If I had a nickel for every horror movie this year with Jack O’Connell, the (mostly) undead, and cunnilingus, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s still weird that it happened twice.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint—if anything, this is a very pleasant surprise. For all the blood, guts, and sex the horror genre has given us over the years, cunnilingus has rarely made the cut. Historically, oral sex in movies tends to go one of two ways: it’s either edgy shorthand for something “transgressive” or it gets cut altogether. Just ask Evan Rachel Wood, whose criticism of the MPAA and society’s fear of female sexuality feels as relevant today as it did in 2013. And yet, here it is, in two of the biggest horror blockbusters this year. In Sinners, it’s a sexy step into manhood. In 28 Years Later, it’s part of the realization that our parents can be just as flawed as anybody else. Two very different boys, two very different moments of revelation—and oral sex used to signal their initiations into adulthood.
Coming-of-Age Horror Stories Focused On Boys
Coming-of-age films often feature female protagonists navigating puberty, shame, sexual discovery, and transformation, especially in horror, where we’ve seen menstruation turned monstrous in Ginger Snaps (2000), cannibalism as sexual awakening in Raw (2016), or best friendship and betrayal in Jennifer’s Body (2009). And that’s part of the reason I’m drawn to horror—women, especially teen girls, are given the central perspective. They’re allowed to feel lust, fear, disappointment, and joy, sometimes even all at once. Sure, we’ve seen coming-of-age horror stories with male protagonists—Super Dark Times (2017) and Donnie Darko (2001) immediately come to mind—but Sinners and 28 Years Later offer stories that aren’t just about innocence lost, but tenderness and confidence gained.
An Uncle’s Advice in Sinners
There’s a lot of sex in Sinners (a passionate rendezvous in the apothecary; a sexy/funny spit-kink moment in the juke joint), but the movie places a good amount of emphasis on cunnilingus. While the act itself is only depicted once, it’s referenced at least three other times. The initial introduction of cunnilingus happens early on in the film, with Stack (Michael B. Jordan) explaining to his inexperienced teenage cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) how to pleasure a woman with “soft ice cream licks” (I sincerely hope some of the men in the audience took notes).
Later at the juke joint, Sammie performs publicly for the first time ever, and his confidence blooms. He and Pearline (Jayme Lawson) sneak into the supply closet, and taking his cousin’s advice, he goes down on her, allowing her to have a musical breakthrough of her own.
A Son’s Betrayal in 28 Years Later
28 Years Later serves up a very different encounter. 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) has just survived a harrowing day in the mainland with his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As if his first Infected kill and a narrow escape from the Alpha weren’t enough, a too-loud village celebration makes him sick. Exhausted and overwhelmed from the chaos of the day, Spike leaves the party, vomits, and spots his father, Jamie, with the village schoolteacher.
They sneak into an alley and in a blink and you’ll miss it moment, Jamie drops to his knees and begins performing oral sex, while Spike’s mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), lies suffering from a mysterious illness at home. Between Jamie’s embellishment of the events that happened on the mainland and his infidelity, Spike sees his father for who he really is and decides that’s not the man he is going to be.
The Same But Also Different
What’s so striking is that both films use the same sexual act—rarely depicted on screen in any genre to begin with—to explore masculinity in opposite but equally effective ways. In Sinners, masculinity is sensual, curious, and confident, grounded in communication. But in 28 Years Later, it’s dishonest, performative, and selfish. In one, a boy tries something new and finds himself through that connection. In the other, a boy watches the image of someone he thought he knew crumble before his eyes. Still, both Sammie and Spike come to see the world and themselves more clearly, and that path to that clarity just so happens to begin with cunnilingus (I should mention, it’s also not lost on me that in both films, it’s an impromptu moment at a party, the place where most young people experience growth, heartbreak, and transformation).
So yes, I’m happy cunnilingus is having a moment right now (I’m sure some of you will argue it never stopped having one, but hey, go down for what you believe in). It’s even more refreshing to see it used twice this year in mainstream horror. But beyond the novelty of seeing it onscreen, I’m interested in what it could possibly signal going forward. This isn’t to say I’m one of those people who believe sex scenes should always be necessary to the plot—I like a hot scene for the sake of a hot scene. But I do believe that it’s about time we have sex scenes that portray this specific act in a way that isn’t just for pure titillation or shock value. Whatever the future holds for oral sex on screen, one thing is clear: in order to grow up, sometimes you’ve got to go down.
https://ift.tt/GTnbSkd https://ift.tt/0Kg918d
No comments:
Post a Comment