Dining and Seduction in Tom Jones
Tom Jones (1963) follows the exploits of a 16th Century lethario of the same name. In one famous sequence, the title character shares a meal with a lady-friend, Jenny. You can watch the clip here.
The meal serves as a euphemism for a sexual encounter. The characters are constantly locking eyes as they enjoy their several-course dinner, salaciously staring across the table as they satiate a different appetite. It's euphemistic, and yet the sexual energy hits the viewer like an anvil.
Considering the release date, the early sixties, it is both socially and legally required that the sexual message remains covert. In a film today, Jenny and Tom would likely have engaged in sex on screen, but via the production code and different social sensibilities of the time, their "sex-scene" has to be subliminal rather than direct. It's a clever work-around to artistic constraints: we see them eating, but it's clear to us that in actuality, they copulated.
Beyond the code-restraints, though, this euphemism offers something unique and nuanced within the narrative. The film depicts various exploits of a dude who just can't seem to keep it in his pants. Equating the libidinous desires of eating and sex seems to account for Jones' behavior as something innately insatiable, innately human, and innately necessary.
Plus, the whole scene is kind of gross: Jenny looks saucily at Tom while she simultaneously fishes chicken out of her teeth: yuck. What results is an honest portrayal of sex: both desirable, and grotesque - the perfect encapsulation of what intimacy looks like.
The meal serves as a euphemism for a sexual encounter. The characters are constantly locking eyes as they enjoy their several-course dinner, salaciously staring across the table as they satiate a different appetite. It's euphemistic, and yet the sexual energy hits the viewer like an anvil.
Considering the release date, the early sixties, it is both socially and legally required that the sexual message remains covert. In a film today, Jenny and Tom would likely have engaged in sex on screen, but via the production code and different social sensibilities of the time, their "sex-scene" has to be subliminal rather than direct. It's a clever work-around to artistic constraints: we see them eating, but it's clear to us that in actuality, they copulated.
Beyond the code-restraints, though, this euphemism offers something unique and nuanced within the narrative. The film depicts various exploits of a dude who just can't seem to keep it in his pants. Equating the libidinous desires of eating and sex seems to account for Jones' behavior as something innately insatiable, innately human, and innately necessary.
Plus, the whole scene is kind of gross: Jenny looks saucily at Tom while she simultaneously fishes chicken out of her teeth: yuck. What results is an honest portrayal of sex: both desirable, and grotesque - the perfect encapsulation of what intimacy looks like.
We studied this scene in Film Comedy last semester. Your take on it is hilarious but also really accurate. It is gross, but it's honest, something that is rare in sexual screen moments.
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