Meal on Film: Sensuality, yearning and sex as hunger.
Abel Ferrera: Sexual Revelations
Lust (noun)
“Wuthering Heights” (2026) and the adaptation in the social media age.
Contrast of Lust and Love in Creativity
Lets Dress Up
CHRISTMAS CAPITALISM: The insatiable lust of Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Lucky Strike
Saint Lust
The Western Eroticisation of Belly Dancing
Osjećati požudu
White Witch
Credits
your
alone and I’ll wait
The beams frame
shape
The fields have
Creative direction by Lauren Elise
Photography by Flynn McCarthy
WRITTEN BY KAT HALL
A question probably not on many people’s minds, but certainly on the minds of “girl-bloggers” on my side of TikTok. With the rise of Secretary (2002) and Crash (1996) edits on social media as well as Substack think-pieces about female pleasure, I’ve certainly noticed a revolution of some kind. Perhaps the anonymity of social media allows women to feel more comfortable sharing their perversions; certainly, in this modern age, the discussion of female desire and pleasure is chewed over more than past assumptions, which ranged from expressing the idea that women are sex-hungry corrupt deviants, to desireless, sexless vessels for male sexual fulfilment.
But what do women really desire ?
The question is more complicated than simple. It is only within recent development that researchers have been able to debunk the idea that men have a higher desire than women; “Women don’t have lower sexuality than men. What they have are more variable patterns.” (Diamond. L.) So, is the problem a lack of research? Certainly. The media’s portrayal of female sexuality also still remains a paradox. Just as a women’s sexuality is forever in flux, so is society’s assumptions-we seem to forever be going back and forth. Weird Science — a movie about two nerds designing their dream woman, who, after a freak accident is brought to life in the form of a perfect superhuman — was hitting box offices back in 1985, whilst The Piano Teacher, the Austrian novel by Elfriede Jelinek, about a sexually repressed piano teacher with sadomasochistic and paraphilic fantasies, was published two years before, in 1983. Similarly, in early 2000s cinema, when the industry was rife with misogynistic movies such as Euro Trip (2004) and the American Pie series (1999-2006), raunchy flicks about male fantasies and sex – films such as May (2002) and Ginger Snaps (2000) were also released — examining stories about sexually deviant, cannibalistic women. So, asking my question again — Have women become more perverted? Or have they always been? But after centuries of sexual repression, and in a new era, sexually freer than ever, are able to express their desires, perversions, kinks — freely and with less shame as before?
A women’s idea of her own sexuality is still an everchanging mystery. We know sex has always been pleasurable for men; perhaps even more so, than it is for a woman, and new YouGov data as of 2022 shows results that men are twice as likely to say they always orgasm during sex. (Survey data is conducted from two surveys — one nationally representative poll, and another poll representative of Britons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or other sexualities.) Overall, three in ten British women (30 percent) say they orgasm every time they have sex, 11 percent say they get off multiple times, 27 percent say they orgasm on most occasions, and a third say that an orgasm only occurs sometimes (15 percent), rarely (10 percent), or not at all (7 percent).
By contrast, three in five British men overall (61 percent) say they reach climax every time they have sex, 23 percent say they do so on most occasions, and just 10 percent say they do so sometimes, rarely, or never. (YouGov, The orgasm gap, 2022). To examine it even closer, findings from a study of 52,600 people in the US in 2017, show that heterosexual women have the fewest orgasms. (Archives of Sexual
Finally, in an experiment conducted by Dr. Meredith Shivers, that reported arousal in both heterosexual and homosexual men and women whilst watching erotic clips, it was found that whilst women’s personal accounts described no sexual stimulation from “perverse” sexual content, the plethysmograph (medical device that measures blood flow
Their mind-body connect is out of sync — “minds denied bodies” whilst the same study on male libido, shows a mindbody sync. Personal accounts and medical results aligned. Therefore,evidently, it seems that...
female libido is rawer and more primitive
-“though excessively repressed to appear civilised.” (Katara, B, Synapsis, 2020)
Written by Sonya Saveleva
As Szilvia Csabi writes in the introduction for “The Conceptualization of Lust in English”: The way people understand their emotions has long been in the focus of interest in cognitive linguistics, a relatively new approach to language. It is true that language forms the mind and minds of the speakers form the language. This book specifically talks about such concepts as Lust - word meaning desire and longing for anything, but most of the time sexual one.
In one of next sections “Conceptualization of Lust in Romance Novels” Csabi writes: The most frequent and productive conceptual metaphors are
In this article I’m going to explore the concept of “LUST IS HUNGER”, sometimes metaphorical and sometimes extremely real. I’m going to use examples from films, as I’m a current BA2 film student and unfortunately or not my knowledge starts and ends on this specific subject.
Lust has many meanings as it was mentioned earlier, but the main interpretation is a desire for something that turns into something bigger and stronger. Lust is most of the time experienced and expressed towards something prohibited, shameful, which makes it the perfect candidate for one of the 7 deadly sins. As most of the sins Lust is extremely human and could be a part of anyone’s experience, it doesn’t matter the status of the person or the character of the feeling they’re expressing. This could be very well illustrated by the lightest film episode that I’m going to mention in my text - “Chocolat” by Lasse Hallstrom. According to the plot, the antagonist of the film priest played by Alfred Molina stands against the chocolate shop opened by Juliet Binoche’s character, as it distracts people of the small town from the main activity - God worship and attending church on Sundays. Towards the end of the film, he loses his flock to the chocolate shop and decides to take radical action. He breaks into the chocolate shop in the middle of the night with a knife, hoping to find and kill the main character. Not finding her, he begins to destroy the shop and smash the chocolate structures, but at some point he tastes them
and begins to consume them greedily and quite comically. Even the priest himself begins to laugh at the absurdity of the situation he finds himself in, but his laughter is followed by bitter tears caused by the realisation of his hypocrisy and shame.
This is one of the most common combinations - lust and shame. People of the modern westernised world are taught to be ashamed of the desire that is so obvious and natural, taught to mask it and hide it deep deep inside. But how can you control your desire when you just started studying your body? Such prohibiteness could lead to an “unobvious curiosity” portrait of which finds its place in Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name”. One of the scenes shows Elio, played by Timothee Chalamet, lying in bed during a beautiful midday. Immersed in idleness, he stumbled upon a peach on a bedside table. As he looks around it and plays with it, eventually penetrating it with his finger, Elio can’t think of a better activity than penetrating it for real and leaving it on the same bedside table afterwards. The same peach will be later found by Elio’s love interest Oliver, who was the object of the fantasy during the act.
He wants to tease Elio and pretends or actually attempts to bite the fruit, but is stopped by Elio crying into his chest “Don’t hurt me.” This is a perfect example of a very vulnerable, awkward, even disgusting detail becoming a sign of emotional intimacy between the characters.
The other side of accepting your sexuality in a more extreme manner is portrayed in Julia Ducornau’s coming-of-age body horror “Raw”. This is a story of Justine played by Garance Marillier - vegetarian fresher in a veterinarian school forced to try meat and falling into an instant hunger for meat, specifically of human kind. Since it’s a coming-of-age genre, first love and loss of virginity takes a place in a narrative. The object of Justine’s desire is her gay male flatmate. Despite the difference of sexual orientation, which is stated many times throughout the film, they are sleeping with each other twice.
The first time happens chaotically and Justine is becoming animal-like, snapping, almost marking or roaring trying to bite her flatmate, but ending up biting herself to prevent herself from hurting another, but it didn’t help…
Here literal hunger merges with sexual desire, desire that is innocent and normal, but the hunger perverts it and leaves no place for tenderness or romantic vulnerability, only rush and vital sense of ownership.
How can you tell the story of desire, passion and sexual tension without any eroticism in the narrative?
An answer could be found in Wong Kar Wai’s masterpiece “In The Mood For Love” telling the story of Su Li-zhen played by Maggie Cheung and Chow played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai. They are finding themselves in a situation where their partners are cheating with each other leaving Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow with the sour feeling of betrayal. But nevertheless they’re finding one another and soon they realise that feelings are beginning to grow within them too. Affection is never shown explicitly, but hints could be found everywhere throughout the screen time.
One of the scenes proving my point is the montage of Su Li-zhen going to pick up noodles from the noodle shop. She never meets Chow face to face in this location, but you can feel the presence of the other outside the frame. The steam from the noodle pots is literally flowing from the screen representing Su Li-zhen’s thoughts. This is the one of the most subtle displays of desire on screen, the whole film is. Characters want to convey for both society, 1960’s Hong Kong, and themselves. They want to keep self control over their emotions and impulses to save face and dignity, knowing they are better than their couples. It could be
called repression like the example from the beginning of the article, but here it’s rather a matter of staying a good person, than pretending to be a saint.
Nevertheless, what about two main subjects - food and sex. I already stated one of the examples of a person using food for sexual pleasure earlier physically. Yet, there is an example of film using food in the sexual context, but being not “Utilitarian” or “Practical use”.
In the anthological comedy “Tampopo” by Juzo Itami we see the story of a little noodle shop ruled by a woman of the same name - Tampopo. A very simple story of love and overcoming life challenges is surrounded by unrelated episodes, one of which is getting an overarching storyline. It tells a story of “A Man in a White Suite” played by Koji Yakusho and his mistress played by Fukumi Kuroda, time
touch of the food, but it’s not vulgar, nor elitist, since it talks about a mundane topic like relationship and sex through the most mundane element of life - food.
How come they are expressing their passion towards each other this way? Answer is given through flashback where a man in a white suit first meets his mistress on a beach. She’s an oyster catcher and he’s buying one of the caught oysters, lets her open it, just about to swallow it, but stumbles upon a blood. He was bitten by a clam. After the second failed attempt, his lips are covered in blood and oyster juice, which for some reason attracts the oyster catcher so much that she engages in a kiss with him.
The audience doesn’t see more of these characters in the film, as they are a subplot that represents the main topic of “Tompopo” - how people are engaging with food, cooking
with whom he’s enjoying and indulging, literally. We see their first open romantic and sexual interaction when the service delivers food to their hotel room. A man in a white suit adores his mistress and he expresses it through bathing her body in the room service meals. He sprinkles lemon juice and salts her breast to then leak it, after deeps it in white sauce, lets honey run through her lips, etc.
In the second scene, the most well-known scene in the film, we see them dressed, but still quite aroused. Only bones and crumbs remain from the meal, but there’s a raw egg, which the man breaks. He drains the white, leaving only the yolk, which will then be passed from one mouth to another. The partners will play this game, trying not to break the yolk and thus “not break the tension.” But at one point, the mistress cannot restrain herself and breaks it, causing it to flow from her mouth to her neck, from her neck to her chest, leaving the stain on a white dress.
These depictions are the clear illustration of LUST IS HUNGER and SEX IS CONSUMPTION. Even though it’s a straight forward message, these episodes are coming off as poetic when put on a screen. We can feel the textures and
and its consumption. And this storyline being secondary, yet engaging and sexy, manages this task perfectly, causing the audience not to just observe, but to care about the characters that appear a couple of times during the film run.
To summarise, Lust as a Hunger is a very common, even banal concept. But nevertheless it could be used for many purposes in media and on screen: To represent sexual awakening, “unusual desires”, guilt, shame, frustration, breaking the social norms, expression, etc.
The main point of this trope is being a device to tell human stories and not shying away from the subject matter, as it’s again mundane and still is a part of everyday life. The only thing we can do is to engage, enjoy and absorb the process, not going into shame and frustration.
ABEL FERRARA: sexual revelations
text by Flynn Mccarthy
Whether it be a vampire chasing blood, a businessman seeking wealth or a police officer trying to crawl away from hell, Abel Ferrara’s central characters all begin to blend into one, and bleed into his own life. A life once ruled by addiction and lust, haunted by religion and memory. Sexuality is impossible to ignore in Abel’s art. The world’s first sight of Abel would be in his own porn film, where he plays an elderly man who reads a bible and then has sex. Just 5 years later he would portray a rapist, and in between these 2 appearances he starred in his genre defining breakout film The Driller Killer (1979). Issues with religion, jealousy and societal rules on art lead his character “Reno” to unleash his rage on anyone who gets in his way.
layout by Harvey Franklin
“I was raised a catholic and when you’re raised a catholic, they don’t teach you to think for yourself.”
Abel’s Catholic upbringing is a constant topic in his films; he notoriously included a scene in which a nun is raped in his 1992 cult classic Bad Lieutenant. But Abel’s relationship with religion becomes increasingly complex the more of his films you watch. He says that being a Catholic is to not think for yourself, yet when a character in his earlier films steps away from religion, they step into a world of perversion. In MS .45 (1981), He juxtaposes these ideas in one of his most famous images: a mute seamstress is raped in the beginning of the film. She is powerless to even speak about what happened, her innocence is stripped, however this incident leads to her releasing the rage within on, at first, any abusive men and later in the film, every man she sees. She opens fire on all of them at the end of the film, whilst dressed as a nun, an image of purity, and in Abel’s opinion on Catholicism, the ultimate image of conformity and a lack of free thought. Is there chaos in the order or order in the chaos?
Abel’s films from the 80’s and 90’s all include similar images of contradiction in repression, In his 1996 gangster film The Funeral, a character tries to offer a young girl money not to engage in prostitution after she tries to get him to pay for sex, however seconds later ends up doubling her initial price before assaulting her claiming she “sold her soul”. In The Blackout (1997) a film director senselessly kills a young woman on video, later convincing himself he killed a different woman in order to hide from what he actually did. The further characters stray away from religion the further they descend into evil, yet like Abel himself, his characters all have a lust for the very thing that’s pulling them away from purity. “Vampires are lucky, they can feed on others, we gotta eat away at ourselves” Zoë Lund delivers this selfwritten line about heroin in Bad Lieutenant, just 7 years later she would die from cocaine use, a habit she took up to try to get off heroin. And just 3 years after Bad Lieutenant, Abel would release a film about vampires called The Addiction (1995) where a character refers to drinking blood as shooting up. Addiction can reach anyone. Abel turns the tables on his role behind the camera with later films like The Blackout and Mary (2005) and his fascination with home video and screens within films reveal another level of shame that leads him back to addiction, back to lust and away from what he truly wants which is to rule his own life, free from rules set by Catholicism, but not ruled by lust. The repression his characters face always leads to an explosion of rage, establishments are evil in all of Abel’s films, yet faith is always what his characters search for, but where?
Abel represents religious structure and lust as 2 polar opposites, 2 evils that he cannot escape from. To believe in something higher and sexuality are beautiful in his films, but are usually unattainable. The struggle between lust and religion, freedom and conformity, rage and repression is what every character in his films is fighting, and his willingness to put his own life into his films reveals a much deeper struggle. Abel has been sober for over a decade now and is a Buddhist. His films now focus on sober characters, or ageing, or the freedom in between religion and lust, as opposed to fighting an impossible battle of both weighing him down. The ending of his 2021 film Zeroes and Ones is a short montage of birds flying, children playing and people walking around calmly, the early days after lockdown, but also one free from the internal battle he spent decades fighting, and documenting for us to see that balance is the key.
Wuthering Heights “ “
Wuthering Heights (2026)
And the adaptation in the social media age. The marketing campaign for the new Wuthering Heights adaptation marks a turning point for films of its kind.
Since the release of the teaser and subsequent trailer for the latest Wuthering Heights adaptation, the internet has been set ablaze in discussions around the film. Directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, the film has multiple ingredients of a new-age fusion of classical literature and Gen-Z on-screen royalty. Fresh off of 2023’s Saltburn, a film endlessly remarked upon on social media, it seems that Fennell is attempting to recreate some of her previous films’ online buzz.
actors like Lily Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult. The elements of that film, the large and imposing set design, and the recognisable actors, among others, collectively added to the sense of social-media-friendly largess. I suspect that some of these elements will be present in this Wuthering Heights adaptation. If the trailer means anything, this will certainly be the case. Let’s take the locations.
The landscape behind Margot Robbie here is expansive and awe-inspiring. There is certainly a sense that Fennell is going for a surreal and maximalist interpretation of the novel, where the visuals and plot points are turned up to the maximum. Of course, there is little doubt that such an interpretation will ignite interest from a broad section of people within the Gen-Z demographic, even from those that may not have read the novel. As I am interested in online trends, relating to this film, it
The film’s trailer is marked with candid shots of our stars, amongst epic set pieces and landscapes. An emotive and striking Charli XCX song permeates the soundtrack. The elements of the trailer, in fact, are so perfectly suited for the Gen-Z palette that it’s difficult to suppress the assumption that they were chosen consciously for this reason. There’s no doubt that the demographic and audience the studio are going for are online and engaged young adults. A widespread marketing strategy seems to reflect this. Charli XCX, the hugely popular pop artist, has been commissioned to make an entire album of tracks for the film. A couple of songs from the film, one of which was featured in the official trailer, have already been released digitally and have accompanying music videos. Said music videos both feature extensive set and costume design, which seem to mimic that of the film’s aesthetic style. Charli XCX herself is even seemingly being inserted into the film’s universe, interacting with its grand houses and slightly off-putting nature.
The quasi gothic and romantic themes of both the teaser trailer and main trailer echo the recent Gen-Z oriented Nostferatu (2024), another adaptation of a classic novel packed with Gen-Z adored
would be useful to detail them here. The mixed reaction to the trailers, and the idea of such a risque adaptation of this novel in particular, has been intense. Remarking on this phenomenon, in addition to the fact that director Fennell is controversial in her own right, Bilge Ebrini in Vulture declared that the combination of this novel and the director has “clearly driven everybody insane” and that “This is mostly a good thing”.
There is certainly a sense of deliberate provocation on the part of the director with these trailers. Such provocation, mainly spurred by the combination of the beloved novel with risque themes and interesting (to say the least) casting choices, seems to be forming a basis for the intense reaction it has been getting online. You have the BookTok community, a thriving sub-culture on social media dedicated to discussing, often but not exclusively, classic literature. With such an important novel, there is bound to be an intense reaction to any adaptation and especially one helmed by Fennell. The casting choice, of choosing Elordi as Heathcliffe has stirred controversy as various scholars have argued that the character is not white but rather mixed race or of different descent. I also learned of this particular controversy when discussing the trailers with a friend who
loves the novel, which gives me an indication now of how some literature fans may view this new film when it comes out. With a more politically engaged generation sensitive to injustice like Gen-Z, it will be interesting to see how this fact might disrupt the success of the marketing team in their attempts at creating an environment that reaches that very same generation.
Crew members have since been steadfast in rejecting the validity of such criticisms. The casting director for the film, Kharmel Cochrane, was reported by Forbes to have said that there are “definitely going to be some English lit fans that are not going to be happy”, going on to say that “you really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book”. It will be interesting to see how this outlook plays with those previously engaged with the book, and whether the creative decisions taken will either hinder or help the film. Such criticisms seem to be perfectly valid to me. I understand why Brontë afficiandos would object to a director choosing to cast Elordi in this role, if they
are of the opinion that Heathcliffe is not white. Cochrane’s dismissiveness here of these concerns is frustrating. Whilst it is literally true that you don’t need to be accurate, you also don’t need to make the adaptation at all.
Clearly, Fennell is interested in the book and finds the story engaging enough to explore, but if her crew has this attitude, it begs the question: Why are they making this adaptation in the first place? I’m not arguing that the film needs to follow the book beat for beat; Fennell’s deviations may work after all, but surely some
foundational respect for the source material is in order. I suspect that such discourse, which will inevitably populate platforms like Substack and Instagram, might propel the film to success anyway. But commercial success isn’t the only thing at stake here. A classic novel such as this carries immense popular heft, and at least a basis of fan appreciation and approval is necessary for this film to truly stand the test of time. Given the current contentious political environment, especially in the U.S, ignoring the concerns surrounding Heathcliffe seems to speak to a broader dissassociation with progressive casting attitudes, which is unfortunate. One only has to imagine the worst people online celebrating such a dismissive attitude to these progressive concerns, and Cochrane’s opinion seems to be little more than a more stripped-down version of the same viewpoint.
There may be value in the trailer’s provocation, and I am trepidatiously excited to see how Fennell’s vision and clear desire to explore risque themes and imagery play out on the big screen. It may surprise fans of the book, and these thematic ideas may genuinely serve the plot. I am hoping this is the case, as I am intrigued by
the injection of Fennell’s artistic sensibility into this novel. If it doesn’t work though, the film may just be seen as a work designed to garner social media discussion, edits and reactions. Here’s hoping that’s not the case.
Written by Miles Farrow
Written
The love for our art envelops us all. Whether that is a drive pushing your mind, or to appreciate your experiences, we all have a need to express ourselves in a creative medium, as humans. But in this world, an ugly side clashes. We also possess a need for success, a desire to be successful in our industries. This can tarnish the purity of art in a toxic way, with media being watered down to appeal to a wider audience. This change can be seen in effect in every art form, with the most successful pieces of work in this modern era being easily accessible, unchallenging, harmless and non-thought provoking.
This is all due to your perspective, but it is generally agreeable that artistic sacrifices often must be made to achieve success in the creative industry. What concerns me is finding a balance on this line.
Lust is impure, one of the seven deadly sins. But in a world like this, it is almost mandatory to indulge in. Those who stick to nothing but the pure love of the arts will find themselves incredibly fulfilled spiritually, but not financially. And are we not taught that is the goal? We can remove this purity for success, and slowly bring it back the larger we grow, but will we ever be able to return to our original selves? Consequently, I would like to say the lust for success is killing the art world.
We have seen this process grow and envelop over time. Indie games, with years of blood, sweat and tears, will not sell nearly as many copies as yearly franchises who copy and paste the exact same lazily made game. Albums where the creator will pour their heart and soul into the music, only for the album of the year to be heartless and soulless. To say this is a poison to our craft is an understatement, but the blame does not land solely on the creators. People are not labelled as art enjoyers, listeners, or viewers anymore, but consumers. This lust has transformed our world into a prison of constant consumption. Media has become as little as background noise for most people’s daily lives. Conversations about film, music, games, art and more have all but died for the general population, led only by those who are deeply invested.
The more we view art as consumption, the more lust will triumph over love.
We have the power to end this cycle. Listen to music with the intention of truly diving into the sound. Spectate a movie, taking in the visuals, plot and theming. Play a video game, appreciating the mechanics and its craft. Gaze upon art, noticing every brush stroke, and the meaning behind it. Do not consume media like lust consumes us. Experience its wonder with love.
by: Ollie Ervin
Written by Jack Froggatt-Cooper
CHRISTMAS CAPITALISM
One of the most apparent changes between Eyes Wide Shut and the original source novella, Arthur Schnitzler’s Dream Story, is the switch of holiday seasons. The novella is set in Vienna during Mardis Gras, whereas Eyes Wide Shut takes place in New York (although filmed in London) during Christmas. Stanley Kubrick, the director and co-writer of Eyes Wide Shu t, is notorious for his personal meddling with the source material (See The Shining (1980) and writer Stephen King’s less than stellar appraisal), so what was his intention this time? What importance does the holiday season have over Eyes Wide Shut?
There’s a chilling comparison to be made between the central orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut and the films ending scene in an opulent Christmas shop. Much like as he wanders the mansion during the orgy, Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) walks slowly down the aisles of a large, extravagant Christmas shop. During the orgy scene, Bill simply marvels at the operatic sex acts performed for his viewing pleasure. Yet, he is unable to fully experience of fulfil his lust, permanently banned from its rich secrets. In the Christmas shop, Bill, joined by his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) and his daughter, marvel at the spectacle of the store, yet not fully engaging or buying anything. Instead, they attempt to repair their ruined relationship, ironically also what Bill was trying to do in the mansion by getting ‘even’ with his wife after she confessed to nearly having an affair with another man. What is Kubrick trying to say through these parallels? Perhaps it draws the link between lust and capitalism.
There’s a suggestion that both things are insatiable, simply unable to be fulfilled. Throughout Bill’s nocturnal odyssey, the idea behind it becomes apparent: even if he were to have sex and fulfil his lust, nothing will change. He will not be cured from his pain. He will not be ‘equal’ to Alice. In fact, he would likely feel even worse. He has a core wound of earth shattering ‘betrayal’ that he must heal with his wife; yet instead, he reopens his wound repeatedly whilst ignoring the one person that would cure him. His entire self-destructive quest is unreasonable and meaningless. He gains nothing except knowing that he doesn’t belong to that world. And by “that world” I mean an elite society above him. Bill, as a doctor for wealthy clients, thought he was rich — that his status could grant him access to anything he thought he desired.
The Insatiable Lust of Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Not only does he learn that isn’t true, but he learns that he doesn’t want what he thought he did. He’s not as special as his status leads him to believe.
At the Christmas shop, Kubrick parallels this lust to shopping. The orgy scene is a sort of shopping mall for sex, each room a different window of pleasures he can peruse and choose for his liking. In the final scene, they do much the same, as Bill and Alice’s daughter marvels at the different options on display for her. Much like Bill’s lust, a child’s lust for new toys is insatiable. They will always want more, especially when confronted with such an extravagant store as this one. Capitalism, in both situations, is the primary condition under which these desires will never be satisfied. Capitalism always promises more.
In the holiday season, this warping of capitalism has been pushed to the nth degree. Christmas’ core values of connection, family, togetherness, and appreciating what you have has been twisted into one thing and one thing only: acquiring more things. Similarly, in the orgy, sex itself has been manipulated by capitalism to be nothing more than an outward show. Sex has been stripped from its uniqueness, closeness, love and romance — quite literally, everyone wears masks to remain anonymity. Capitalism, in both senses, destroys the inherent value in things, replacing it with an unfulfillable need for more. Bill is not an influential man; he is a victim of the capitalist world he thought he was a part of. This extends to his inner world, as Bill also isn’t the husband he thinks he is. In both realms, his sense of ego and identity has been shattered. Things are never as they seem. He has been living with his Eyes Wide Shut. What is the fix for this? How do we overcome the forces both within us (lust, desire) and within the world (capitalism, greed)? In the final conversation, surrounded by the exuberance of Christmas, Alice and Bill finally discuss their inner worlds. They reconnect with what is true, and good, and real; Their relationship to one another, their future. And in the final word uttered by a character in a Kubrick film, and the one thing that the entire narrative has been concerned with, but avoided, our characters must do what has been in front of them the whole time to heal themselves. Love must return. They must fuck.
Illustration by Olivia Jefferd
Written by Mariam Hassan
Designed by Maria Patmanidi
Belly dancing evokes a conditioned image of women in colourful skimpy outfits often consisting of bedazzled bras, flowy skirts with high slits, and coin belts tied around the waist. Whether the setting be a lavish Arabian palace, brothels, or nightclubs, women are assumed to perform seductive belly dancing rituals to please men. These stereotypes and misconceptions have completely reinvented and appropriated the traditional practice of belly dancing, eradicating its artistry, dignity, and heritage. It became a projection of the male gaze, assuming the dance was inherently lustful and erotic as a byproduct of orientalism.
As for its origins, it is largely known as a Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dance most notorious in Egypt. However, there is plenty of discourse on the dance’s etymology. Most records and documentation of belly dancing date back to the 1700s when European travelers came to the Orient. Some hypothesize it links back to fertility rituals in ancient Egypt and Greece; some believe that it originated in India and was brought to Morocco by Gypsies. The difficulty in tracing its origins contributes to how colonialism has rewritten this cultural practice's history.
The Western Eroticisation of Belly Dancing
Eroticisation Dancing
Raqs Sharqi
The misnomer and umbrella term “belly dance” encompasses many kinds of middle eastern folk dances. The name “belly dance” is a western invention. The actual name is Raqs Sharqi; Arabic for Eastern/Oriental dance. Notice how the name does not emphasize a particular body part, because the dance is more than that — something the colonial west failed to see. “Belly dance” derived from a French painting titled “La danse de l’almée” (The Dance of the Almeh) by Jean-Léon Gérôme. La danse de l’almée was the imagined harem, depicting a partially nude woman with her stomach exposed, dancing in front of male soldiers. It presents a distorted and inaccurate projection of the dance in accordance with Eurocentric modesty ideals. This artwork then went on to be part of an “exotic” culture display at the fourth world exhibition in Paris 1889, spreading these falsehoods. The French press called it “danse du ventre” (dance of the stomach or belly), popularizing it as an alternate title. Similar fairs and exhibits took place in the U.S., such as the “Hootchie Kootchie” exhibit in the Chicago World fair in 1893 organized by Sol Bloom. Sol began promoting his spectacles of the Middle East using the English translation “belly dance” to attract a greater audience. From there, the term “belly dance” came to exist and has stuck around since through art and media, with Hollywood perpetually commodifying it to appeal to western desire.
The name
“belly is a western invention.
name dance” western invention.
Along with its name, many definitions of Oriental dance stem from orientalism which has reduced the Orient to passivity, primitivity, and inferiority. Orientalism is the framework of a dichotomy between the East and the West, i.e. the Orient and the Occident. It thrives off an “us vs them” mentality, designating what is familiar as “ours’ and the unfamiliar as “theirs.” By painting the Orient as a passive and irrational other, colonial expansion could be justified and legitimized under the guise of what Rudyard Kipling called the “white man’s burden to bring Enlightenment to primitive nations.” This subjugation was achieved through the feminisation and sexualisation of the Orient under a patriarchal lens. The Orient was consistently described femininely through the pronouns “she/her” — a blatant metaphor for the East succumbing to its authorial male counterpart, the West. Edwardian beliefs of sex and gender were enforced onto the Orient to dominate them. Before colonialism, many cultures across Africa had more fluid and non-traditional constructs of sex and gender. They were more matriarchal societies that did not rely on reproductive systems to differentiate men and women. Most importantly, women lived a life of their choosing with financial and social autonomy, far from proprietary. On the contrary, European gender norms entrenched physical capability into social hierarchies and responsibilities, attaching a woman’s worth to the men in her life. Hence, the presence of female independence in the Orient threatened to European social order, destabilizing its fundamental principles. Thus, orientalism necessitated the feminisation and sexualisation of the Middle East to shape power dynamics of colonialism that glorified the Occident.
The eroticisation of Oriental dance is only one example of how colonialism dehumanised and recontextualised cultural traditions relative to Eurocentric ideologies of modesty, proprietary, and gender roles. Orientalism is the mechanism by which stereotypes, misconceptions, and invented traditions we associate with belly dancing today were produced. Some examples would be:
1. Belly dance is performed only by women
This is one of the biggest misconceptions. Historically, men have always performed many kinds of Oriental dance. In the fabrication of the tradition of “belly dancing,” it only ever depicted women to fulfill the erotic fantasy of the “Orientalist female.”
2. Belly dance is only performed in brothels, cabarets, nightclubs, etc.
One thing about Oriental dance that is overlooked is that it is a cultural practice done outside the profession. Its hypersexualised connotations are mostly attributed to professional dancers, but not everyone who dances does it professionally, in fact, most do not. Regular people practice Oriental dance at celebrations, events, and in their homes for themselves away from the male gaze. The dance does not adhere to the male gaze but has been interpreted as such by the Occident which has primarily placed them in these spaces.
Thedancedoesnot adheretothemale gaze
The art of Oriental dance is more concerned with the self-fulfillment of the dancer than its audience, emphasizing enjoyment for oneself more than anything else.
3. Belly dance is sexual and a form of adult entertainment
Oriental dance is a powerful art form of female emancipation, solidarity, and sexual liberation that has wrongfully been equated with sex work. As there is a variety of middle eastern folk dances, each is diverse and rich in their messages, beyond ones of a sexual nature. Some Oriental dances can be sensual, but they are also spiritual and intellectual in how they connect to music. Each dancer and dance are different, but what remains consistent is their autonomy over their body and freedom of expression through movements of their choosing, exerting a form of control over ‘the gazed’ versus the ‘gazer.’ The art of Oriental dance is more concerned with the self-fulfillment of the dancer than its audience, emphasizing enjoyment for oneself more than anything else.
4. Belly dancers wear coin belts
Traditionally, Oriental dances never had any coin belts. This was an invented Oriental fantasy that first appeared in 1859 in the painting “Dancing Tambourine Girl” by Austrian artist Hans Zatzka. In 1910, they were first styled in productions of Ballet Russe by Russians.
5. Belly dancers wear bedlahs
Bedlah is an Arabic word meaning suit or uniform. It describes the ensemble of the bra, belt, and skirt that belly dancers wear. However, this was not born out of the culture itself. It was imported from European opera stages and enforced onto professional belly dancers as their signature costume. Prior to the industrial revolution and colonisation, Oriental dances were performed in ordinary clothing specific to a region or area.
These adaptations are choreographed identities marketed by the West about the Orient and its traditions like "belly dance” that have imposed a manufactured and weaponized form of lust to satiate Orientalist desires with erotic fantasies. They have outlived, fetishised, and ultimately devalued the original cultural practice. Later, they were adopted by the Orient itself as a coping mechanism. Even today, Eurocentric views of this tradition still dominate platforms. Postcolonial societies, particularly the Arab world, partake in condemning, marginalizing, and forcing their own cultural practice into the shadows of society, away from the spotlight. In Egypt alone, modernization became an excuse to rebrand traditional dances
according to colonial ideologies. This self-perpetuates colonial narratives and eradicates indigenous practices. It is a generational trauma reverberating in modern societies, feeding into the cyclical battle between oppression and resistance. It underpins how cultural and artistic articulation has been shaped by a colonial history built on the dehumanisation, feminisation, and sexualisation of the Orient. The aftermath of Orientalism requires an effort to decolonise minds and critically re-evaluate the cultural implications of colonialism. With that said, Oriental dancers continue to resist and rewrite these narratives through their artistry and respect for the practice.
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The Western Eroticisation of Belly Dancing Osjećati požudu
