Perverted Sex in Local Films

“Heterosexual relationship is a natural phenomenon linked with biological urge in the life of human beings and other living things, designed for the express purpose of propagating species from the time of Adam and Eve, if it were the beginning of the world.”
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by R. L. Lalprema

(March 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Blind imitation of sexual perversions divorced from the acceptable natural instincts of life that have made great inroads into the social fabric of western countries, seems to have, recently, found entry into the local cinema as its thematic structure. It is to be doubted whether those producers are engaged in an attempt to introduce those abnormal experiences to the Sinhala theatre-going public with an underlying message to emulate them in their real life.
Perhaps, for winning back the indiscriminate viewers from TV soap operas to a film industry lying in a moribund state, this formula would have been thought to be the single panacea. The Sinhala cinema has been passing through a period of growing sensuality and eroticism that could be seen from some productions which any man with a sense of shame would find offensive. While sensuality monopolised the screen, filmmakers have gone a step further by introducing themes of homosexuality and lesbianism into their productions further insulting and annoying the local audiences to whom it is a worthless subject when there are more important aspects of life to be dealt with.

Heterosexual relationship is a natural phenomenon linked with biological urge in the life of human beings and other living things, designed for the express purpose of propagating species from the time of Adam and Eve, if it were the beginning of the world. Even such natural sex between man and woman has been treated as an act of strict privacy secluded from view of others, a fact universally acknowledged as a moral and ethical practice for maintaining a civilized society. However, contrary to this truth, growing tendencies for gay and lesbian relationships and rising popularity of cohabitation outside marriage are often heard to run in the western society. They are mobilized into frightening movements agitating for legal sanction for marriage to live as husbands and wives. The most cherished concept of individual freedom in their societies, as prostitution and abortion have been legalised, might concede to this demand. Ironically, under the influence of ideas that profess liberal attitudes towards sex, some members of our society are seen engaged in a vain attempt to assert the underlying philosophy of scandalous sex films as being aimed at women’s emancipation from the male dominance or gender discrimination. But Rita Gomez, multi awarded Philippine actress speaks of women: " Sex is only a projection of womanliness. A woman should never be aggressive because then she loses one of her most valuable weapons that of being soft and malleable. Aggressiveness in a woman is ungainly because it is a manly trait. Masculine traits in a woman detract instead of enhance."

For over 2500 years, regimented by the Buddhist teachings that deal with the harsh realities of life Sri Lankan society has not been confronted with such perilous propensities leading to disintegration of family and marriage institutions. It is very unfortunate that the influence of such alien behaviour on film producers has greatly impeded the gradual emancipation of the Sinhala cinema into a fine art, liberally rooted in our soil away from the South Indian model of commercial popularity in its embryonic stage. Initially this was achieved at a time when the cinema of the Western world was struggling with sex and sadism in an attempt to titillate box office palates and promote ticket sales. Credit should go to our master filmmaker, Lester James Peiris. The Hindi cinema too could not escape from the clutches of commercialism in the theatre until pioneers like Satyajit Ray blazed a trail in film art. But what is taking place in the local cinema now is disastrous in comparison with what it had been at its formative stage. Although earlier films did not acquire a form of artistic expression apart from presenting a soppy tale, they were well within the restrictions of decency for the filmgoers to spend an evening as a family recreation. Decency by cultural levels is vital as the decisive factor to stay away from obscenity, appearing in the form of current fashions in the cinema, and mistaken for art and entertainment. However, against this hostile setting it is heartening that we see a couple of gifted moviemakers committed more to the artistic aspect of their productions.

Exposure of nudity and sex have eroded the limits of decency and human dignity, in order that it could be the criterion to receive ‘foreign commendation,’ with callous disregard to the resultant destruction it will bring to the culture and society. Exhibition of such local productions comes in addition to foreign shows of similar type already on T.V. or at the cinema theatre. Inundated with episodes of sex and vulgarity they are aimed at making the unsuspecting viewers feel sexually excited and earning big profits. Most of these are cheap comedies with pretty horrible low humour that could hardly entertain even the indiscriminate audience into hilarity. This is as good as the organized business of smuggling drugs into the country that keeps on destroying the innocent lives of the younger generation reducing them to both physical and mental wrecks while this is an evil disastrous to the cultural life of a disciplined nation. A film or any other form of art, which portrays the life in its real form conforming to the values of Asian cultures totally opposed to this kind of sexual exploitation of the western world, I doubt, will earn the same recognition from those international evaluators. Perhaps they are ignorant that this is a part of a global conspiracy to corrupt and destroy Asian cultures, mainly the Sinhala Buddhist culture. Any book or film, as was seen in the recent past, produced to insult and dishonour one’s culture, religion and human dignity will receive prompt recognition, even political asylum.

Sex relations need be included in films within the norms of decency and modesty in portraying situations and characters where it is necessary to enhance the main theme but with great care to steer clear of obscenity. Concept of sex in a sick mind and attitude to it, reflect undoubtedly a condition of abnormality, which threatens and insults the heterosexual relationship of man and woman designed for sexual reproduction. With the homosexuality defended by these filmmakers and in the absence of progeny, the sublime result of sex, the world will soon be depopulated! Filmmakers in their fantasies are made to believe they have touched new horizons away from traditional way of dealing with life when they borrow themes, particularly, on perverted sex from other societies alien to our ethos, How sad it is that the censors cannot differentiate mere decency from the presentation of licentious acts in films. Further they are labelled as work of artistic merit and exhibited exclusively in special circuits reserved for so called ‘non commercial’ films. To the untutored eye, all such perverted behaviour looks the same due to their being ignorant of the differences of cultural values of each nation. They seem to believe those social stigmas so imported could take root in our society. Moral and social values in a given culture will act as the corner stone that holds a nation intact while being subject to salutary changes necessary for improvement. Based on this, the law of the land is framed for the common welfare of its people in any country. If so law should be tightened relating to obscenity in any form, particularly, in view of laxity in the film censorship board.
- Sri Lanka Guardian