television today. People who don't like this show because of the sex are about as immature as the children they fear might probably watch it. I'll say it again. All of you who are complaining have missed the point. I feel sad for America. Given the opportunity to see something of a very artisitic truth, they complain, because it's too honest. We do it all the time. We have a fear of realism. We need to conquer that and be big boys and girls now and appreciate a work of genuis when it comes along. And that--in my opinion--is what this is!

[–] kdmacd 16 years ago

We have a fear of realism

Yes we do... to the point that our so-called "reality" shows are all scripted and edited for content. I found it exceptionally pathetic that so many of those shows were effected by the writers' strike.

I'd bet that a lot of the people who are complaining are using the "too graphic sex scenes" as an excuse not to watch something that makes them uncomfortable because of it's honesty... though I could easily be wrong about that in some cases.

[–] Jane_Doe01 16 years ago

Arrogantly self-righteous indignation at it's highest volume. Good job, that's quite impressive.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Jane_Doe01 16 years ago

Wow, way to come out of nowhere, and say a whole lotta nothing for a whole lotta no effing reason.

So tell me kid, where else have I perturbed you so that you've chosen to, on a thread it seems you've had otherwise no experience with, come out and "deconstruct" me? Or are you the OP under an alternate screen name? If not, or are not a close associate of his then is it that you do not believe that people are capable of defending their own posts? Your little attempt here at taking the high road of nobility is laughable and sad at the same time. As if your own childish reaction to someone you've disagreed with, was anymore an act of dignified or bias-free intention than my reply to the OP. Nope, same thing just accompanied by some visible self-shoulder patting, and it's quite pathetic.

Now if your little gripe here with me, and as I have much reason to suspect, originates from a confrontation (that you haven't been able to let go of)from some other time or place then feel free to let me know(and preferably keep it out of a thread you had nothing of relevance contribute to, just to decrease the "annoying pissant" factor a bit). Or if my posts are just a random target of your observational stalking, hence your thorough little freshman College Psych assessment of my supposed "moral" thought-plane, then let me know too.

Or preferably, you could just jump in front of a speeding train.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Abe_Phroman 16 years ago

Original poster says,

"Here's a fact for you. You can know a person for fifty years and know more about them with one intimate moment of sex than that entire fifty years. Standing naked and bare has an honesty to it."

ummmmmm. . . . unless you meant to say, "falsity" when you wrote "fact" then you are full. . .completely and totally full. . . of crap. The rest of the rant follows suit very well. With more crap.

[–] Bladerunner 15 years ago

I agree that sex in this country is sooo messed up, but I totally disagree that you can know more about someone in "one intimate moment of eex than that entire fifty years". You are erring on the opposite side that the prudes are. That is an incredibly naive statement.

See, what you are saying is, sex shouldn't be such a big deal that people freak when they see a fake penis and whatnot on TV, but then you are also saying that sex is a big deal and SO important. So which is it? Is sex no big deal or is it super important.

You don't see the prude side of things, because the so-called "prudes" see sex as VERY important and too important to be treated so cavalierly on television. Some of them are right, some are so screwed up it drives me nuts. Too many people in this country have whacked-out sexual kinks because their parents told them sex is "bad" and freak out when they see a woman's boob or a man's butt on TV.

Sex is a part of life, but it is NOTHING compared to intimacy, and sex and intimacy are NOT the same thing. Sex can tell you absolutely nothing about a person in other areas of their life. You can have sex with a person a hundred times and basically know squat about their life.

Sex is just *one* part of a relationship. Many people who have been married for 20 or 30 years don't have sex much anymore, but they love each other deeply! What does that tell you? It should tell you that sex, just isn't that big a deal.

On the subject of what is okay to see... what is okay to see on a cable TV show that is *primarily* about relationships? I mean, how about oral sex? Is it okay to show the woman honking on an erect penis? A guy shooting the works on a woman's bare breasts? I mean, come on guys... do we have to do porn to indicate the depth of a couple's relationship? I understand the show uses sex as an indicator of a couple's relationship, of their angst and issues, but how explicit does it need to be? I mean, do we really need to see a gal take on two guys, filling up two holes? Yes, I'm being vulgarly explicit, but I'm doing that to make a point.

It's not about being "too honest", it's just about getting too explicit, showing too much. I mean do we need a camera up her uterus to show her emotional pain? Don't turn people's aversion to cheapening sex by exploiting it as fear of emotional honesty. That's my two cents (and it might not be worth that).

"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] kidjay83 12 years ago

how are they harmed by graphic sex???..we have a billion dollar film industry called porn.the reason why its a billion dollar industry is because of americans not being harmed.the only time conflict comes into play is when a legitimate program has to stick graphic sex intended for graphic sexual genres like porn into their legit programs ..It insults the intelligence of the people watching..because they know what it is and what it isn't When they want to watch a show with a good story behind it .they turn away from porn ..when they want to watch some explicit graphic sex material while at the same time being aroused .they watch pornography ..film makers who insert his type of material into there films need to realize that.people arent stupid..the same goes for violence.If you want to see real violence .turn it to TruTv you can get all the real police police shootouts and bad guys getting killed and explosions you want/crave.If you want to see a good story interesting entertaining story that has these elements in them you go to the movies.You see where the line is drawn??..This line should never be blurred out .EVER ! This show became nothing because it offered nothing except "realistic sex" and somewhat decent subplots arousing would be about the only emotion you'd have to generate to feel anything from the show ..Art/real sex just dont mix never have never will .

[–] danimal97520 13 years ago

Writer01603....

A little hypocritical don't ya think? I mean you come on and start a thread to discuss the sex involved in this show and how it's not a big deal. Obviously it is to you or you wouldn't have taken the time to come here and ramble on.

[–] kidjay83 12 years ago

In an interview with "The A.V. Club", Adam Scott said that his contract for this show went very specifically into what kind of and how much nudity he would have to show. He also said that while they were negotiating the contract, the show-runners wanted him to agree to full-frontal nudity, but when he balked at that, they created a prosthetic penis that he had to wear and his character's wife (played by 'Sonya Walger') had to handle. It was rigged to "ejaculate" by having a prop man hiding behind a couch to pump hair conditioner through it."...

Based on that interview the creators wanted a show with porn in it .obviously for shock purposes. its why theirs a line between legit and pornographic.the simple truth is that it crosses the line into the porn genre i agree its time for people to get over their prudishness .Sex is in real life is ...Boring.its not a production like the stuff you saw on that show.it does have a graphic nature.Once again speaking from truth .its why we have created a separate genre for sex .

Thinking that your doing something groundbreaking like having a legitimate actress stroke a fake penis till it ejaculates while being filmed is not pornographic.You must not be from This planet .or if you are you have been living the life of a hermit crab.Now i know sex is the part of the story that all well and good .Here comes more truth.When dry humping while partially nude is not enough for you to understand.that two characters .are having sex.maybe you are watching the wrong programs.

Just maybe you should be investing your time watching films with the letter X near the ratings column .seriously wake up your just as delusional as the actresses who claimed they are not porn actors (sonya wagler,michelle borth)..
Just because your working for a legitimate hollywood network and your performing graphic/explicit sex scenes ..Why waste your time with hollywood.why not go into the adult film buisness .save yourself the countless let downs and rejections .americans are not stupid .Theres no need to push things to the extreme for people to understand the point your trying to make .

Now maybe the intentions of the people who created the show when making the sex scenes.weren't thinking about eliciting the audiences arousal. What else is there to think about when you see and actress jerk off her co star(just for your information they have porn's with prosthetic penis that they make ejaculate as well)..It is what it is .or when michelle borth is clearly straddling her co stars twig and two berries .while in reverse cow girl.there is no genius to this show.as well as creativity or artistry .everything that has been shown as far as sex has been ripped from

just about porn you can find out there wheres the artistry in that .realism when it comes to sex in film is porn.It even says it on dvd cases and in the warnings of each Porn DvD whenever they have the viewers discretion once again come out from under the rock you been sleeping hibernating under.This show sucked.thats why they didn't renew it .They didn't renew it because they used all there material in the first season .Writers even admitted that there was no point because their was no other direction to take the show in .If this show was so genius or artistic .how come they werent able to come up with creative ideas for a second season..Oh that's right they created a show based on some pornography and tryed to pass it off as legitimate entertainment.

They were only fooling themselves in the end the point of showing is about how couples deal with the issues their sex lives.The sex itself should not become the focal point .the relationship is more important..subtlety is the key word here.the rest is up to the audience..If i wanted to watch a show involving sexual situations and wanted it openly realistically thrown in my face .i would never bother with a show like "Tell me you love me" .id just go to youporn and upload some stuff.take care of buisness once i was done move on .which is what HBO did with this show..it blew its wad.realized it was over and moved on

[–] kidjay83 11 years ago

" is not afraid to be real. It's better than Californication, " LMFAO!!!!, that's why californication is still on the air and this isn't right ?

*"So grow up, all you people out there in the world who go, Oh MY GOD There's a fake penis on the show"-Well just going off californication's numbers i'd say there are alot more people out there who are grown up than you think .SMH ,if there is no signifigance in showing a real penis;being jacked off. than why show a fake one? that scene has no merit.Sonya waglers character has never seen someone whos shes been married to ejaculate before? She looks at it like its completely alien to her.The only emotions this elicited from me was that sonya waglers character is a f*&^%$# retard.

* This is not pornographic because it's not met to elicit your sexual arousal, it's meant to enlighten who the characters are. "-That's what character development is for.It's too enlighten us on the characters we are watching something that both the actors and the writer's didnt do such a good job with.Secondly all sex is supposed to elicit arousal ,thats the very nature of it to arouse.The sex scenes in Tell me ,may not be hardcore porn but they are in the same neighborhood as it .They go beyond graphic they've crossed that line into explicit .The only way a sex scene could ever be shot and not have it be arousing at all.Is if they just showed two people in bed together after the fact its more affective and people give their attention more to the important things like the relationships.Which is really what the show is about people trying to strengthen their relationships;not just their orgasms .

*"We need to conquer that and be big boys and girls now and appreciate a work of genuis when it comes along." I'm confused ,if this show was the work of a genius woulldn't we have season 2,3,4 etc etc etc ??????. Seinfeld was the work of a genius.You do make a valid point that this is your opinion ,but it doesnt compare to seeing truth. Example: The skys blue, that's the truth can't argue with it anybody that is able to look up can see that.Now you could come along and say that in your opinion the sky is green.Nothing wrong with that,thats your opinion but its not the truth.

* "emotional honesty and is not afraid to be real. It's better than Californication, it's truer to relationship" Californication isn't being emotionally honest ??? How is it not truer to relationship or not real for that matter ? I admit that californication isn't great but its doing something right cant deny that .Tell me you love me is a perfect example of the lack and ability to stay consistent .It uses up all it's gas too quickly, with in the first season.There are other shows similar to this one yet more successful this show just sank after the first season.The fact is, there is only so many times you can show sex and thearpy session before it becomes redundant.
This has nothing to do with art or being artistic which both californication and tell me you love me are neither.No need to split hair's here one show is a comedy the other is a drama;thats the only difference.Where californication succeeds is that its a show with a solid consistent plot.Theres actual purpose behind all the actions ,tell me you love me is. Just a wannabe documentary that they broke up into ten episodes .All of which lacked any kind of direction let's face it,there was no story to begin with.Now maybe it is and old concept but its one that never fails.You got to be able to tell a good story ,i guess thats too lofty a concept for cynthia mort to understand.

"If you want art, don't mess about with
movies. Buy a Picasso"

[–] bek-12 10 years ago

You can know a person for fifty years and know more about them with one intimate moment of sex than that entire fifty years.

Spoken like someone who has obviously never been anyone for 50 years.