http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artatt...sex_scenes.php
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Stephen King is brilliant. He really is, despite being a mainstream media darling. His books are held up as some of the finest examples of modern literature, are taught in schools, and have been made into Academy Award-wining movies. Not bad for a talent written off as just a hack horror novelist in the beginning.
And yet, there is an area of the man's writing that is consistently sick and twisted, even for the guy that gave us Pennywise the Clown, and that is how he approaches sex and its depictions. He is occasionally capable of a tender scene, such when Johnny Smith and Sarah finally spend one night together in the Dead Zone, or Tommy and Sue in the backseat of his car during Carrie. He's even given us examples of fine smut such as Nadine seducing Harold in the Stand, or Rachel soothing Lou in the bathtub with a handjob after a bloody day losing a patient in Pet Semetary.
But in general, whenever sex comes up in a Stephen King novel it's usually bad news, and will probably leave you filled more with crushing lack of faith in humanity than sexual stimulation.
Spoiler:
Speaking of crazy arse sex scenes...everyone needs to check out the Walmart Bathroom scene as described in Chuck Palahnuik's PYGMY. It's insanely written, comical and just fuk'ed up.
Gabriel
Originally Posted by Shannon
Originally Posted by CyberGhostface
Originally Posted by CyberGhostface
Originally Posted by Brice
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pag...for-rape-scene
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Banning books is a dumb idea, but that hasn't stopped people from trying. On the heels of Banned Books Week comes the news that a high school in Rocklin, Calif., a suburb of Sacramento, is considering a ban on a Stephen King book because it contains a passage in which a woman is raped with a sex object.
The news was first reported by a Sacramento CBS affiliate.
The school in question, Rocklin High School, removed King's story collection "Different Seasons" from shelves after a parent complained about "Art Pupil." In that story – which was made into a 1998 film starring the late Brad Renfro and Ian McKellen – Todd Bowden, a young man in California befriends an elderly man, Kurt Dussander, who is a Nazi war criminal. In the supposedly offensive passage, Dussander watches as Todd cruelly rapes a woman. The rape is graphically described in a passage of one-and-a-half pages. The book also contains well-known stories like "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" and "The Body," which became the film "Stand by Me."
According to CBS, Rocklin school officials removed the book from the library after the complaint. However, one level-headed student, Amanda Wong, raised an objection to the committee in question.
Here's the kicker: "Wong was also on that committee, and was the only one opposed to pulling the book. She was outnumbered, but it didn't stop her from being outspoken, especially because she's the only one who read the entire thing."
Well, then. If you're going to ban a book, then you should at least read it. Otherwise, you risk looking like a self-righteous fool.
As a former English teacher, I would probably not give "Art Pupil" to my students – but only because I don't think it's good literature, not because it contains a rape scene. Rape does happen. Cruelty does happen. Nazis happened. If you don't want your kids to know these things exist, buy an island in the South Pacific. Or, at least, get rid of your television and Internet.
At the very least, read the book in question. After the rape, Todd has the following realization: "There was only one way he coud get himself back again. He would have to kill Dussander. It was the only way. Games were done; storytime was over. This was survival."
Again, I think this is heavy-handed, clumsy prose. But it is clear that King is trying to make a moral point, with Todd at least wanting (if not achieving) redemption. I am fairly confident a seventh-grader would recognize that King is not glorifying rape or any other aspect of Dussander's revolting character.
Over in Rocklin, though, the fate of King's book hangs in the balance. After the school committee voted to pull the book, Wong went to the local school board, where her argument convinced the district to rethink the ban. According to CBS, the book is available at Rocklin High School again while the district weighs what to do.
Either way, we commend Amanda Wong for having a mind of her own.
http://www.mercurynews.com/books/ci_...n-stephen-king
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Amanda Wong had never read a Stephen King book until she joined a committee reviewing whether one should be banned from her high school's library.
Now, Wong is fighting to ensure "Different Seasons," a collection of King's short stories, remains on the shelves after a parent complained about a graphic rape scene in the short story "Apt Pupil."
"This opens a door to censoring other materials," Wong, 17, said Monday.
Wong was a student representative on a committee that voted to ban "Different Seasons" from the library at Rocklin High, in a suburb of Sacramento.
Wong was the lone person to vote against banning King's book. She said, at the time of the vote, she was also the only person who had read the entire collection, which includes the stories adapted into the movies "The Shawshank Redemption," "Stand By Me" and "Apt Pupil." The last is about a boy who discovers that his elderly neighbor is a Nazi war criminal.
"It's such an important decision; you have to read the entire book," Wong said.
The decision to ban the book came on the heels of the 30th annual Banned Books Week, an effort by the American Library Association, along with publishers, teachers and readers, aimed at "liberating literature."
After the Rocklin High committee voted to ban the book, Wong spoke against the decision at a school district board meeting on Oct. 3. After listening to Wong, Rocklin Unified Superintendent Kevin
Brow overturned the committee's decision.
"They failed to recognize that there are other high schools in our district, and we need input from all sectors of our district," Brown said.
A districtwide committee will meet this week to begin reviewing "Different Seasons." That committee has 30 days to make a decision on whether the book can be offered to high school students.
Brown said in his nearly two decades with the district, Rocklin Unified has never banned a library book or classroom reading material.
"I've read it," Brown said. "I think the book has merit. The committee will be charged with making the final decision."
That decision is being watched by the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the group's assistant director, Angela Maycock.
"Our office has been keeping track of challenges since the 1980s," Maycock said. "It's something we are very concerned about."
Maycock said the stories contained in "Different Seasons" have been publicly challenged a handful of times since it was released in 1982. King's other work, however, has been routinely challenged, Maycock said.
"When there is public attention drawn to these situations, the outpouring of support for individuals to read and think for themselves is very powerful," she said.
Herbert Foerstel, author of a reference guide of banned books in American schools, called the Rocklin's brief decision to ban King's book "absolutely outrageous."
"If a book is assigned and a student is obliged to read it, at least one could make a religious freedom argument and ask for an alternative book to be assigned," Foerstel said. "But remove a book from a library where reading it is voluntary? No one should allow that under any circumstances."
Wong said she is drafting a letter asking that those on the committee reviewing "Different Seasons" read the stories in their entirety.
"Even if the book gets banned, I hope that the process is more carefully done and more public," Wong said. "My biggest concern is that issues like this aren't transparent."
Wong said she recently checked the Rocklin High library shelves for "Different Seasons."
"Someone checked it out," she said.
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Think about Stephen King books with disturbing themes and the tale of the Overlook, a malevolent hotel, might come to mind, or Christine, a malevolent Plymouth. As a bestselling horror novelist, King made his bones and his fortune by frightening the wits out of readers. Yet it was his collection of non-horror novellas with themes more societal than scary that was briefly banned this month from a high school outside Sacramento.
"Different Seasons" isn't on the American Library Assn.'s inventory of 100 most frequently challenged books (the Harry Potter series tops the most recent list), but a rape scene in one story led to a complaint from a parent at Rocklin High School. The book wasn't part of any course curriculum; instead, it was available in the school library for students to read or check out. Two of its stories have been made into movies: "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand by Me."
A school committee voted to pull the book from the library shelves, with only 17-year-old senior Amanda Wong dissenting. The other members of the committee, all adults, reportedly didn't even read the book through before voting.
Amanda complained to the school board and got results. The superintendent ordered the book placed back on the shelves while a districtwide committee considers the matter. That committee should recommend keeping the book.
Picking tomes for a school library is a sensitive business. Unlike the books at a public library, which must appeal to the broadest spectrum of the community, school librarians usually comply with policies set by individual school districts. Within that policy, as the designated experts on literature, they must choose books that are appropriate in content and difficulty for students at various grade levels. Collections generally include books that tie in with the curriculum, books that challenge and uplift as well as those that are simply engaging enough to entice students to read. Books that are part of course work are more tightly controlled because all students are required to read them. But in the library, students should have a choice.
There might be rare instances in which a school should override the librarian's decisions, when a book clearly violates any acceptable standard for youth — as, say, "The Story of O" would. But the overriding philosophy should be to keep books on the shelves in almost all circumstances, valuing access to ideas, even unpopular ideas, over the objections of one faction or another. Books for high schools do not need to be utterly devoid of disturbing material, which abounds in classic literature, to be worth reading. The murder-suicide committed by an impoverished little boy in Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" is arguably more horrifying than anything King ever dished up.
A single complaint about a single scene in a book is not valid grounds for taking it off the shelves. Fortunately, a student was there to teach the adults that banning books is a serious matter that calls for more careful consideration.
A recent decision by the Rocklin, California, Unified School District is proof that a single dissenting voice can help keep books on library shelves. Late last week, a district-wide review committee decided to keep Stephen King’s collection of novellas, Different Seasons, on high school library shelves. CBLDF joined the Kids Right to Read Project to defend the novel in a letter addressed to the school district.
John
Think they would knock any of those others out of the top five?
Originally Posted by Tommy
As far as the stuff from IT, I think the scene where Patrick gives Henry a handjob grossed me out more than the sewer orgy.
Just saying "sewer orgy" is ridiculous. :lol:
Originally Posted by GirlystevedaveOh man, the content from Mr. Mercedes really did make my stomach turn as I was reading it. [shudders]Quote:
Originally Posted by Tommy
As far as the stuff from IT, I think the scene where Patrick gives Henry a handjob grossed me out more than the sewer orgy.
Just saying "sewer orgy" is ridiculous. :lol:
Originally Posted by Girlystevedave
Originally Posted by Tommy:emot-roflolmao: I always would refer to it as the "preteen sewer gangbang" which is much worse :emot-roflolmao:Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlystevedaveOh man, the content from Mr. Mercedes really did make my stomach turn as I was reading it. [shudders]Quote:
Originally Posted by Tommy
As far as the stuff from IT, I think the scene where Patrick gives Henry a handjob grossed me out more than the sewer orgy.
Just saying "sewer orgy" is ridiculous. :lol:
Originally Posted by herbertwestAnd after saying that, the FBI is probably gonna look at your internet habitsQuote:
Originally Posted by Tommy:emot-roflolmao: I always would refer to it as the "preteen sewer gangbang" which is much worse :emot-roflolmao:Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlystevedaveOh man, the content from Mr. Mercedes really did make my stomach turn as I was reading it. [shudders]Quote:
Originally Posted by Tommy
As far as the stuff from IT, I think the scene where Patrick gives Henry a handjob grossed me out more than the sewer orgy.
Just saying "sewer orgy" is ridiculous. :lol:
