Dangerous Liaisons: Present and Past

1941 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of internet in our everyday life

Dangerous Liaisons: Present and Past

Halfway through viewing Dangerous Liaisons, a remarkable contrast as well as a huge parallel came to mind. The film's principal characters' treatment of their promiscuity was quite different from what we see today. They were quite covert about their sexual relations, and often concocted cunning plans to assure the secrecy of their activities. Today we find quite the opposite taking place on our news programs and talk shows. It seems to me that the cause of this whole difference in treatment of sexuality is due to the advent of mass media. That pre-Revolutionary French society was not completely different from today, however. Like our treatment of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, the common people of the late 18th century French society were quick to ridicule the Marquise for her promiscuity revealed. We, as a society, are still just as quick to gossip over someone else's sins while being guilty of the same. It is simply a condition of being human. In short, the story set forth in the film Dangerous Liaisons shows both a striking contrast, due to technology, and a very remarkable parallel, due to a double standard brought on by the human condition, between the way sexual relations and promiscuity were viewed in the late 18th century and how we view them today at the close of the 20th.

The importance of stealth in promiscuous relations to the French aristocracy pervades the entire film. We see throughout the film that the Marquise is quite fond of entertaining guests in her domicile, which is flanked by a wall of mirrors. Early in the film we learn that there is another set of rooms entirely behind the wall, her "private" bedchambers. It...

... middle of paper ...

... French revolution. Most of us really don't care if the rest of the world thinks, or even knows for sure if, we are carrying on promiscuous lives. Sex is just another daily event. It is pop culture thanks to mass media. Our cunning Valmont would probably be very bored today, for his sexual conquests would just be too easy for him. The Marquise would probably be having sex on the other side of the mirrors. However, when the truth about them is known for certain, I bet we would treat them just as badly as we are treating the leader of the free world. Our society is quick to judge, even when we could easily be judged for the same offenses. We are humans after all.

WORKS CITED

Heinein, Maryam. "Couple plan to lose virginity online" Los Angeles, CA Channel 4 News Home Page. 16 July 1998. <www.msnbc.com/local/KNBC/111301.asp>

Show More
Related

  • Eros Live in New York

    2904 Words  | 6 Pages

    At the beginning of the 1900s, there was a “sexual revolution” in New York City. During this time, sexual acts and desires were not hidden, but instead they were openl...

    Read More

  • Comparing Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos and Cruel Intentions the Movie

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    Comparing Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos and Cruel Intentions the Movie It is my intention to compare the book, Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos, to its modern movie version, Cruel Intentions, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I intend to examine how the original French text was modified in reference to plot, character, morals/values, and themes. I also plan to discuss how these transformations change the meaning of the story and reflect different cultural/historical contexts. There are some major differences between these two works, if only because of when they were written. First, the plots of both works need to be discussed and explained how they are different.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Animal Dilemmas

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are these dogs misunderstood? In reality a dog is a reflection of its human, they see you as a pack leader they are who you raise them to be no matter the breed. If you neglect your puppy by chaining them up outside their whole life or keep them in

    Read More

  • Dangerous Liaisons: Sex and Love in the Segregated South

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robinson, Charles F. Dangerous Liaisons: Sex and Love in the Segregated South. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 2003. Print.

    Read More

  • What Soldiers Do Analysis

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roberts makes a clear assertion that when the Americans first entered the villages and rural areas of France, they were disgusted with the archaic lifestyle of the 1940’s French citizen. American soldiers regarded the nation of France as “primitive” and completely old-fashioned, “They are way behind the times— the women still wash clothes in the little streams and pound the garments with stones; the cows and pigs and chickens still live in the same building as the family” (50-51). To view the French as a sexual attraction would seem almost blasphemous to the Americans. The French were considered shameless, and vapid to the utmost extent, especially with their sexuality. The Americans believed that, “Heterosexual pleasure and sexual satisfaction were defined as important for personal happiness as well as a successful marriage” (54) But with this strong opposition came this sexual charged obsession with the sexual liberation that the French contained, “For the Americans sexual desire was still something to be restrained, lest it overwhelm rationality and moral self-discipline”

    Read More

  • Hustler - Censoring a Film about Censorship

    3819 Words  | 8 Pages

    [3] Since the 1950’s, a sexual revolution has spawned in America, accordingly downgrading previous anathemas in society, like pre-martial sex, masturbation, and homosexuality. For example, according to an article describing the sexual revolution, “In the 1950s, less than 25 percent of Americans thought premarital sex was acceptable; by the 1970s, more than 75 percent found it acceptable” (Stossel 74). Norman Podhoretz recounts how in the early 1950’s obtaining pornography was like trying to buy illegal drugs. But Playboy changed all of that, as it emerged as an “acceptable” form of pornography in 1953.

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Masculinity In The 19th Century

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 19th-Century was a period in which the expression of sexuality and sexual compulsion was firmly repressed. Charles E. Rosenberg explores the typical behaviors of the sexes, and how they related to the expression, or repression, of sexuality in “Sexuality, Class and Role in 19th-Century America.” Medical and biological literature tended to adopt very sex-negative attitudes, condemning sexual desires and activity. This literature was often ambivalent and self-contradicting. Initially, people viewed sex as a normal human behavior: they believed sexual excess was bad, but thought it was natural and necessary after puberty because horniness left unsatisfied and untreated could cause disease. However, in the 1830s, the previous sex-neutral attitude was quickly replaced by a harsher, more negative view of sexuality. “Quacks,” or charlatans, tried to instill people with a crippling fear of sex by warning them of

    Read More

  • Family Roles, Women, and Sex: Views through Early Modern Europe

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ked “the court, the church, the aristocracy, the academies, the salons, and the monarchy itself” through the lens of sexual sensationalism (Hunt, pg. 91). Sex in society was recognized as a political satire; however views that sex was to be shared privately between man and woman still lingered, for the actions of Marie Antoinette were scandalous for she was breaking the common view of proper sexual conduct.

    Read More

  • Moral Reform And Social Reform In The Nineteenth Century

    1387 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...of sexuality in the public arena. As they left the hallowed domestic sphere, women increasingly perceived sexuality as a political, and not simply a private, issue. (4)

    Read More

  • Sex And Sexuality In The 17th Century

    121 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sexuality is a subject that has changed over times, the idea of sexuality and sex shifted from one view to another as people began to enforce different views in society. At the beginning of the 17th century there was little need for secrecy about sexuality and sexual practices as the idea was an open topic that could be discussed freely in society. Adult humour was not kept from children and ideas were open to all (Foucault and Hurley, 2008). However this times in society changed due to the power of the Victorian bourgeoisie. Sex and sexuality became confined and moved into the privacy of the home. People no longer spoke freely about it and secrecy became key (Foucault and Hurley, 2008).

    Read More

  • The Face of Exploitation in Public Health

    3137 Words  | 7 Pages

    Foucault, Miachael. "We 'Other Victorians'" and "The Repressive Hypothesis."The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction.Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 1980.

    Read More

  • Foucault History Of Sexuality Analysis

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Foucault’s History of Sexuality, it elaborates on the history of the repression of sex and the way we look at it. Foucault thinks that people started to think bad of sex during the 17th century when the “bourgeois society” or the middleclass came into power. Then during the Victorian Age sex become a huge secret to everyone, it was meant to be kept in the bedroom between a man and a woman. The only purpose for sex was to reproduce, other than that it was suppose to be nonexistence. During this period many people wanted to keep it under control: “imposed silence, Censorship.” Foucault goes on to explain how people were so prude that people were afraid to actually say the word sex. Another big topic in this article was children sexuality,

    Read More

  • Division of Labor According to Gender in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Whatever the problematic implications, Woolf called for a new era where "[women] have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what [they] think" (Woolf 113). She closed her treatise on a comment pointed at the female writers of her age: "I maintain that she [Shakespeare's sister] would come if we worked for her, and that so to work, even in poverty and obscurity, is worth while" (114).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Michel Foucault's 'The Use Of Pleasure'

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    This essay will analyze and critique Michel Foucault’s (1984) essay The Use of Pleasure in order to reveal certain internal weaknesses it contains and propose modifications that would strengthen his reading of sexuality as a domain of moral self-formation. In order to do so, it will present a threefold critique of his work. Firstly, it will argue that that his focus on solely the metric of pleasure divorced from its political manifestations underemphasizes state power as a structuring principle of sexuality. Secondly, it will posit that his attention to classical morality privileges written works by male elites and fails to account for the subtexts that would demonstrate other forms of morality. Finally, it will argue that the nature of actors’ resistance to moral codes, explicated through Butler’s concept of iterability and signification, is an important factor that should also be considered. As a result of this critique, this essay

    Read More

  • The New Revolution

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    The sexual revolution of the 1960’s made a big impact on society as a whole, changing and shaping it to much of what it has become today. Although this change has provided progress for the society it has also created new challenges that civilization must now face. Due to the new issues brought on by the previous sexual revolution it can be said that the sexual revolution is not yet over, as it is still revolutionizing society today. We are currently part of our own sexual revolution, one that deals with issues brought on by the previous one as well as issues that have never been tackled before, such as situations brought on by the relatively new media. This revolution seeks to change the opinions on women’s rights, sexuality and gender, and the social media. The sexual revolution is now, and it is affecting the North American society as a whole. It is widely known that society is ever-changing, so it is inevitable that new challenges will cause change; in a society that can never stay the same there can never be only one revolution. The sexual revolution of the 1960’s only served as a starting point for a plethora of sexual revolutions that are to come.

    Read More

More about Dangerous Liaisons: Present and Past

Open Document