Monday, April 03, 2006

Inundated with Eroticism

A Hollywood director has found a new sort of excuse that can be used when a bad film is made and no one bothers to pay cinematic prices to see it: blame Christians and America's "puritanical" culture.

"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," says Paul Verhoeven, who has evidently never surfed the internet. He adds, "We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

On that last point, I would certainly beg to differ. Actually, Christians believe that sex is a gift of God.

Mr. Verhoeven's tirade follows the opening weekend failure of Sharon Stone's "Basic Instinct 2." While I have not seen the movie -- and don't plan to -- the critics, many of whom bear no resemblance to Puritans, are giving it an almost universal thumbs down. Mr. Verhoeven blames Christian morality, but, in fact, it is more likely true that people who might have 20 years ago gone to a bad movie just to see naked people now get all of the nudity they could ever wish for via cheaper and readily available sources. You can't sell Basic Instinct to a 21st century American for the same reason you can't sell a bottled water to a fish.

Ed Morrissey has further thoughts on Mr. Verhoeven's ideas.

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