Coming from a sheltered youth, I have never read anything so pornographic like Boogie Nights. Since Boogie Nights is a film about porn filmmakers and porn stars, it is expected to be pornographic in nature. Besides the sex-ridden scenes, the only interesting difference I found between this script and the others read in class so far was the director's notes. This, along with the technical comments, tells us that this was one of the later versions of the script and that it very likely resembles the final film. It would have been interesting to see what the director's "improv. notes" were.
Paul Thomas Anderson uses description, speech, and comment to convey images and stir emotions in the audience. From the actions of the characters and Anderson's writing style, it is apparent that Anderson invites the audience to relate with the characters. This is contradictory to most pornographic films which don't focus on relating characters with the audience. In a way, Anderson is trying to present a forgotten style of pornography, the kind that has a plot and the characters are driven by a purpose. Anderson conveys this through Jack, who states, "true film fans won't watch [videocassette]...it doesn't look good and more importantly it doesn't make sex look sexy." Jack views true pornography as an art form and Anderson is trying to convey that to audiences that may have forgotten that.
Although Boogie Nights was disturbing for me to read, it was great, especially in Anderson's use of images and characters.
-Fernando Rosas
Discussion Questions:
1. Were all the characters' transformations (Buck, Jessie St. Vincent, etc.) realistic? Did they seem to occur at random or was there always a hint at what was to come?
2. Was sex overused in Boogie Nights or did it contribute to the writer's message?
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4 comments:
I don't feel that sex was overused in this script. It was one of the main themes that the film is surrounded by. I noticed that alot of scenes were ommitted. After reading this particular script, I felt that it was probably one of the final drafts of it; therefore I'm sure there were alot of other scenes involving sex but were omitted due to making it seem overused.
I personally thought that there was too much emphasis on sex and controversy throughout the script. I didn't think the content of the screenplay was good enough to be successful without the use of sex and drugs.
I think there was just a little too much sex in the screenplay. And it seems that P.T. Anderson thought so as well, because there are multiple scenes in the script containing sex that were not shown, but only heard, in the movie. The sceenplay had far more violence and sex in it and I feel that softening some of these aspects allowed the movie to be more funnier as it was.
Well I don't think you can make movie about porn in the seventies without the movie containing some sex. I guess this depends on how you would define “overused”. I think if something is over used it no longer has the effect its supposed to have, and that doesn't happen in Boogie Nights. Even if the sex did lose the effect of shocking people, at the very least it serves to remind people that this isn't just a movie, its a movie about pornography in the seventies.
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