Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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does not make
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it morally acceptable; art falls under ethics and morals. The reason is that ethics and morals cover all
human actions, and the creation of art is
a
human action'
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not. If, however, someone were to decide to make a pomographic billboard which he then put up, we would find'it hard to call the billboard pomographic if it
provoked laughter instead of leers' Pornography means "writing about harlots"' not for
the remark, "That's not pomography; that's art," as though art and pornography were the opposite ends of the same
ometimes one hears
spectrum: the one is not the other; something cannot be both art and pomogtaphy at the same time' I do not
etymologically
the sociological PurPoses, but to produce in the reader sort of pleasure we associate with sex' When something meant to be pomographic produces no such pleasure'
think, however, that the possibility of "artistic pornography'' is something anyone would challenge'
Similarly, no one would challenge the possibility of "pornographic art'' todaY. What I am saying in effect is that it is possible for something to be both art and pomography, which
means that the two are not opposite ends of the same spectrum. The reason for this is that pomography has to
it is then we are surely justified in wondering whether art' The even Pomography. The same thing is tme of it so' An declaration of something as art does not make He artist on the other hand may decide to paint a nude' it too shows it to a friend, and the friend says' "I find not the sexy'' (or "vety sext''). Let us suPPose this was he has artist's intention. Let us say further he insists that The long a work oi art and will exhibit it as such.
created
do with the subject matter, while art has to do with the way something is made. The one does not exclude the other. \Alhen art is pomographic, then all strictures on pomography apPly. Art does not excuse what is wrong' On the other hand, the fact that pomography is artistic
frequent queue of males who obviously do not usually the art galleries, but who stand in line to take a look at
was painting may convince him that, even if his intention solely to create a work of art, he has unintentionally object is created pornography. What decides whether an
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nudity. The perception of a painting of a nude is not the same as the_perception of a nude in a photograph. The
difference is in the medium. A painting (and like
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his photograph. This is the reason why we normally carry phbtos, nbt drawings, of our loved ones in our (or never) wallets. This is the reason why you will rarely find pornographic magazines illustrated with paintings and drawings: the PhotograPh is the illustration of
principles that choice. What this means is that ihe ethical
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representation
of its
subject matter;
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act of govern gazing at a naked person govern the with few looking at photographs of naked persons' viewing of exceptions if any, but do not govern the
movie' which is paintings of naked Persons' A nude in a as a nude in a composed of photographs, is not the same difference is in the medium' and the
painting: the
been present while the artist was painting. On the contrary, no one intrudes, so to speak, between the
viewer of a photograph of
a
difference determines our reaction to it' Let me briefly consider two misunderstandings
does he of the foregoing. One concerns the photographer: Why cannot not "represent" as much as the painter does? The answer to his work be called representation as well?
in the studio
during
image is this is a consideration of how ihe photographic captures produced: simpiy put, the film in the camera is a light waves 6ouncing off the subject' The camera the photographic passive instrument in the production of of painting is the image. Its closest counterpart in the art paper' The surface of the painting: the canvas or the of photographer sets the conditions for the production and the photographic image: attending to both camera
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the camera' subject. When he presses the button of his direct however, the camera takes the picture without
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intewention in the Process: the light waves travel from subject to film without his assistance. The equivalent of the light waves in the Process of painting is pigment paintbrush, and the artisfs hand: the painted image is produced directly by the artist through the mediation of his own sense of sight. The painter is personally involved
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intimacy' By
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"intimaq/' I do not mean "dn amorously familiar act'' or "sexual intercourse," both meanings given by the dictionary for "intimacy." I mean rather.-"privacy" -yet another meaning of "intimacy." The human being is the
only animal that engages in sexual intercourse in private' Intimacy in the sense of privary is part of the reality of human sexual relations, and so the artist who wishes to
depict erotica in the name of realism must include this in his depiction. Is this possible at all? Does not the very
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in the production of the painted image' This is why the painting sends us ultimately to the painter; in contrast, the photograph sends us directly to the model: the
model, in the process by which the photographic image is produced, is the equivalent of the painier; hence, the nature of the photograPh as a record of the model' A second misunderstanding regards the nature
nature
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of the painting: can not a painting be used as a record and is this not what historians do? A painting can certainly be used as a record, but tltat does not change what it is: it is a representation. My remarks about how we perceive paintings and photographs refer to what
paintings and photographs are respectively. Paintings and photographs may be used for a variety of purposes,
depiction, which consists in the public presentation of something violate intimary? The problem is not as difficult in literature as it is in the visual arts and is at its most challenging in the theater' We know how some filmmakers try to solve the problem:
of
medium shots limited to head and shoulders of the couple. The special nature of such Scenes, however' even with the precautions taken by filmmakers, usually spells
the difference inthe rating of films'
but
do not affect what they are and consequently how we perceive them whether as
these purPoses paintings or photograPhs.
Let me Spend some sPace on intimary ' "Privacy" merely hints at the deeper meaning of the word' Other meanings are "a closg familiar, and usually affectionate
and
pornography is the depiction of erotica. Sometimes the argument is given that realism demands the depiction of erotica, which is, after all, very much a part of human
or loving personal relationship with another Person or group" and "an act or expression serving as a token of familiarity, affection, or the like'" These meanings are all related-even "ptivacy," "an amorously familiar act"'
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inner space in each person into which we welcome only people we trusf friends.
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however, we should point out that the negative ethical character of pornography comes precisely from its being the great de-contextualizer. Pornography has the nature of a stimulus working on the imagination tfuough the
as
literature. The person that uses pomography to stimulate his imagination precisely detaches the stimulating image
rather allowing someone entrance into one's private life. Intimacy is very much related to one's personhood, to
one's being a person.
its context, isolating its erotic charge or investing the image or scene with an erotic value on or
scene from
like an obiect. Histprically, there have been two ways in which human beings have tended to treat other human
beings as objects- as slaves and as prostitutes. We know
is the characteristic of the patron of pornography who detaches sex itself from its proper context in human
reality; thus, the placement of an erotic scene in a specific context does not insure it will not be used as a sexual
stimulus.
All the preceding discussion of nudity and erotica in film is really about preventing people from being treated like objects. The main difference between a pomographic film and a
being made into objects.
Any dictionary will fumish you a definition of pornography. I would like to consider, however, three
different meanings that pomography may have. I call the first the personal meaning of pornography, whal it means
naked persons:
it
involves the
violation of the personhood of real people, something you don't have in pornographic literature.
The argument is sometimes given that erotica is
to the life of the people who make up a society, which is viewed as consisting of children, adolescents, and adults.
if its context
justifies it,
as
when
The third is the legal meaning of pornography, which considers the forms of pornography considered pemicious for society as a whole, whether children,
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adolescents,
or adults.
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The first meaning 6t po*og"phy is the primary one: what it means to the individual' By this I do not to mean to proPose a subjectivistic view of pomography'
pornography. This meaning ditfers from the first because now we have the case of someone considering the himself but meaning of pomography not exclusively for
it to be'
also
for
others. Father
or
fot it Enough people agree on the meaningof pornography to have a definition in the dictionary' Persons may differ' however, in what actually serves as an effective stimulus to their imagination to provoke sexual pleasure: some
has for influenced by the personal meaning pomography is what them. Part of the second meaning of pornography call its conventional meaning-what most
we may
may be more affected visually; others by sounds; still others may be affected only by graphic representations; some others, by what most other people would consider innocent pictures. I do not mean to claim that there are wide radical differences between what seduces (in the manner of the harlots being written about) different individuals. Doubtless, most people are seduced by the same sounds, images, or descriptions; otherwise' pomography would not be the multi-biliion dollar industry it now is. Nevertheless, individual differences do eist, and these are what the personal meaning of pornography encomPasses. It won't do to say one can
definesit.Ifthesecondmeaningofpornographyisthe the result of society's concern for its younger citizens' third meaning reflects society's concem to avoid that is not pollution, to avoid having an environment
or child' healthy for anyone, be he adult, adolescent' These three different meanings of pornography
otherwise' should not be confused with one another; for society as many problems arise' It would be a mistake
awholeortheindividualswhomakeituptoreduce
be a mistake pornography"to its legal definition' It would for parents to allow the personal meaning pornography
look at a photograph one finds stimulating, on the grounds that everyone else is not stimulated by it; the point is yau are, and so for you, that photograph is in
effect pomograPhic.
of
pornograplty
is
best
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183
own reaction to a particular film or artwork, our guide should be the virtuous man who may tell us we did right averting our gaze or that we should school ourselves gradually in looking.
to be able to see chastely works of art whose theme is the beauty of the human body. There are certain professions
which demand a special education of the senses with regard to the naked human body. Consider the
physician, the painter, and the
film critic. In
their
of films restricted to adults. Obviously, these will not be films that violate the iaws of the country regarding
pornography, and yet, because of their delicate subject
matter, they are restricted to adults. The assumption here
measure
of
self-control the
to see
without looking and when to do so, that he knows, because he knows himself, when to avert his eyes or
when to disfract his mind from what he hears. He knows
as
More than two thousand years ago Aristotle observed that the best guide in ethical matters is the virtuous man. We recognize that. We do not usually choose for film review boards the most depraved members of the community. When in doubt about our