The Sex/Murder Debate

Durr. I typed most of this up weeks ago and completely forgot about it.

First, the copout answer would just be that there's a time and a place for one, both or neither.

The interesting part in my opinion though, is the fact that as an audience, we get a kick out of it. I think it's the same as the fact that it's easier for the reader to enjoy a story with conflict, tension, an overarching plot, something to draw him/her in. Since stories can be thought of as a form of escapism, elements of the extreme or fantastic can do a lot to hold the interest of the reader. Murder, for instance, isn't an everyday thing for most people, and so it offers something new/thrilling for the audience.

Stereotypical blockbuster action movies are pretty much based only on this one idea. They have both sex and murder. In this case I'd say 90% of the time it doesn't serve some sort of higher symbolic meaning, but it's supposed to be SUPER COOL and EXCITING and should get your adrenaline going along with the car chases and massive explosions. Something like that.

I believe Rick said this, but both sex and murder can be considered the pinnacle of emotion. So (I guess I'm hiding behind the copout answer after all) stories that don't deal with emotions like love, lust, hatred or desperation, just to name a few, may not require it. However stories that do incorporate those ideas can benefit a lot from those scenes (again, within reason) - showing yes, this is exactly how far the character will go, this is how desperate the character feels in this moment. Since it's fresh in my memory; I think Black Swan would be nowhere near as entrancing as it was without the sex and murder elements in it. They can be amazing tools to show how far someone has fallen, how far a situation may have deviated from what could be considered normal or even (sometimes in a chilling way) how innately human it is to have these impulses.

I don't really know how to end this, so I'll just stop.