The fake announcement provoked intense reactions online. Some people wished it were real, while others were disgusted at the very idea. I’m vehemently in that second group. The excited reactions to this fake news remind me that some supposedly progressive people would welcome the return of the Hays Code if it meant they didn’t have to feel uncomfortable while watching a movie with their parents.
If watching sex scenes with your parents makes you uncomfortable, take a moment to research the content before watching it on the living room TV. Many platforms provide ratings and specific reasons for the ratings, so there is no reason to be surprised by sex scenes. It’s your responsibility to address your discomfort, not the creators’. When you watch something, you have to meet the creators halfway.
They put in the work, and you don’t get to demand they make it different for you. The use of generative AI encourages the idea that art should completely fulfill your desires, rather than being a means of self-expression for the creator. A movie or TV series may contain a sex scene to explore something about sexuality or as a means of self-expression, rather than as a crass outside demand. Removing R-rated elements from a work could significantly alter the themes and story, as seen with the film “Poor Things.”
Sex scenes aren’t optional ornamentation; they’re intrinsic to its themes and story. The way that art is served to us has increasingly been left to algorithms to determine, but we should never allow the content of the art itself to be twisted in the same way.
