The Changing Role of Bodily Fluids in Cinema: From Spectacle to Substantial

I recently watched the horror flick “The First Omen,” and what intrigued me wasn't its scariness, but how Arkasha Stevenson portrayed women's bodies. It's quite similar to “Immaculate,” directed by Michael Mohan, in terms of the plot and themes. However, while “Immaculate” focuses on showcasing Sydney Sweeney in her birthday suit, “The First Omen,” despite its R rating, involves close-ups of the female lower body during labor but includes no scenes of female nudity. The movie boldly rejects the idea of women as mere eye candy. Unlike “Immaculate,” which seems to revel in displaying the female body to stir up the audience's desires for no good reason, “The First Omen” takes a different approach that is extremely impactful, using bodily fluids to eliminate the sexual innuendos that nudity typically brings.

You might wonder, can bodily fluids truly counter sexualization of nudity? Generally, the answer is no. In fact, many adult films use bodily fluids as their main selling point. Kato Mikio, a Japanese film researcher, once stated that the purpose of pornography is to depict two bodies touching in ways that disrupt the order of things, and then use the flow of bodily fluids (including blood, discharge, and saliva) to smooth things over. In pornography, the presence of bodily fluids, particularly semen, is often presented as the climax of a sexual act, symbolizing men's dominance over women (or other men). This creates a visually striking spectacle, and these fluid-filled scenes affirm the deepest desires of the primary audience of pornography - men. The act of men with penises penetrating others is perceived as a potent display of power. The satisfaction of this innate desire is a significant reason why pornography is so prevalent worldwide and why consumers continually return for more.

When bodily fluids become so prevalent in pornography that they're no longer considered extraordinary, most mainstream movies tend to avoid showing them in sex scenes. This could be due to film rating systems, or perhaps there's a more subtle reason: with bodily fluids being overused after becoming a unique icon of pornography, they've largely lost their ambiguity and are challenging to use as a visual symbol in films. Pornography has significantly influenced how we interpret bodily fluids, making it difficult for them to be perceived as anything other than symbols of sexual domination and raw beastly desires.

However, that doesn't mean films are abandoning the concept of bodily fluids; many choose to depict them in other forms. These forms can range from water, rain, rivers, ice to humid weather, even fruits, cream, and so on. For example, in the 2001 Japanese movie “Warm Water Under a Red Bridge,” the female lead has a unique ability to secrete magical warm water when she's making love. This "warm water" is undoubtedly a metaphor for bodily fluids, but it lacks the raw, visceral quality of actual bodily fluids and flows like clear water, like a constant stream. The film presents the sexual undertones of bodily fluids in “Warm Water Under a Red Bridge” in a largely toned-down manner, giving it a more romantic and sacred feel. Similarly, in “Call Me by Your Name,” Elio (Timothée Chalamet) uses a peach to pleasure himself, and the juice flowing from the peach symbolizes the bodily fluids that come after climax, adding a romantic touch to the desires of youth.

In my opinion, romanticizing bodily fluids is merely a sophisticated way of making them seem more intriguing than they actually are. Behind all this, the same old story is told from a male perspective, while the woman's viewpoint is concealed. For women, bodily fluids are just a part of everyday life. We deal with things like periods and the possibility of getting pregnant every month. Unfortunately, most films, even the so-called "erotic" ones, don't usually depict bodily fluids the way women experience them. Thankfully, more female filmmakers are starting to address this issue in a seemingly coincidental manner.

I won't detail every single way female creators have portrayed bodily fluids, but I do want to mention a few films: the recent “The First Omen,” “High Life” by French filmmaker Claire Denis, and “Saltburn” by Emerald Fennell. These three movies provide different perspectives on the body and bodily fluids, offering a fresh and groundbreaking perspective on cinema.

In “Saltburn,” bodily fluids are depicted in a straightforward manner. Spit, period blood, and semen are all present, working to downplay the sexual vibes of a sexual act. One scene that sparks conversation is when the main character, Oliver (Barry Keoghan), masturbates another guy and spits into his hand. When he performs oral sex on a woman on her period, his lips are stained with blood. The part of the film that causes the most buzz is when Oliver drinks the bathwater left by Felix (Jacob Elordi) after the latter masturbated into it. Although ”Saltburn“ doesn't show semen outright, it ensures the camera focuses on the water containing Felix's semen. We even see Oliver not just drinking the water but also licking the bathtub drain—where Felix's semen would have flowed through—in a rather gross manner, to display Oliver's possessiveness and voyeurism for Felix.

These scenes with bodily fluids help to remove the sexual undertones while also allowing viewers to see sex in a more natural light. These fluids can be sticky and even dirty. Sex isn't about the spectacle of a flood of bodily fluids, and it's not some mystical, romantic thing either. It's a real experience that can sometimes be uncomfortable or even gross. And it doesn't have to be about sex itself, but rather about power and control, like with Oliver's fantasies of and disrespect towards Felix.

In “High Life,” bodily fluids are intertwined with the concept of procreation. The movie's about a group of death row inmates on a spaceship heading who knows where, and they're not allowed to engage in sexual activity. However, Juliette Binoche's character, Dr. Dibs, is focused on conducting baby-making experiments in space. The movie even shows us semen in a lab setting, completely detached from any sexual act or private parts. The semen in the specimen bottles is distant from the climax men experience and is but another essential ingredient in the baby-making process.

Denis doesn't stop there. After a scene where Dr. Dibs hooks up with Monte, played by Robert Pattinson, that showcases only the naked male lower body, High Life gives us a shot of some fluids leaking out of Dr. Dibs. She then collects these fluids in a test tube and injects them into another woman, completing her bizarre space surrogacy project. So, once again, bodily fluids end up being more about procreation than about sex.

The horror movie “The First Omen” doesn't hold back from showing the nitty-gritty of bodily fluids. About one-third into the movie, there's a scene where the female lead, Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), wakes up after what appears to be a one-night stand with an unknown man she meets at the bar. But instead of looking satisfied, she's drenched in sweat, as if she's been through some sort of ordeal the previous night.

Fast forward to when she's about to give birth to a demonic baby; She's in so much pain that she tears off her clothes, and out gushes amniotic fluid. It's a pretty intense moment, showing the raw, unavoidable pain of childbirth. It's like a mirror image of a scene earlier in the movie where she hallucinates another woman going through childbirth. You can see that Margaret's fear and pain during her own childbirth mirror what she sees in her hallucination.

What's ironic is that the fear of childbirth, which “The First Omen” tries hard to highlight, is usually swept under the rug in other movies that extol maternal love and make childbirth look all rosy. It's like how in real life, this fear, also known as tokophobia, is hardly studied, even though it's pretty common. A survey of 1,800 pregnant American women showed that 62% of them were seriously scared and anxious about childbirth.

In the past, most movies either didn't bother showing bodily fluids (especially anionic fluid and semen) or made them look all romantic and special. Some even used them to spice up the sex scenes. But now, with more and more female directors at the helm, things are changing. They're showing bodily fluids in a more regular and natural fashion, emphasizing that they're not just for show, but a vehicle to drive deeper discussions about topics like childbirth, fear, power, and control. This fresh approach gives us a more realistic and well-rounded view of these issues, shedding light on the previously hidden reality. And it really makes you rethink how much traditional, gender-stereotyped movies have extensively influenced how we see ourselves and the world. I think this kind of reflection can bring about a rich diversity of possibilities for future movies and the world in general.

Reference:

1. 加藤幹郎 Kato Mikio, 「映画ジャンル論―ハリウッド的快楽のスタイル」, 平凡社, 1996
2. Gansen, An Elegy to Pink Film, Using Corporeal Expressions to Mitigate Disorder https://movie.douban.com/review/15847941/