Of late, we’ve been seeing a rise in the sexiness quotient of some film and TV productions. In addition, some young stars have made known their decision to sex-up their image and portrayals to make themselves more interesting and exciting.
Our take on that trend to provide added sizzle to local TV-film fare is that it’s okay to heat things up—as long as we don’t get carried away, standards and classification restrictions are strictly observed, and the sexiness is not done for its own sake, but for more dramatically pertinent reasons. Otherwise, let’s not go there again, please!
We say again, because we should learn our lessons from the shockingly graphic turn that local entertainment took in the 1970s, when the movies hit a really sordid and stinky low with the bomba craze that forced even respected and established stars to take their clothes off to keep up with the competition.
Even TV shows and dramas sexed it up more, paced by hot-to-trot and spicy telenovelas from Latin America and US schlock and shock TV. The “shameless” stars and starlets made a lot of money, but the ones who really hit the jackpot were the shows’ and films’ producers.
Sex was so hotly appealing and exciting that they could come up with big hits with only a small investment. The bomba movies quickly generated such a huge and loyal following that they didn’t even need identifiable stars to lure moviegoers into the theaters. Even a “faceless” and shameless starlet could do that—if she showed more than her already shameless rivals!
On the positive side, local sex films liberated some viewers and tackled relevant topics that had previously been thought to be taboo. But the negative consequences outweighed those beautiful aspects, because the hardcore bomba movies were interested mostly in graphic sex for its own sake.
Sex became a commodity, and viewers were taught that other people’s bodies were there to be used for their viewing pleasure. They were excoriated at the time as commercial trash with pretensions to art, but their producers didn’t care, because they were laughing all the way to the bank.
The worst flicks of the lot even incensed the government and civil society so much that a crackdown was initiated. But the harm had already been done.
Surely we don’t want to go back to those shoddy, steamy and morally compromised times! The exploitative impulse was so pervasive that it corroded other aspects of Filipinos’ perception and values as well, and the personal toll it took on complicit starlets and stars was deep and huge. Yes, they agreed to bare all, but some of them had to get high on drugs to force themselves to do it.
So, as the entertainment industry again tries to heat up its enticements, both the MTRCB and enlightened viewers should make sure that standards and restrictions are strictly enforced.
On TV, this means that all shows have to be safe viewing fare for minors. Film can be more mature, due to its ability to limit the age of viewers at the viewing sites for certain productions, but caution and prudence must still be exercised.
After those two decades in bomba hell, let’s not dare the devil to do his worst again!