Carla Hanna: Will Valentine’s Day erotica become mainstream film?

As consumers of pop culture, we forget that the myth busters have shown that sex doesn’t sell most consumer products. We see Super Bowl ads and images of young women twerking and think: of course it does.

Who can forget Miley Cyrus and the online twerking frenzy she started? She was an Internet sensation and did break the million dollar sales barrier in May, but where is she now? Her oversexualization has won our attention but not our loyalty. Conversely, Taylor Swift kept her clothes on and won the top spot for artist sales: “1989” and “Frozen” are the only two albums to sell more than 3 million copies in 2014.

In film, none of the top 10 blockbusters in 2014 contain an explicit sex scene: “Guardians of the Galaxy” came in at No. 1 at $332.8 million, and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” grossed more than $317 million. In 2013, each of the top three films grossed more than $400 million (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Iron Man 3” and “Frozen”) and none relied on a sex scene to get to the top.

But what about niche films? People do buy porn. People do purchase tickets for erotic films. What about 2014’s “Sex Tape”? What about the exceptions?

Of course, films with explicit sex targeted to a specific audience will sell tickets, DVDs and downloads. But we are talking about watching erotica at mainstream cinemas when we are talking about Universal Pictures’ “Fifty Shades of Grey.” In “Gone Girl,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Wolf of Wall Street” and others cited as too explicit, the few sex scenes aided the viewers’ understanding of character and influenced plot development. Cameron Diaz’s “Sex Tape” was promoted as a comedy, not a love story. “Fifty Shades of Grey” as a mainstream feature is unprecedented. Dominant/submissive graphic sex is the subject and plot and character development of the film.

“Fifty Shades” is pitched as a love story, released for Valentine’s Day at major multiplexes across the United States. Its target audience is the teens, young adults and women who bought the books. Just think for a moment about who would show up to the local cinema to see the film:

▪ Teens on date night

▪ 17- to 21-year-old girls without a date on Valentine’s Day

▪ Young adult couples, many in college like the virgin-turned-submissive in the film

▪ Adults on date night

▪ Older couples

▪ Single ladies

▪ Old ladies

▪ Adult men

▪ Male teens

Rated R to capture high school and college consumers, it isn’t a casual date-night movie for teens. Will blindfolds, handcuffs and whip sales peak in February? What expectations for the night will a young woman or man set as they watch the explicit sex scenes in the movie theater? Talk about awkward.

It isn’t a girls-night-out film like “Magic Mike,” which looked critically into the conflicted life of a male stripper and showed several hot guys’ perfect chests. It isn’t a guy movie if it is a “relationship” story. Nothing blows up. It isn’t frat-boy porn to tease the groom during his bachelor party.

For all the moms who read the book series, watching explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission and sadism/masochism (BDSM) with friends on Valentine’s Day will more likely induce cringes than conversation.

Perhaps every woman who read the books should see “Fifty Shades” with her high school- or college-age child and take responsibility for the negative messages the story promotes about abnormal sexual acts, disrespect for one’s sexual partner and dominance instead of lovemaking. Media critic Neil Postman once said: “Children are the message we will send to a generation we will not see.” Hopefully, we, as a society, are not telling our teens that sex acts are more important than a respectful, loving relationship.

Just like the e-book series, “Fifty Shades” will most likely succeed as a download. For the future of storytelling, I hope erotica does not become mainstream entertainment.

I’ll go to the movies on Valentine’s Day or date night to see a feel-good love story instead. Oh, wait, there aren’t clean mainstream romances available at my suburban cinema. Market opportunity, Hollywood?

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Carla Hanna: Will Valentine’s Day erotica become mainstream film?."