Apropos of nothing and certainly not related to any specific comic book TPB reviewed on a recent Major Spoilers Podcast, I’ve been thinking about modern pop culture’s relationship with matters of the ol’ fighty-fighty and sexy-sexy. Sex and violence are more prevalent than ever in our fictional worlds, which does make them more reminiscent of reality than the Silver Age comics I grew up with. But, it also makes for difficult moments when you try to loan a book to your kid or watch a movie with your mom or, perish forbid, try to explain that cool comic you like by Fraction and Zdarsky, leading to today’s censored query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has been more shaken by the gouts of blood that seem to come with every battle in ‘Invincible’ than any sex scene I’ve ever read, asking: Which do you find more disturbing when presented in a gratuitous fashion: Sex or Violence?
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“Gratuitous” is always bad, since by definition it doesn’t serve the story in any way. With no other information I guess I worry more about gratuitous violence, since that’s inherently negative in a way that sex (which by itself carries at least connotations of intimacy and caring about others) need not be. But it’s really a case-by-case question — I won’t recommend media with random rapes for instance.
As far as its completely fictional, pretty much nothing does that anymore.